"Halfway through the lap I just resigned myself to third place" - Michael Vanthourenhout brings Belgian Mixed Team Relay home in third place

At the Mixed Team Relay World Championships, Michael Vanthourenhout ended up in a position where he had to close a gap of 38 seconds for Belgium in the final lap, but unsurprisingly he was no longer able to do so.

"It was a bit disappointing," Vanthourenhout told Sporza afterwards. "Halfway through the lap I started to sour. At that moment you felt that there wasn't much left to do and I just resigned myself to third place."

Vanthourenhout did not really see the Mixed Relay as a goal anyway. "I trained for another hour and a half this morning. First on the road, then we did the course reconnaissance and now the Mixed Relay. It was a good day towards Sunday."

The Belgian witnessed thorough change of the course. "You can now see clearly where it is difficult, where the differences are made during the lap. Two hours ago it was still frozen, now it is becoming more and more difficult, because all the mud is coming loose."