"Perhaps the longest hour of the season" - Michael Vanthourenhout goes solo from start to finish at Exact Cross Sint-Niklaas

In dominant fashion, Michael Vanthourenhout powered to a solo victory at Exact Cross Sint-Niklaas on Saturday afternoon, riding solo from start to finish.

“This was perhaps the longest hour of the season,” the European champion laughed in a post-race interview with WielerFlits afterwards. "I was already thinking about tomorrow (X2O Trofee in Brussels), because that is a course that I like to do."

Whilst much of the talk pre-race was about the return of multiple-time UCI World Cup winner, Toon Aerts after a doping ban, Vanthourenhout quickly ensured the headlines would be about his performance. “I had thought in advance that I would slide between the wheels, but the situation allowed me to create a gap. I tried to make that hole as big as possible. I certainly didn't think I would stay away until the end,” he recaps.

"It was just straight forward," he concluded. "Of course I was seriously exhausted at the end, but eight seconds is more than enough.”