{"id":197852,"date":"2025-02-06T12:19:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T12:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=197852"},"modified":"2025-02-06T12:19:35","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T12:19:35","slug":"sweeck-takes-sweet-win-in-exact-cross-maldegem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/02\/06\/sweeck-takes-sweet-win-in-exact-cross-maldegem\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweeck Takes Sweet Win in Exact Cross Maldegem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laurens Sweeck rode a clever tactical race and proved strongest on the 11th, and final, lap of the Exact Cross in Maldegem to take the race for the third time, tying cyclocross legend Sven Nys for most wins in the race, which was formerly known as the Ethias Cross.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Crelan-Corendon rider had just enough gas left to hold off defending race champion Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen\u2013Cibel Clementines) to win his second Exact Cross race of the year. Iserbyt, who has had a disappointing year while battling a chronic back condition, finished 3 seconds adrift. Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was third at 9 seconds.<\/p>\n

In the first race after the Cyclo-cross World Championships, in which Sweeck finished tenth, and without the \u201cBig Vans\u201d (Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert), spectators were treated to a tense battle over a dry, very fast course that made it difficult to open gaps. So fast and dry was the Maldegem course that riders didn\u2019t slow down for the sand pit but attacked it at full throttle.<\/p>\n

No fewer than nine riders were still in contention at the end of lap 9, though it was clear that Sweeck and Iserbyt were the riders to beat as they took turns leading the group and occasionally accelerating to try and reduce the number of riders with them. It wasn\u2019t until lap 10, however, that the two managed to open a small gap on the rest under Iserbyt\u2019s impetus. The duo had 4 seconds on their pursuers at the end of the penultimate circuit and only Vandeputte managed to temporarily close them down before he was dropped again.<\/p>\n

When Sweeck mounted his final attack, Iserbyt had no answer and could never get closer to the winner than the final margin. \u201cIt was a fun race. My idea today was to ride flat out, but every time I looked back I saw ten men on my wheel,\u201d the winner said after the race. \u201cAfter that, I decided to always sit in second or third position so that I could always be attentive. I succeeded in that. This makes me very happy, especially because Sunday [in the World Championships] was such a disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Exact Cross (@exact_cross)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n