At about 30 kilometers before the finish, Vermeersch and Biesterbos ended up together in the lead. However, Biesterbos had to bow his head 19 km before the finish and let Vermeersch go.
Yet Biesterbos straightened up and seemed to be coming back to Vermeersch for a moment, but the Belgian had just a little more left and crossed the line solo. Biesterbos then rode well to a silver medal.
“The last 20 kilometers were so tough. I never thought before that I would be on stage. Really crazy. Suffer 180 km and then just watch,” said Biesterbos afterwards.