Belgian cyclocross expert Eli Iserbyt is leading the World Cup, however on the 30th of December he found perhaps his biggest obstacle to date this season. He abandoned the race with bad feelings and what was later understood to be a stomach flu. The consequences have been stronger since.
The Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal rider, current leader of the World Cup and provisional winner of the Superprestige, had a bad day following a stint of good form. Following his DNF his form did not improve, and Het Laatste Nieuws reports that on the night from the 1st to 2nd of January he was in the hospital reporting strong stomach pains and dehydration.
Despite his absence from Baal, he lost less than minute and a half to cup leader Lars van der Haar, due to the cup's timing system. "There are still four races, so everything can still turn around. It looks nice now, but Cameron [Mason] is still in good shape and how about Eli [Iserbyt] losing almost nothing here?" van der Haar said in a recent interview with In de Leiderstrui. "With Mathieu [van der Poel] riding around like that, Eli only loses a minute and a half. On some guys he only loses a few seconds. Eli is still in front of Cameron, can you tell? That's rotten, it's the world upside down."
However, recent developments suggest that Iserbyt will have no chance of being present in the X20 Badkamers Trofee race in Koksijde this Thursday, where on paper he could switch his plans and still aim for victory.
We’ve decided to reshuffle @IserbytEli’s program after yesterday’s total offday in Hulst, and take some days of rest: ❌ B̶a̶a̶l ❌ ̶K̶o̶k̶s̶i̶j̶d̶e̶ 🔜 Can't wait to see our champ come back in action in the #CXWorldCup race in Zonhoven 💪 📷 𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴.𝘣𝘦
