Without van der Poel and Van Aert, Laurens Sweeck beats Eli Iserbyt in thrilling Parkcross Maldegem

With Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert ending their seasons, the tight battles for victories have returned. It was very hard earned, but at the Parkcross Maldegem it was Laurens Sweeck who took the victory on a very fast circuit and a thrilling final lap against Eli Iserrbyt.

The very fast race started off very tense. Although the women's race was relatively selective, in the men's field it was not the case, even with the first minutes of racing seeing several falls - affecting, amongst others, Felipe Orts. Kevin Kuhn took control of the race in it's first laps, before Laurens Sweeck attacked on lap 4 of 11.

But soon after several riders followed, and the very high speeds made it hard for anyone to get a gap over the rest. A small group continued to move very compact into the final laps. Sweeck attacked again towards the finale and although the gaps were small, the incredibly fast run-up to the line made it that any mistake could cost the victory.

But Sweeck held his own despite being at his limit, and took a strong win against a close chasing Iserbyt who threatened him throughout the entire final lap. Shortly behind, Niels Vandeputte finished third. Next weekend there will be two more races in what is a very compact week.