"I am not satisfied and will definitely give them my opinion" - Belgian coach furious after his team miss out on U23 road race world title
Cycling
Axel Laurance of France claimed the under 23's World Championships road race world title on Saturday. Over a minute later, Alec Segaert came across the line in 7th as the top-ranked Belgian, a fact that has made coach Sven Vanthourenhout furious.
“I had given them one important assignment. If a group drove away from the start, someone had to be there," Vanthourenhout lamented post-race in conversation with Sporza and Het Nieuwsblad. " But first eight men drive away and they are not there. And then another six men ride off without one of them. Then you know enough, surely?”
On such a difficult and challenging circuit, Vanthourenhout believed there was a very high possibility of the breakaway staying clear, and that was exactly how it turned out. “If you start with a team of barely five riders, you don't have the luxury of being able to control the race," he explains. "Four out of five Belgians simply miss out on a world title here in my eyes. Individually they are all strong enough to beat anyone who has now driven the final here.”
“Nys only had to move along if a very large group of about twenty people left. He didn't have to jump on everything. But for everyone else this is incomprehensible. I haven't been able to speak to everyone yet, but there are no excuses for me. I am not satisfied and will definitely give them my opinion tonight. They're not newbies anymore, are they?" Vanthourenhout concludes. "Incomprehensible. Maybe I'm being very strict now, but I'm curious about their story. Because it turned out that they were all fine. They just weren't on their toes."
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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🥇🇫🇷 AXEL LAURANCE 🇫🇷🥇 2023 UCI Men U23 Road Race World Champion! #GlasgowScotland2023
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