Superprestige Niel: Eli Iserbyt capitalises on Joris Nieuwenhuis' mistake in final lap

Belgian Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) won a hard-fought third round of the Telenet Superprestige series in Niel after a tooth-and-nail battle with Joris Nieuwenhuis (Baloise Trek Lions).

The riders set off on the course, which by this point was extremely muddy, following the women's race earlier in the day.

Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) led the race out from the start, but shortly after Iserbyt snuck past and took the lead, van der Haar went down. Although he was unhurt, he was forced to DNF.

By the end of the first lap, Iserbyt and Nieuwenhuis had distanced themselves from the rest of the field, and they remained ahead of the field for the remainder of the race.

A tense battle between the two men ensued, as each fought to get ahead at every corner and obstacle.

After five laps of aggressive racing, Iserbyt looked to have run out of steam. However, when Nieuwenhuis made a momentary error during a bike change, Iserbyt pounced.

The mistake, which forced Nieuwenhuis to mount then dismount, then mount again, might have only set him back a second, but Iserbyt seized the moment and powered ahead. With the freedom to choose his own line and carry speed, he gained an advantage of a few seconds over his rival, which he held to the line.

For most of the race, the leading pair were trailed by a determined-looking Laurens Sweeck, but faded in the final lap. Visibly exhausted and beginning to make errors, he could no longer hold off the Spanish Champion Felipe Orts Lloret, who looked surprisingly at home in the soaking mud as he passed Sweeck.

Orts Lloret looked determined to chase down the leaders, but with less than a lap left, he failed to make up the time, coming in 41 seconds behind the winner and 25 seconds behind second place.

It was a disappointing day for Thibau Nys, son of cyclocross legend Sven Nys. In the final lap, Nys went into the pit for a bike change but his mechanics were nowhere to be seen. After waiting for a few seconds, Nys continued onwards, visibly frustrated. He finished in 27th place.

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