"Joris Nieuwenhuis seriously came to a standstill" - Eli Iserbyt moves within one of historic landmark with victory at Superprestige Middelkerke

After a thrilling, near-hour of racing on Saturday afternoon at Superprestige Middelkerke it was Eli Iserbyt who eventually triumphed, taking the 49th professional win of his cyclocross career.

With just a couple of laps to go, it looked as if Joris Nieuwenhuis was about to ease to victory, before Iserbyt and his Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal teammate, Michael Vanthourenhout turned the tables in a stunning finale. “I think Nieuwenhuis seriously came to a standstill,” Iserbyt reflects post-race. “I knew from the start that this was going to be a long day. I knew from last year that it would all happen here in the final. It was super difficult, so I decided to ride at my own pace for the first forty minutes."

"I wanted to ride to Nieuwenhuis via Michael. It worked. I then saw that I had a hole, but it was very difficult,” the Belgian champion continues. This tactic however, did not go down well with his teammate, who shared his discontent at Iserbyt's racing in his own post-race interview.

As mentioned, with this win, Iserbyt moves just one away from a milestone of 50 professional wins. Can he take it this Sunday? "Fifty in five years would be nice, that's ten per year," he smiles. "Tomorrow is going to be difficult. I feel that I have gone deep, but we will do our best. There are still four races left for me, so I hope to win one more.”