Telenet Baloise Lions take four out of the top five, and Hermans crowned new leader after round two of the Superprestige.
The second round of the Telenet Superprestige series went much better for the Telenet Baloise Lions with Toon Aerts taking a dominant win and only Tom Pidcock’s (Trinity Racing) third place keeping the team from a clean sweep of the podium.
After the opening race in Gieten, Netherlands last week, the Superprestige series continued in De Schorre Boom, Belgium, on Saturday with slick, muddy conditions. The revamped course had cobbles, sand, and steep climbs and combined with the mud made for a tough race – it suited Toon Aerts perfectly. The Belgian Champion used his superior technical skills to eventually pull away from everyone and make amends for last week when a mechanical took him out of contention for victory. And it could not have come on a better day – Aerts celebrated his 26th birthday with his first win in a Superprestige series.
The course in Boom was much harder than the previous years. Over the past weeks, the starts of the races were really fast, so I decided to leave it up to the rest of the pack today to take the initiative. But two things helped me win today: I jumped all barriers and could quite easily use my small gears.
- Toon Aerts
Crossing the line in second was teammate Quinten Hermans and combined with his second place in Gieten last week, moved the Belgian into the overall lead of the Telenet Superprestige series.
Belgian Quinten Hermans crosses the finish line for second place.
It’s a career first for me to be the leader in a GC in the elite category, so I’m obviously very happy with that!
- Quinten Hermans
Dutch Corne Van Kessel
Dutch Lars Van Der Haar
Corné van Kessel (4th) and Lars van der Haar (5th) gave the Telenet Baloise Lions four in the top five, an impressive team performance in Boom.
“Toons’ win today is our first team win this CX season,” pointed out manager Karen Ramakers. “We’ve been adding up podium spots in each race over the past weeks, so we knew we’re good, but it’s a very nice relief to have the first actual win. Now, of course, we are hungry for more!”
