Superprestige 2023 – 4 – Boom [FULL RACE]

December 3, 2022

Superprestige 2023 – Boom

Organised by Flanders Classics, the Telenet Superprestige series comprises of eight rounds, all of which are held in Belgium. Points are awarded to the first 15 finishers of each race, with 15 points awarded to the race winner and in descending order from there on. After the eighth and final round of the series, the overall winners of both the elite men’s and elite women’s categories are decided by which rider has accumulated the most points throughout the series.

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) secured a solo victory in the elite men’s race at Superprestige Boom, taking his second win of the season after X2O Trofee Kortrijk while wearing the rainbow jersey.

The World Champion and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) raced head-to-head in the opening two laps, but the Dutchman crashed on a slippery cobbled section of the circuit just after the mechanic pits, which left him out of contention, finishing 13th at 3:03 back.

Pidcock also went down in the crash but managed to get back up and maintain his race lead, which went out to a maximum of 30 seconds before ultimately finishing 10 seconds ahead of Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) and Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal), who finished second and third.

“I’m not sure what happened [in the crash], but if it was on TV, everyone else would have a better idea than me. Mathieu crashed, and I tried to avoid him, but it was slippery, and I also crashed. I’m OK, and I hope that he’s OK. I don’t know what happened exactly, but he finished, so I think he’s not too badly hurt, I guess,” Pidcock said afterwards.

“I thought to keep pushing on because I had a good start, and I wanted to keep my own rhythm. It was a hard course with climbs, so the last two laps were hard. Eli and Lars were coming, and I just had to make sure to keep the gap to the finish.”

“They started racing, the gap came down, and I kept it under control. I didn’t need to win by 30 seconds, as 15 seconds is also OK, but they were strong in the last couple of laps.”

Pidcock will compete at the next round of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Antwerp on Sunday, where van der Poel and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) are also expected to race.

“It’s going to be good. There is a lot of sand, not my favourite, but hopefully, I can compete with Wout and Mathieu. It’s not my course, but if I can race with them, it will be nice,” Pidcock said.

How it unfolded
Swiss champion Kevin Kuhn (Tormans) took the hole shot onto the grass with Dutch Champion Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions), Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal), European Champion Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) moving up through the bunch as the race orbited the opening lap.

Pidcock took the early race lead but he was soon joined by van der Poel over the barriers and into the sandpit. Van der Poel chose to stay on the bike through the sand while Pidcock used his running strength to stay connected with the Dutch rider’s rear wheel.

The pair completed the first lap in 6:30 minutes, seven seconds ahead of the first chasing group of van der Haar, Iserbyt, and Kuhn, and 19 seconds ahead of Niels Vandeputte and Toon Vandebosch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Sweeck, and Vanthourenhout.

Van der Poel slipped on the cobbles after passing through the mechanic pit and crashed on his left knee. With no room to maneouver around the accident, Pidcock also crashed.

Pidcock was able to recover and get back on his bike quickly, while van der Poel remained seated on the circuit for a few seconds. He was soon back on his bike, shaking his head, but then quickly dismounted to walk up the grass hill, appearing to limp on his injured left knee.

Back on his bike once again, Van der Poel gently rode through the next section of the circuit, appearing to take inventory of any injuries. While he was out of contention for the win, he continued racing and appeared relatively ok, hopping over the barriers and picking up speed on each subsequent circuit.

At the front of the race, Pidcock continued to put pressure on the chase group, but after losing a few precious seconds in the crash, van der Haar was able to briefly reconnect with the World Champion halfway through the second lap.

The reunion didn’t last long as Pidcock opened a 10-second gap on van der Haar at the start of the third of nine laps, with Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout chasing at 16 seconds back.

Pidcock pushed that lead out to 24 seconds heading into the fourth lap, racing flawlessly around the technical circuit.

He then took in a gel at the start of lap five, roughly halfway into the race, and with a gap of 32 seconds, he had plenty of time to ease up to top up his sugar levels.

Inside the last two laps, the three-rider chase heated up behind Pidcock, with Iserbyt appearing to be the strongest of the group. He opened a small lead on van der Haar, as Vanthourenhout struggled to hold the pace.

Despite his early crash, van der Poel held the fastest lap times, but he was positioned at three minutes down and too far back to race for a top-10 in Boom.

Pidcock all but secured the victory cruising through the finish line with one lap to go with 15 seconds in hand. Van der Haar put pressure on Iserbyt through the last lap, but they finished in a two-up sprint, with van der Haar taking second, and Iserbyt in third.

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