Back-to-back victories for Soudal Quick-Step’s talented junior.
Thibaut Van Damme had an excellent weekend in Gent’s Flemish Cycling Center Eddy Merckx, where Belgium’s National Track Championships were held, winning a pair of gold medals. The 17-year-old, who will sport the colours of our junior team this season, showed off the Soudal Quick-Step kit for the first time and made sure he would make it a memorable outing.
Thibaut kicked things off by blasting to an impressive victory in the 1km race, where he gave no chance to his opponents, before taking on the points race. There, after an excellent start from his side, the others tried to put Van Damme under pressure by relentlessly attacking him in the second part of the race, but our rider kept his calm and scored enough points to make sure the win would be his.
“During the warm-up I had great legs and was really motivated. I had a perfect start in the 1km event and won it with the time I had in my mind before the race, which made me really happy and confident for the next appointment. In the points race I went on the offensive right from the start and got a lot of points in the sprints. Then I tried to keep the race under control and managed to shut down the many attacks that came, which in the end was enough for the win. I’m incredibly happy with how things went for me, taking two gold medals here is a really great start to the season in the Soudal Quick-Step jersey, and that makes me proud”, a delighted Thibaut said.
Photo credit: ©Geert Tresignie