Pre-race favourite Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) won a tactical edition of the Azencross in Loenhout on Tuesday afternoon, the sixth round of the BPost Bank Trophy.
Meeusen attacked halfway through the race and completed a long solo ride on the fast course. The Vastgoedservice-Golden Palace duo Tim Merlier and Wout Van Aert managed to claim the two other podium spots in the sprint at 18 seconds from the winner. It’s the third win of the season for the 27-year-old Belgian rider but the first victory in one of the major cyclo-cross series.
“2015 has been a difficult year for me. It’s nice to conclude it in this way. My rivals sincerely congratulated me here at the finish with being back at my level. I’m pleased to be back at my level too,” Meeusen said in the post-race flash interview with Sporza. “The win came partly due to my technical skills and due to the timing of my attack but I won a round in the series anyway, I’m happy,” Meeusen added.
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The winning move from Meeusen came after a first half of racing in which world champion Mathieu van der Poel (BKCP-Corendon) unsuccessfully tried to create a selection. Van der Poel didn’t start well but Wout Van Aert got away much worse. The 21-year-old Belgian rider was caught up in a crash during the opening lap and also broke one of his wheels, twice needing to switch bikes.
Meanwhile, Lars Boom (Astana) enjoyed a much better start to his race than in Zolder, briefly featuring in the top 10 of the pack during the second of nine laps. At the intermediate sprint Laurens Sweeck (ERA Real Estate-Murprotec) took 15 bonus seconds for the classification, ahead of Merlier and Sven Nys (Crelan-AA Drink).
At the end of this lap Van der Poel blasted away from a large front group with Swiss champion Julien Taramarcaz (ERA Real Estate-Murprotec) glued on his wheel. Surprisingly enough, the duo didn’t manage to hold onto their lead of 10 seconds. It was Van Aert who was leading the chase with Radomir Simunek (ERA Real Estate-Murprotec) trying to protect the attack from teammate Taramarcaz.
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