Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal takes its first victory of this cyclocross season: "The desire for a victory was great"

Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal has taken its first victory of the season in the Druivencross. Michael Vanthourenhout played a key role, but had to leave the win to his teammate and friend Eli Iserbyt.

Five second and six third places: that was the spoils for Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal after just under a month of racing. A big victory was missing. "We've been spoiled in recent years, haven't we? We always won our crosses in those first months of the season. I'm not going to say it was really daunting, but the desire for a victory was great. We knew we were doing well, everyone had returned from the training camp strong," Vanthourenhout tells WielerFlits.

For that the two leaders had to get rid of Thibau Nys first. That didn't work until a fall took out the young Belgian. "I tried to ride away myself, but I felt Thibau coming back. A man-on-man duel was not ideal for us, so I preferred to have Lars van der Haar and Eli return. When we can play team play, we are always better."

"Ultimately we enforced it ourselves. Thibau made an all-or-nothing attempt to remount Eli, because we all knew that that last diagonal would be crucial, given the rather short finish line," said the reigning Belgian and European champion. "It was a fantastic battle. It is very nice that someone like Thibau is there to give the crosses extra spectacle. If you come out on top after such a race, it is extra rewarding."