Marco Van Der Stel wins Melilla (picture: 3athlon.be/Matthias Verstraelen)
After Gran Canaria and Quarteira, Melilla was the third town to host a ETU Europe cup this season. This time it was a complete Dutch success thanks to a strong Marco Van Der Stel who convincingly took the win. Marco was the thriving force in the lead pack and managed to keep the small gap alive. In the run he had to deal with French Tom Richard. The Belgians were in the chase pack and did not succeed in going to the head of the race. Luckily the U23 performed well.
With a 7th spot for Elise Tahay and a 5th for Tom Van Capellen the Belgians had kicked off for a good weekend. Simon Foles 12th, Thomas Guilmot 15th, Rik Malcorps 18th and Antione Vandebroek 27th. Mika Vekemans DNF due to a mechanical. Sunday was less successful for the Belgians. Hanne De Vet DNS due to illness, so no Belgian women on the start. Belgian-Dutch Kirsten Nuyens DNF due to illness.
So it was up to the men to keep the flag up high. A lot of pressure was on Peter Denteneer, but he had to let the lead pack go during the swim. Four leaders emerged from T1, lead by Marco Van Der Stel. Two athletes managed to make contact, and the six of them made the gap larger and larger. French Tom Richard charged during the run, but did not manage to drop Van Der Stel. Richard came second, Antonio Serrat Seoane third.
Peter Denteneer was first Belgian on 23rd, just ahead of Menno Koolhaas, 25th, Noah Servais 33rd and Arnaud Mengal 56th.
Original article posted on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 15/04/2018
Translation by @T0v3