Friday, Jurgen Van den Broeck won the time trial at the Belgian Championships. The Lotto Soudal rider needed 58’32” to cover the course of 48.8 kilometres. Yves Lampaert was 42 seconds slower and won the silver medal, Kristof Vandewalle was third at 1’07”.
“This feels good. I gave it all, right from the start, that was the best you could do on that course,” said Van den Broeck. “It was almost all straight ahead and there was not much wind. Those long straight roads might have been mentally hard for some riders. You could never recover. I live close to the course. It wasn’t a big advantage that I knew it very well, but it might have been a small advantage in the few curves. Anyhow, it was very motivating. I set the best times at the intermediate time checks, there were about three riders behind me that could still threaten me, so I wasn’t sure yet but I started dreaming.
“In the Tour de Romandie and Giro I rode a good time trial and that’s why this championship was a goal, you can always do more close to home as well. In the time trial you only depend on yourself. The last races I have been a bit unlucky, this victory is good for my confidence. I have been asked already several times what the reason is of my strong time trials this year, but I don’t know. I won’t think about it too much and just want to keep it this way (laughs). It will be a special feeling to put on the jersey for the time trials.”
Ron is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.
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