Tiesj Benoot praises Mathieu van der Poel who was the strongest in Glasgow: "It was a fair race, so the best one won"

Tiesj Benoot won't have nice memories of Glasgow having raced on the local circuit that many call the worst World Championships course in history. Benoot himself evaded all falls and mechanicals, and managed to assist his leader Wout Van Aert in the decisive moments before finish himself in the second group on the road.

"It was awful. Really awful!" Benoot may have finished 9th, but it didn't go very well as he tells Sporza after the race. "On 9 laps from the end I already started counting down. Fortunately I got through with 4-5 laps from the end."

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"On 4 laps from the end, just as it started to rain, Wout van Aert asked me to take control of the race. I rode half a lap in the lead and at one point there were only 4 riders in my wheel. Wout immediately took over, while he could have used me a little longer. That put me in a gap."

"After that I thought we were racing for 8th or 9th place, but it was still for 5th place in the end." Benoot still placed himself in the top 10, although he had suffered enormously. "It was a fair race, so the best one won. But I haven't seen much of this with the pros yet."

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