"That one duck was lucky" - Victorious Eli Iserbyt survives close call to stay upright and take win in Flamanville
Cyclocross
Eli Iserbyt held off the three-on-one challenge of Baloise - Trek Lions in Flamanville on Sunday afternoon to take his second UCI World Cup win of the season.
"I felt very good, but I had a very bad start," Iserbyt reflected in his post-race interview. "Then I had to roll up the entire field to get to the front and I grew into the race. Initially I stuck around and Joris Nieuwenhuis and Lars van der Haar did their thing, but it was thanks to them that I was able to drive to Pim Ronhaar. In the end, I went over and over again and was able to cash in on my better lines in the woods and on the pontoon."
Iserbyt's hopes of victory however, were nearly brought to a premature halt by a couple of rogue ducks who'd flown to the course. "That one duck was lucky that I was on the right track," Iserbyt recalls with a smile. "Otherwise I would have driven straight into it."
Now the overall leader of both the UCI World Cup and Superprestige standings, Iserbyt has had a brilliant start to the season. "Those are important points indeed and it was also important to win in the World Cup jersey, as that comes with a certain pressure. Now I have another nice photo to hang above my bed or to throw online," he concludes.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Saw a casual interview with Geraint Thomas and him a few years ago. Seems like a nice laid guy and I wish him well.GregT10-11-2026
- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
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Eli Iserbyt avoids the ducks and wins in Flamanville 🥇🤩🦢🦆👏👏 #CXWorldCup #cyclocross
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