Superprestige Overijse: Eli Iserbyt wins as Thibau Nys crashes on final lap

Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) won a dramatic opening round of the Telenet Superprestige series in Overijse after Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) crashed on the final lap.

The pair dominated most of the race with Nys bouncing back from a crash on the opening lap to lead with just a few corners remaining. Nys hit the front after catching and then passing a late surge from Iserbyt, but crashed immediately on the next corner, almost bringing down Iserbyt with him.

Iserbyt managed to hold on and take the win ahead of his teammate, Michael Vanthourenhout, while Nys was forced to settle for fourth after Lars van der Haar came through for third.

Read more: Superprestige Overijse: Unstoppable Fem van Empel storms to victory

Iserbyt hit the front at the start of the race and began to push clear soon after Nys suffered the first of his two crashes. The Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal rider managed to build up a lead of over 30 seconds as a chase group of half a dozen riders formed, with Vanthourenhout, van der Haar and Kevin Kuhn in contention.

By the third of eight laps a bloodied Nys was still over 25 seconds down and in 11th place but within a lap the recent World Cup round winner had rejoined the chase group and had managed to reduce Iserbyt's lead to less than 20 seconds.

Nys put the hammer down at the halfway point, reducing the chase group to just three other riders as Iserbyt saw his advantage hover at just 12 seconds.

By the start of the sixth lap Iserbyt had been caught and the key move with the Belgian, Nys, Vanthourenhout and van der Haar formed. All four riders began to test each other as rain worsened the racing conditions but despite small gaps created through the technical sections and small climbs, the quartet remained together until the final lap.

Vanthourenhout almost moved clear before Nys brought him back. Iserbyt then powered up the final climb and only Nys could match him over the top of the ascent. Leading into the base of the final descent Nys edged to the front but he carried too much speed and hit the barries, almost bringing Iserbyt down with him.

From there Iserbyt had the race in the bag, while Nys had to settle for fourth.

“I had actually already won my race when I came back,” said Nys.

"I am very satisfied with that. I didn't expect to be this good today either. I felt really bad during the recon.”

Britain's Cameron Mason (Cyclocross Reds) finished fifth.