Michael Vanthourenhout of Belgium beat the favorites on Sunday in Namur, Belgium to win the European Cyclo-Cross Championship in the Elite Men’s category. Rounding out the podium were rivals Lars Van den Haar of the Netherlands in second and Belgian teammate Laurens Sweeck in third.
How It Happened
From the start, van der Haar and Eli Iserbyt took the lead early on.
As lap 1 progressed, van der Haar found himself alone without Iserbyt, who had a mechanical problem, and was absorbed by the chasers.
At the start of lap 2, van der Haar was seven seconds ahead of his nearest chaser, Vanthourenhout, and Iserbyt had fallen back to 23 seconds. Halfway through the lap, van der Haar was overtaken Vanthourenhout on a slippery section.
On lap 3, luck reversed as Vanthourenhout slid out in the same place as van der Haar on the previous lap and van der Haar took the lead again.
As lap 4 approached, van der Haar had seven seconds on Vanthourenhout, which he maintained throughout the lap.
On lap 5, the gap remained the same, but Vanthourenhout appeared the stronger of the two, and bad luck struck van der Haar in the form of a flat tire.
Vanthourenhout was now back with van der Haar and retook the lead.Van der Haar attempted to close the gap, but crashed on a descent and lost more time.
As lap 7 started, van der Haar looked like he might close the gap, but another crash derailed his plans.
With the rain coming down heavier, van der Haar fell farther behind and Vanthourenhout was able to increase his lead.
By the final lap, Vanthourenhout was 41 seconds ahead of van der Haar and assured victory. The dark horse had beaten the favorites.
