Daan De Groot on road to the win (picture: 3athlon.be/Mario Vanacker)
Geluwe was the start for the summer duathlon season in Belgium. One week after the last cross duathlon on Flemish soil (one more at Lac de l'Eau d'Heure on Sunday) it was time for the road bikes to come into play. But the Belgians were served by Dutch Daan De Groot, going solo on the bike.
Daan De Groot, ex-cyclist, is considered top of the duathlon pack in the Netherlands and took an outstanding win last week in the First Divisions Super Saturday Teamcompetition. An alge infested 010 triathlon at Rotterdam also brought him the win after a strong bike leg. This time the scenery was Flanders Fields, where he gapped Pieter Duyck one and a half minute, blasted passed Kan Van Rie (who had the strongest run) and managed to keep his position to finish in 1hr53'33. Pieter Duyck came second one minute later, Daan Schouten third another thirty seconds later.
The female race only had two competitors. It was Dutch Marina Van Dijk who took the fin after two years of injury. Harmke Vanblaere came second more than 15' later.
The sprint distance race had some discussion for result. The juniors had started on the same moment as the quarter distance, leaving the home crowd to believe Tim Vijverman had won. Nevertheless, Arnaud Dely crossed the line as first. The short distance female race was won by Soetkin Vertenten.
Original article posted on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 25/03/2018
Translation by @T0v3