Yves Lampaert and Remco Evenepoel finished second and third, respectively, in the time trial race held around Middelkerke.
Victorious in the last individual time trial of the Tour de Suisse, Yves Lampaert confirmed his strong form ahead of the Tour de France, by coming runner-up at the Belgian Championships. Penultimate rider to head out on the flat course in Middelkerke, Yves enjoyed a solid start, setting the fastest time at the first checkpoint, ten seconds clear of teammate Remco Evenepoel.
As the race progressed, Yves kept a steady rhythm, but at the end of the second lap he found himself five seconds adrift and eventually, despite a composed effort, concluded the 38.3km event in 45:19, half a minute behind Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
“I was expecting to finish behind Victor and Wout, so to have only Wout in front of me is a good result and I think I can be satisfied with it. Of course, it’s always nice to win, but being on the podium with Remco and Wout is something special. I tried to keep my tempo the whole time and just go as fast as possible. Second is a good result, which only motivates me for the road race”, said Yves after his fifth consecutive podium at the ITT Nationals.
Another outstanding ride on Thursday came from Remco Evenepoel, the recent Belgium Tour winner. One of the late starters, the 19-year-old neo-pro continued his impressive his first half of the season, putting together a really nice TT ride and scorching around the course in 45:26 at an average of 50.58km/h, which slotted him into third at the end of the day.
“It’s a dream come true to be on the podium at the Belgian Championships! Coming into the race, this was my goal. Everything went perfect and I stuck to the plan we laid out before the start. The wind was really strong today, but we all had to face these conditions. It’s the longest ITT in my career and it showed me that I still need to improve, especially in long distance time trials. Overall, I can be really happy about this performance and I now look forward to Sunday.”
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
