"The most important part of the season is coming now" - Eli Iserbyt building momentum with first victory in a month ahead of World Cup opener

Iserbyt has ended a barren run, taking his first victory in just short of a month this Saturday afternoon at Urban Cross Kortrijk. As such, the Belgian national champion is heading into the upcoming World Cup opener with momentum firmly on his side.

In a game of cat and mouse between Pauwels Sauzen - Bingoal and Alpecin-Deceuninck, Iserbyt and teammate Michael Vanthourenhout attacked one after the other, with Jente Michels and Niels Vandeputte repeatedly attempted to reel them back in. With three laps to go though, a move from Iserbyt finally snapped the elastic and proved race winning. 

“I felt really good during the race,” Iserbyt reflected in his post-race interview. “I made a few attempts, together with Michael. I think we rode perfectly as a team today. I think Michael definitely deserved to be on that podium. In the group I already felt that it was going a bit too slow. It was also difficult to really make a difference with that wind. But once you ride alone, you can really make that difference when they slow down behind you. That was a good tactic today.”

“We said beforehand: we should not maintain that pace, but keep pushing," he continues. "In the past races we just rode at a pace with the rest on our wheel. That was not the right way, I think. Always pushing and seeing if we can do something for each other is perhaps a bit better, now that there are more good riders at the start.”

"This victory feels really good," the Belgian concludes. "The most important part of the season is coming now, with the World Cup, so this is good for the head. Tomorrow (the Antwerp World Cup, ed.) will be a very difficult race. Sandcrosses are difficult for me. But I hope to do well."