In the first European Xterra race of the season Geert Lauryssen was long in the running for a top-5 finish. The Cecemel Sportoase 185 athlete took a wrong turn in the final stages of the run and hereby lost a close 5th place. Seeing international top names just in front of him makes the performance only more spectacular. Roger Serrano took the win in Malta.
Geert had to make up some time after a choppy swim, but with the fastest MTB split he entered the top-8. Roger Serrano finished in 2hr2'22 after a clash with Victor Del Corral. The latter entered transition just ahead of Geert, but is notorious for his strong run. Max Sasserath came third, Francois Carloni 4th and Maxim Chané 5th, 5 second ahead of Geert.
"I'm happy with the 6th place," says Geert, "only a shame that I missed a turn, which cost me 5th and quite some pricemoney, but the fastest bikesplit offers some comfort".
Van Daele 20th
Tim Van Daele was second Belgian on 20th. "After a sloppy swim I managed to move up some places on the MTB," Tim tells us. "In the run I couldn't force anything, as I had injured my foot two days earlier. I tried to surge in the last 500m, leaving me 20th. All I can do now is let the ankle rest and look forward to the next race," says Tim.
Brigitta Poor won in 2hr42'29 ahead of Carine Wasle and Helena Erbenova. Remarkable was the 9th place for Ine Couckuyt in the pro field. She finished in 3hr06'50 due to a flat tyre which she repaired on scene. Dutch Maud Golsteyn came fifth.
Her partner Lars Van der Eeden had taken the M40 earlier that day, Belgian AG Robbe Janssens celebrated his birthday with a 20th AG spot, silver M20. Don Jorno Van Der Veken 6th M30 and Claire Avril took the win in the F25.
Original article posted on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 15/04/2018
Translation by @T0v3