"It was a bit of a panic with the broken shoe. I thought the race was over" - Michael Vanthourenhout survives scare to open World Cup account for 24/25 in Dublin

Michael Vanthourenhout survived a broken shoe scare to power back to victory at the second round of the UCI World Cup in Dublin this Sunday afternoon, surviving a thrilling sprint finale ahead of Toon Aerts and Felipe Orts.

As mentioned, midway through the race, the former European champion had a moment of stress when his shoe broke and he was forced into the pits, but using all his experience managed to get into the pits, change shoe and back on the bike without losing too much time.

"It was a bit of a panic with the broken shoe. I thought the race was over, but my legs were good. The chase went well, so I was quickly back in sixth place. I noticed that I could fight for the victory," Vanthourenhout reflected in his post-race interview afterwards, detailing his struggle. "I know it can't really break, you just have to be able to click it back in. But when your foot is still in it, it's hard to really put force on that button, so I started thinking about how I could do it the fastest. I needed a new bike anyway, so I could quickly change shoes, then I had two in one. Actually, I had only lost three or four places and my legs were good enough for the win."

"It was difficult to create a gap. I felt that I had to do it in the last lap and I succeeded. I am really happy," the new World Cup leader adds in conclusion. "Last weekend was already very good and today I felt that I had gained a few percent. Now it's a matter of keeping my condition like this. It's a nice bonus. The World Cup is back next week, so it's nice to ride around in Italy with that jersey."