Superprestige Ruddervoorde: Eli Iserbyt snatches victory after last-lap attack

Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen–Bingoal) made it two wins in as many rounds of the Superprestige series as he powered to his second victory of the season.

The Belgian rider triumphed in the opening round in Overijse last week after Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) crashed in the finale, but the victory was much more simple this time around as he eased away from Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) on the final lap with the Dutchman having to settle for second.

Michael Vanthourenhout made it two Pauwels Sauzen–Bingoal riders on the podium in third.

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

In the absence of Thibau Nys, Eli Iserbyt started Saturday’s race as the main favourite, although he was up against a strong startlist. Taking on this mantle, he and teammate Michael Vanthourenhout set the early pace over the opening lap, but establishing any sort of gap proved to be difficult.

That turned into the theme of the race with multiple riders including Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon), Lars van der Haar and Vanthourenhout all leading proceedings at some point, only to be reeled in shortly after.

By the midway point of the race the front group had swelled, with Kevin Kuhn (Circus-ReUz-Technord), Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Toon Vandebosch (Crelan-Corendon) and Cameron Mason (Cyclocross Reds) all finding themselves in contention in the front group by lap six.

That grouping proved to be the result of a short easing, but things soon re-ignited courtesy of eventual winner Iserbyt who put the hammer down on the seventh lap, drawing out Van der Haar with him. Vanthourenhout soon bridged across to give Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal the numerical advantage, although the trio stuck together up until the final lap.

With little separating the leaders, the race was always likely to be decided by a small gap and the race-winning move came when Iserbyt rode a bank while his rivals were forced to hop off. That only built a lead of a few seconds but it proved to be a race-winning margin as the Belgian rider held on for his second consecutive victory.

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