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Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) secured his second World Cup victory of the season after outsprinting Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon) for the win in the rain-soaked round in Dublin, Ireland.
After 57 minutes of relentless chasing, overall World Cup leader Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) was forced to settle for third place.
The race came down to the three riders after Ronhaar led the race alone for much of the second half, forcing Iserbyt and Sweeck to close the small gap.
Ronhaar, 22, proved strongest on the muddy course and tactically superior, especially through the final few hundred metres when Sweeck caught him.
The two riders barreled into the final corner, with Rohnaar making a last-ditch attack onto the pavement before sprinting to the victory.
“At the beginning, I thought Thibau [Nys] was going to win the race easily. It was a really hard race,” Rohnaar said of his teammate who led the opening laps.
“I was always in third or fourth position. Last year, I did the same, and that was the best for this course because it was so compact for the first half. With two or three laps to the end, I got a gap and gave it my all. I felt so good. The sandpit wasn’t my thing, but I did well on the last lap.
“Laurens passed me in the last 500 metres, and I thought, ‘ah shit, am I not going to win this race.’ I was waiting for the right moment, and when I went, I was so strong, looked back, and he was nowhere, so it’s a nice feeling to win like this.”
Iserbyt, who was almost caught at the line by fourth-place Joran Wyseure (Creland-Corendon), managed to hold on for third place and kept the lead in the World Cup series.
“It was tiring. It was a hard race for me, and in the deep mud, I had a disadvantage. I kept pushing hard, and it’s a podium for me, and…
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