Tom Meeusen and Kevin Pauwels finished on the podium in today's race in Leuven but were unable to match Mathieu van der Poel. Nonetheless, they gained confidence for next week's Belgian Championships.

"I leave this New Year season with a good feeling," Tom Meeusen told Het Nieuwsblad after today's race in Leuven. "This gives me confidence for the Belgian championships but there is one rider who is better than me. For me there is only one top favorite: Wout Van Aert. Most of the pressure is on him."

In Baal, Meeusen lost a spot on the podium due to bad luck but in Leuven the Telenet-Fidea rider did better. "At the moment, Mathieu van der Poel went, everyone looked a bit at each other. I hoped Laurens Sweeck would close the gap, but he didn't. If I had wanted to follow Mathieu, I had to go full gas. He is the deserved winner."

Kevin Pauwels finished third.  "My start was not good," the Sunweb leader told Het Nieuwsblad. "Just like in the previous races but fortunately I was back in front pretty quickly. The feeling in the race was good, better than in the previous two races. I thought that Mathieu was not so good today because he was dropped on the climb.

"That's why I closed the gap to Laurens [Sweeck] but moments later Mathieu went on the attack. I did not respond right away and thought that I could still close the gap but it was impossible. I am reassured about my form, but to beat Van Aert next week, I'll still have to get better."