Arthur Van Den Boer, Mats Vanden Eynde and Giel Lejeune made a good start. Only Lars Daelmans had to chase the Belgians. After three rounds of racing there was still a very large leading group with eleven riders. Including Van Den Boer, Lejeune and Vanden Eynde in addition to the Italian Mattia Agostinacchio, the Austrian Valentin Hofer and the home rider Benjamin Noval Suarez.
On the fourth lap Lejeune accelerated but Agostinacchio closed the gap and brought Van Den Boer, Hofer and Vanden Eynde with him. This acceleration in pace caused the leading group to thin out further. Just before the start of the sixth and final lap, Mattia Agostinacchio pulled through strongly. The Italian opened a gap of ten seconds on his closest pursuers: Valentin Hofer, Benjamin Noval Suarez, Arthur Van Den Boer, Giel Lejeune, the Italian Ettore Fabbro and Mats Vanden Eynde. Lars Daelmans had meanwhile climbed to tenth place and followed 41 seconds behind the lone leader.
Mattia Agostinacchio ran out of trouble and triumphed. There was fierce competition for the remaining podium places and Hofer turned out to be stronger than Vanden Eynde. Agostinacchio succeeds Frenchman Aubin Sparfel as European champion among the junior boys.
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Vanden Eynde happy with bronze medal, Van Den Boer is disappointed after equipment failure
Mats Vanden Eynde took the first medal for Belgium today. “I was in fourth place when Van Den Boer’s chain suddenly broke. I was somewhat lucky with that, although I think it’s a shame for him. He certainly deserved to be on the podium here today. I came here to win, but looking back I’m just happy with that bronze medal,” he said immediately afterwards.
Last year Van Den Boer had bad luck at the beginning of the cyclo-cross, now at the end. “I break my chain at the end, which is sad. During the race it was not easy to drive away from Agostinacchio. Too bad, because I was really good and had a view of second place,” the disappointment predominates.
For Giel Lejeune it was his first year with the juniors, and on a very fast course. “In the last lap I was just a little too far everywhere. I no longer had the best legs, but all in all I’m happy that I could still finish fifth. My main takeaway is that the international level is a lot higher. In addition, this is a type of course that I am normally not very good at, so to finish fifth is just good,” he concludes.
© BELGIUM
