Laurens Sweeck takes perfectly timed victory at Superprestige Aardbeiencross Merksplas ahead of resurgent Toon Aerts
Cyclocross
Laurens Sweeck has emerged with the victory at the 2024 Superprestige Aardbeiencross Merksplas after an intriguing battle where separation between the elite riders was never fully achieved.
On the opening lap, the quartet of Niels Vandeputte, Michael Vanthourenhout, Eli Iserbyt and Laurens Sweeck powered clear of the rest of the field. Thibau Nys was leading the chasing pack, and with just over 12 minutes gone, the Belgian brought the race favourites all back together again at the front near the end of lap 2.
From there, Felipe Orts was the next rider to take control at the front, but with the Spaniard not really stringing things out, it was still all bunched together at the front through into the mid-race laps. As Vanthourenhout returned to the front, the former European champion seemed to be steadily upping the pace ready for either an attack by teammate Iserbyt, or allowing the latter to slow down the pack behind as Vanthourenhout built up a gap.
Nys was aware of this though, forcing his way past Iserbyt and onto the wheel of the leader. Then, on lap 7, Toon Aerts began to make his move. The elastic again didn't exactly snap behind the Belgian's acceleration though. As such, the strong group was still together as they took the bell and the drama levels started to rise even higher.
On the final lap, Laurens Sweeck came to the front for the first time of the day with a brutal acceleration. The rest hadn't completely given up hope though as Aerts and Nys did their best to close the gap through the sandpit. Sweeck though, held the gap through the final few corners taking the victory.
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