Laurens Sweeck lashes out at Vanthourenhout's pit crew after costly national championships incident - "I don't know how that could happen"

Laurens Sweeck rode to a second place at the Belgian Cyclocross Championships but it left a bad taste in his mouth. The World Cup leader felt that he was in disadvantage after a set of moves in the pit lane from Michael Vanthourenhout and his pit crew. 

"I am disappointed. It was not all sporty. We were evenly matched and Michael deserves the title in that respect, but I don't know why they make rules," Sweeck said in a post-race interview. He continued: "You choose a box for the race and you stand there for the entire race. I make a good choice tactically by standing at the beginning of the transition zone. The rest also saw that in the first round, because I had a gap. In the second lap, the opposition is suddenly in the same zone while they were at the back before."

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Sweeck and Vanthourenhout had been going head-to-head for most of the muddy race and entered the final lap side-to-side. However a tangle between Sweeck's bike and Vanthourenhout's switched bike saw Sweeck shout at the mechanics responsible for the European Champion. "Michael's bike got stuck at the switch. They didn't take it away fast enough. It's not really about that for me, but you choose a box before the start," he commented. 

A move that ended up being costly, as he could no longer close the gap that was created. Sweeck had to settle for second. "Michael was first at the back, in the second round suddenly at the front. I don't know how that could happen. The jury had to whistle him back and put him back in the back," he concluded.

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