Two convincing winners in Veloopzwem

The coastal city of De Haan was traditionally the setting for the first real triathlon of the season. In the morning, a 500-meter swim was on the program, in the afternoon all athletes went to Sportcentrum Haneveld for a 28-kilometre cycle and a 8.6-kilometre run.

Under a modest sun it was Hartwig De Smedt who was the first to get on the bike after he was the fastest in the water in the morning with a top time of 5’46”. Dries Demeulenaere, Joachim Wera and Dieter Boeye followed, among others. In the women’s race, Sonja Skevin was first on the saddle, Jonie Vanhoutte, the laureate of the 2020 edition, immediately had to chase.

Turns again, competition too

The part on the bike – a total of three laps, a total of 28 kilometers – immediately caused a selection. In lap two the leading group consisted of 19 riders. Dieter Boeye, Hans Van den Buverie and Luka Baert decided that it was enough and made a gap of fifteen seconds in the cycling part. Jonie Vanhoutte meanwhile caught up with Sonja Skevin, Maaike Ryngaert – last year’s winner – and Floor Martens completed the top four in the cycling number.

In the meantime the sun gave way to a thick pack of clouds and at the end of round three the heavens opened. A heavy downpour made for tough conditions, but that didn’t stop the athletes.

Strong running number

Dieter Boeye steadily built up his lead in the running number. He dealt with his competitors, his pace was clearly too high for the other athletes. In the end, the SP&O Mechelen athlete finishes in 1:15:09. Second place goes to revelation Quinten Dewaele, who reaches the finish line 41 seconds later. Joachim Wera is third.

In the ladies it was the young mama Jonie Vanhoutte who distanced herself from Sonja Skevin after the bicycle number. Thanks to a strong running performance, she convincingly takes the victory in De Haan. Previous laureate Maaike Ryngaert took second place after a great catch-up race. Sonja Skevin was a creditable second.