Superprestige third place hopes that performance will earn him a spot in Igorre World Cup
Telenet-Fidea riders Rob Peeters and Tom Meeusen managed to combine, in what is often seen as a highly individual branch of the sport, to put Peeters on the podium of the Gieten round of cyclocross’ Superprestige series. With just over two laps to go Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) and Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) had escaped, and were on their way to almost certain first and second places, just as they had done at the Koksijde, Belgium, round of the World Cup the day before; but the two teammates managed to overcome the other chasers to secure the third spot.
"I felt not so fresh any more in the closing stages and so I put myself at the service of Rob Peeters,” Meeusen (pictured) explained afterwards, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. “In the beginning of the race I lost a lot of time by a wrong tyres choice that meant I was slipping too much. Only when I had changed bikes did I managed to recover my speed, but then I was no longer as strong. That is why I Peeters on the road towards a third place.”
The once-dominant super team of Telenet-Fidea has fallen on hard times since the departure of World champion Zdenek Stybar to Quick Step, and while veteran Bart Wellens still struggles to regain his World class form after suffering mononucleosis in 2009. For that reason it was all the more important for Meeusen to work for his teammate.
“For a team like Telenet-Fidea there are not many victories,” Meeusen explained, “which makes every podium all the more important."
Peeters himself had not ridden in Koksijde the day before – not having made the Belgian national selection – to which much of his good form can be attributed. His third place in Gieten is his strongest result of the year so far; he still remains a little put out over his World Cup non-selection though, and hopes to make the list for the next race in Igorre, Spain.
“I’m looking forward to the new selection when it’s made in the morning,” he said. “I hope I don’t get another slap in the face.
“When the selection for Koksijde was made they really didn’t take into account the number of equipment failures that I’ve had in the last few weeks,” he explained, “which is why I wanted to show myself immediately after the start in Gieten.
“I never thought I’d get third place, but in the end I was the best of the pursuers,” he added. “I even managed to almost catch them up and sprint for victory, but that wouldn’t have been possible because I was finished.”