24/08/2025 - Ingelmunster (BvB)

Today we headed out with the team to Ingelmunster for a new round of the Belgian Cup for juniors. On the programme: 120 kilometres on a billiard-flat course, ideal terrain for sprinters, but less to the advantage of climbers like Gilles. Still, everything was geared towards the team and the team classification, on which much depends for the team's future participations.

From the start, the pace was exceptionally high. Racing through the feed zone at 55 km/h made it immediately clear that this would be no easy assignment. In the end, the average came out at 45 km/h! Breakaway attempts followed one another in quick succession, but each time one of our team members was in the move, keeping things under control. Unfortunately, we had to do without our sprinter early on due to a flat tyre and then back pain, forcing a switch to plan B.

The team adapted smoothly: there was good communication among each other, attacks were set up, and neutralisations were carried out tightly. Gilles contributed here by driving up the speed, setting up attacks, and keeping control at the front of the peloton. A few laps before the end, the decisive situation arose: a teammate made it into a four-man lead group, while the rest of the team cleverly shut down the peloton. On a narrow road, with four riders across the front row so that no one could get past anymore, the lead group's advantage quickly grew to a minute.

The race was skilfully kept closed down, and the opponents' morale drained away. In the finale, our teammate skilfully claimed the win, a beautiful crowning of the teamwork. Gilles proved he still had enough freshness left, sprinting among the out-and-out sprinters to a fine 22nd place out of 144 participants.

What began as a flat and rather dull assignment grew, thanks to the team spirit, into a successful and engaging day. A true team performance to be proud of.