The last cross duathlon in Flanders was last week at Geel-Bel, the very last Belgian one passed last Sunday at the Bike Parc at les Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure. It was a sunny, fast edition with a battle between Lucas Pollet and Romain Debry. Masters Kevin Strubbe and Didier Vandenbosch also performed outstanding.
It's the cross duathlons second edition. Last year it was covered in snow, this year exceptionally sunny. In and around the 'Bike Parc' at les Lacs de l'Eau d'Heure a challenging MTB track was created including single tracks and parts of the artificial bike parc for a 5/20/2.5 race. The head of the race had to fight until the end on this deadly course.
Start was given at 1045 and the course almost instantly started the 2 loop single track. A quick start was the way to go and a lead pack of 4 was created. Xterra athlete Romain Debry arrived first in transition, along with Lucas Pollet he started biking with a small advantage on Michael Gillain and Boris Rollin. They were followed by a small group containing Kevin Strubbe and European (+50) Crosstriathlon Champion Didier Vandenbosch. The demanding course had quite some altitude gain and the technical parts scattered the pack. Both leaders stuck together on the bike so de decision fell in the final 2.5km run. Gillain came third in T2 with a 2 minute gap, followed by Rolin, AG winner at Ironman Vichy and 8th in Scratch. Kevin Strubbe moved from 8th to 5th thanks to a strong bike leg. Matthias Evrats followed 15 seconds later.
Debry, winner of cross duathlon at Boulzicourt earlier this month, had to bow for Pollet. 2 minutes later Gillain came third, Rolin 4th. Strubbe had to allow the company of Evrats, but managed to obtain 5th, with a 22 second gap to Evrats, giving him the H40 victory. 52-year old Didier Vandenbosch finished 8th and won the H50 category.
Sinead Doran, known since the BC cross duathlon at Retie, won the female race ahead of Geraldine Cornet and Magali Saingery. Sofie Foulon came 4th and first veteran.
Credits to Kevin Strubbe for the report and the pictures
Original article posted on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 27/03/2018
Translation by @T0v3