Laurens Sweeck fires on Armistice Day to solo Superprestige Jaarmarktcross Niel victory

Laurens Sweeck has secured himself a second victory of the season, first in nearly a month, thanks to a very impressive performance on Monday afternoon at Superprestige Jaarmarktcross Niel.

As seen in the women's race earlier in the afternoon, it was very important to get to the front early, on this course. Making the best of the starts in the men's was Crelan-Corendon's Laurens Sweeck, although Niels Vandeputte was hot on the Belgian's heels by the end of the second lap. Although the Alpecin-Deceuninck man wasn't losing too much time, he also couldn't gain much back on Sweeck over laps 3 and 4.

The relentless pace of the leader began to tell on lap 5 though as Vandeputte started to be sucked more into a battle for 2nd and 3rd, leaving Sweeck increasingly clear at the front. Behind Sweeck, Vandeputte, Eli Iserbyt, Felipe Orts and Michael Vanthourenhout were involved in a real scrap for the rest of the podium places.

As the penultimate lap began, a charging Iserbyt had accelerated clear of that chase group and hunting down Sweeck, had closed the gap to 17 seconds. As Sweeck took the bell and the rain began to pour, the gap had dropped again to 14 seconds but it was still advantage to the lone leader. Iserbyt meanwhile was getting caught and passed by Vandeputte and Orts.

In the end, Sweeck successfully navigated the final lap without getting into trouble, securing the victory ahead of second placed Spanish national champion Orts and Vandeputte in third.