Kristof Vandewalle wins the Belgian National Road Championships
Kristof Vandewalle of Team Omega Pharma-Quickstep is the new Belgian time trial champion after his tremendous performance on Wednesday.
The cyclist crossed the finish-line in a quickest time of 56 minutes and 7 seconds and occupied the top podium position.
Ben Hermans of Team RadioShack-Nissan finished 48 seconds behind at the second position with Philippe Gilbert, Thomas De Gendt and Gaetan Bille holding the next three positions in the respective order.
"It's a great day for me," Vandewalle said. "I was looking forward to this race. I trained a lot in the last week to be competitive here and in the upcoming races”.
“Yesterday I did a recon of the parcour, and I had a feeling it could be a good track for me”.
“There were a lot of uphill sections where you had to use the small gear, and keep a good rhythm. So today, I did it”.
"The goal was to take a place on the podium. It was even better then I expected! It's my first victory of the season”.
The 27-year-old marked his professional debut with Team Topsport Vlaanderen in 2008 and stayed with the team for a period of three-years.
He accepted an offer from the Belgian side, Team Quick Step in 2011 and is spending his second consecutive season with the team.
Kristof opened his winning account with a stage victory at the Tour de I’Ain and built up on his tremendous form to claim the Belgian National Championships for the first time in his career.
Liesbet De Vocht of Team Stitching Rabo Women Cycling Team wins the Elite Women category of the race with Sofie De Vuyst, Ann-Sophie Duyck, Stephanie De Croock and Annelies Van Doorslaer occupying the next four spots in the respective order.
Aime De Gendt, Dries Van Gestel, Tiesj Benoot, Laurent Pieters and Ruben Pols were the top five names at the junior men category of the race.
The top five junior women at the Belgian Road Championships include, Lotte Kopecky (Team Top sport Vlaanderen), Dana Lodewyks (Team Kon. Balen B.C. V.Z.W), Kaat Van Der Meulen (Team Keukens Redant Cycling), Valerie Demey (Team Koninklijke) and Evy Roelen (Team Wielerclub De Sprinters Malderen).
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