Bouyed by his selection to the Belgian team for the following weekend’s World championships, Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) took his second victory inside a week, and his second straight victory at the Kasteelcross in Zonnebeke, just east of Ieper [AKA Ypres – ed]. The 26-year-old from Geel finished solo, ahead of Dieter (BKCP-Powerplus) and Sven Vanthourenhout (Landbouwkrediet); the two riders who didn’t quite make the Belgian selection.
Dieter, the younger of the two Vanthourenhout cousins managed to escape cousin Sven to take second; Sven held out to beat Landbouwkrediet team captain and namesake Sven Nys.
"Due to heavy rainfall was a very heavy cross,” Peeters told Sporza afterwards. “The mud was sticky and greasy, so you had to use a lot of strength to move forward.
"This win feels very good, especially one week before the World championships,” he added. “I’ll start the race without pressure; I’ll take the Worlds race minute by minute."
Spurred on by their own non-selection – just as Peeters later was by his selection – the Vanthourenhouts took the initiative from the very early stages and managed to open up a gap in the first few laps. Peeters was the only member of the main chasing group that was really interested in chasing the two cousins, and managed to bridge across; making contact in lap five.
Immediately having joined the leaders, Peeters accelerated again and soon managed to drop the others; he managed to keep his gap over the chasers, riding the final four laps alone to finish 24 seconds clear of Dieter Vanthourenhout. Sven Vanthourenhout finished some 40 seconds back, with Nys – perhaps with one eye looking at the following day’s World Cup race in Hoogerheide, Netherlands – was fourth, one minute back.
Result Kasteelcross Zonnebeke
1. Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet-Fidea
2. Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus
3. Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
4. Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
5. Martin Zlamalik (Cze) Landbouwkrediet-KDL
6. Kenneth Van Compernolle (Bel) Style & Concept
7. Ben Berden (Bel) OPS ALE-Stoemper
8. Ryan Trebon (USA) LTS-Felt
9. Geert Wellens (Bel) A.S.B. Parein-Rogelli
10. Bart Hofman (Bel) Afdeling Oost-Vlaanderen WBV - VZW