An Eli Iserbyt mistake on the final lap gave his teammate Michael Vanthourenhout an opportunity to win Sunday’s second round of the 2024-2025 World Cup in Dublin, Ireland. Despite having to change a shoe, the Belgian took his fifth career World Cup victory and first since 2022-2023. Third in the opening round of the series, the Pauwels Sauzen rider took over the World Cup lead from Iserbyt.
Preliminaries
Last Sunday Iserbyt earned the first World Cup lead after a crucial mid-season win. Laurens Sweeck and Vanthourenhout rounded out the podium. Pim Ronhaar won last year’s muddy round in Dublin. Sunday’s circuit wasn’t as mucky.
Ronhaar nabbed the hole shot on Lap 1, but Toon Aerts wanted the front. Iserbyt has enjoyed smoother starts. Czech Michael Boros was prominent on the business end of the string, but he crashed on the planks, a chain reaction taking down European champion Thibau Nys. Filipe Orts recovered nicely from the planks chaos and took the lead. Ronhaar led the pack over the line in 7:19.
With the string thinning out on Lap 2, Vanthourenhout seized the reins. There was no drama at the planks. Vanthourenhout led Ronhaar, Iserbyt, Orts and Joran Wyseure through the sand. Vanthourenhout began to apply pressure and soon there were bigger gaps between the riders. Iserbyt had to catch up.
Wyseure assumed the lead on Lap 3 of 8. Vanthourenhout ran into something and had his shoe unfastened. A six pack of riders–Vanthourenhout, Orts, Ronhaar, Wyseure, Orts and Iserbyt–led over the line.
Vanthourenhout swapped out his left shoe at the start of Lap 4. In fact, there was a lot of pit action that resulted in a bigger leading group. Iserbyt finally came to the front to scout for the gang through the sand. Ronhaar answered a burst from Vanthourenhout. The midpoint of the race was crossed in 28:52.
At the start of Lap 5, two Pauwels Sauzen boys at the front of the 10-strong group was an ominous sight. This bunch split before the sand. Ronhaar pushed hard before the line and kept up the effort into Lap 6, where Aerts took his turn as the engine in the little train.
Aerts led the sextet into the penultimate lap. Who was going to win this closely-contested race? Iserbyt guided through the sand while Orts laboured to catch up. Suddenly, it was Ronhaar playing Tailgunner Charlie.
Iserbyt kept applying pressure to the…
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