Laurens Sweeck takes third place in Dendermonde behind unstoppable Pim Ronhaar: "Pim didn't ride yesterday, which I think made a difference"

Laurens Sweeck finished third behind the Dutch Pim Ronhaar and Lars van der Haar in the Dendermonde World Cup. Halfway through the cross, the Belgian was unable to respond to an impressive attack from Ronhaar. Later, Sweeck was also passed by Van der Haar, who crowned a good progress with second place.

"I was competing for the win for a long time. In the end, however, I no longer had the legs," says the number three in the flash interview. "Luckily it was only seven laps, because if I finished eighth I might not have been on the podium," Sweeck can laugh about it.

While Sweeck is known as the king of the sand strips, he also performed more than creditably in the mud on Sunday. "I was on board from the start and had the feeling that we had the situation well under control, with Toon. However, Pim suddenly had a serious acceleration. He left at a time when we were both having a hard time. I'm happy that I was able to recover a bit afterwards and keep third place. Pim didn't ride yesterday, which I think made a difference."

Sweeck has not yet won this season. Due to a small muscle tear - suffered in the first cross in Beringen - he is still lacking top form for the time being. "I'm not far from it. It can certainly be better, but I'm certainly not bad at the moment. I still need some competition. I am used to starting in September and this season I started a little later and was also a bit behind."