Van der Poel defeated the Belgian Yves Lampaert in the sprint. His compatriot Dries De Bondt was third. The trio rode shortly before the peloton.
Last week, Van der Poel also won the Stadsprijs Geraardsbergen, also a so-called funfair race. The 27-year-old Dutchman has only ridden three smaller races since his retirement in the Tour de France due to a lack of form. The intention is that he will start in Wollongong as the leader of the Dutch team in just over two weeks.
,,When it rained before the start, I didn’t feel like racing, but a win is always good,’ says Van der Poel, who also won in Geraardsbergen last week. Before the start of Izegem Koers, he had also started training for seventy kilometers and afterwards he had to burn 167 kilometers at 47.7 km/h. He seems ready for a star role at the World Cup in Australia.
,,My condition is going in the right direction, but this race is of a completely different order than a World Cup. At the moment I have no reference to the competition from Australia. I can only make the best of it and then we’ll see how it will turn out in Wollongong,” says Van der Poel, who will ride two more Belgian races before his trip to Australia: the GP of Wallonia on September 14 and the Primus Classic. on Sept 17. It is not yet certain whether he will also start in Fourmies on Sunday. “The day after the Primus Classic I fly to Australia”, says Van der Poel, who sets foot in Down Under six days later than the Belgian selection. “From my own experience with overseas travel and jet lag, that is sufficient.”