Development Liam Van Bylen sprints to third place in chaotic Youngster Coast Challenge

It was a race full of obstacles for Van Bylen. "When the first echelon formed, I was in a good position. But suddenly, riders in front of me went down, and I couldn’t avoid the crash. I hit the ground myself and had to switch bikes, but the team car was all the way at the back. As a result, I ended up in the fourth echelon," he recalls. "From there, I kept moving up from echelon to echelon. On the local lap, we finally managed to bridge to the front group, but I had already spent so much energy that I lacked freshness in the sprint. This third place was the best possible result."

"When the first echelon formed, we had five riders up there. But a massive crash shattered everything: suddenly, we had no one left at the front," said sports director Wesley Van Speybroeck. "On the Kemmelberg, things were not looking good. Only Grisel was still in the second group, more than a minute behind the leaders. But our guys didn’t give up and kept fighting for Liam. That’s the most beautiful thing about this team today: never giving up. Despite all the bad luck, we still secured a podium finish, and that’s something to be proud of."

Photo: Brecht Steenhouwer