Eli Iserbyt took Saturday’s wild second round of the X2O Badkamers Trofee at the pavement-heavy Urban Cross in Kortrijk, Belgium. The race was a doozy with Iserbyt, Lars van der Haar, Michael Vanthourenhout and Cameron Mason all in contention. Iserbyt now has wins in the 2023-2024 World Cup, Superprestige and X2O series. Van der Haar assumed the X2O Badkamers Trofee lead from Thibau Nys.
The Situation Before Saturday
Nys claimed the first round at Koppenbergcross in Oudenaarde on November 1 and led van der Haar by 22 seconds at the top of the heap. But Nys wasn’t in the 30-strong field on Saturday.
Iserbyt was far down the pack at the beginning of Lap 1. Van der Haar assumed the lead and surged away with Corne van Kessel. Iserbyt was up to third. The duo’s gap was nine seconds after one circuit.
Van Kessel continued to hold van der Haar’s wheel on Lap 2. Iserbyt, teammate Vanthourenhout and Niels Vandeputte comprised the chase. Vanthourenhout was +0:11 by the line.
Van der Haar tried to rid himself of company on Lap 3 of 8 and finally went clear. Vanthourenhout began to draw van Kessel closer and the two crossed the line +0:14.
The Dutch champion had the wind in his sails in the middle laps. Vanthourenhout took his claim of Position 2 and started to chip away at van der Haar’s advantage. Van Kessel now had to battle for the final podium spot. Vanthourenhout caught van der Haar on Lap 5.
By the start of Lap 6, van Kessel’s podium dreams were taking a thumping. Iserbyt’s main competition for the final step was British champion Cameron Mason. The four riders gelled and all took a fresh bike. Mason wasn’t shy in going to the front, and Iserbyt was Tailgunner Charlie. Everyone was held up when Mason fell on the off-camber section.
On the penultimate lap they all pitted again. Rain started to dimple the mud. Iserbyt tried to slip away as the two Pauwels Sauzen riders hit the others with combinations. Mason started to lag.
At the beginning of the bell lap, Mason endeavoured to come back. Vanthourenhout took his leave, but just when things looked great for the European champion, he crashed and hurt his shoulder. Iserbyt now led, with Mason second and van der Haar third. Iserbyt fell on the off-camber section. Van der Haar had to close the gap to the Belgian and the Brit. Iserbyt pried out a gap and clung tenaciously to…
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