Eli Iserbyt: "I trained hard for a week. I did have pretty good legs today"

The Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal rider Eli Iserbyt got his first victory of the season in Beringen.He was out of danger in the final lap and enjoyed his time with fans before crossing the finishing line. "I trained hard for a week. That helps to have a good feeling here as well," he told VTM.

At the finish line, Iserbyt held a wide lead over his teammate Michael Vanthourenhout and European champion Lars van der Haar. "The plan was to start fairly fast, to make the group a little smaller. That makes it more comfortable and gives less wriggling. It was ideal that Michael also had good legs. It allowed us to put pressure in the chase,” said Iserbyt.

Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout were riding together before he decided to separate from his teammate and increase the gap. "I felt that Lars didn't have the legs to close the gap and that Pim was stalling. It was ideal to continue with two after that. I rode at my own pace after that. I did have pretty good legs today."

He continues, "It was really constant uphill, downhill. It was important not to make any mistakes on the descents. The descents went smoothly, to my surprise. In fact, normally I have problems in the descents here, but on a good day everything goes a bit smoother. It was important to go full on the two climbs. I managed to grab the necessary seconds there each time, which was ideal."

The first World Cups of the season are in Waterloo and Fayetteville, and Iserbyt is feeling confident after today’s performance. "I had a little throat infection last week, but I didn't want to hide behind that. That's part of it, too. Michael had the same thing and yet we were still able to get 1 and 2 last week. I trained hard this week with an eye on the American World Cups, to build up hardness again. A week of hard training also helps to have a feeling here," concluded Iserbyt.