The Belgians were among the favorites for gold beforehand, and lived up to their status from the start. With early points gathering and a winning round, they quickly took the lead in the rankings. The British, with time trial specialist Joshua Tarling, initially stayed alongside and emerged as the main opponents.
Van den Bossche and De Vylder, however, increasingly proved to be the strongest riders in the race, and little by little expanded their margin over the British. Even before the final sprint they had a ten point lead and were almost certain of the world title. They celebrated it at the finish with a lot of emotions.
According to thirty-year-old De Vylder, the Belgian duo handled their energy well, and that was the key. “We were comfortable in the race. Every time we wanted to go for a sprint, we took a lot of points. This way we could save our energy in the final, because we no longer had to participate in every sprint. This way we had the comfort that we could still counter attacks if they came.”
De Vylder and Van den Bossche led the score for most of the match, and eventually won with 86 points, no less than ten more than the British (silver) and twenty more than the Germans (bronze).
De Vylder, an East Flemish native who emigrated to West Flanders, already became world champion in the omnium last year. For Belgium it is the third world title ever in the team race, an Olympic event that has been on the World Cup program since 1995. Etienne De Wilde/Matthew Gilmore (1998) and Kenny De Ketele/Gijs Van Hoecke (2012) preceded De Vylder and Van den Bossche.