Klaas Vantornout won the first real muddy cross of the season at the Superprestige race in Asper-Gavere. The Belgian described the victory as one of the best of his career.

Having seen several different riders in big races in recent weeks, Klaas Vantornout finally broke the drought when he won today’s hard, muddy Superprestige race in Asper-Gavere. Having looked like the strongest rider for most of the race, the Belgian held off his rivals on the final lap to take a beautiful solo win.

After the first few laps, a front quintet with Vantornout, Kevin Pauwels, Tom Meeusen, overall leader Mathieu van der Poel and Philip Walsleben had formed. After a strong start where he had briefly led the race solo, van der Poel was dropped and Walsleben also lost contact with the leaders, making it a three-rider battle for the win.

Vantornout always looked like the strongest rider and repeatedly dropped his rivals in the hardest sections. However, he always seemed to be waiting for them and at the start of the penultimate lap, the trio were still together.

On the long second climb, Vantornout made his move and as he quickly opened a big gap, he left no one doubting that he was the strongest rider in the race. Pauwels and Meeusen were left to battle for second and it seemed that the latter had come out on top when he dropped the Sunweb rider. However, Meeusen made a costly mistake that saw him getting passed by Pauwels who made it a 1-2 for Sunweb.

"This is a very big win," Vantornout told Het Nieuwsblad. "When I think about it, this is one of the best of my career along with my Belgian title. After all, I don't win a lot but when I win, it is always superb racing."

"The way I won this race is fantastic. I asked for rain and that's what I got. Everything went perfect to get a very heavy course here. I think Gavere is the best cyclocross race of the entire season. Here every aspect of cyclocross comes into play. On such courses, the best rider can get rid of the rest. I saw that a few riders started too fast. I let them go because I felt that I could come back on the climb. When I heard that Sven Nys was behind, I decided not to wait. I really gave everything all the way to the finish.

"That so many riders have won races this season is only good for our sport only. The excitement makes the fans turn to cyclocross. What a crowd we had here. I enjoyed the final lap with the applause and encouragement tremendously but I also had to remain attentive all the way to the finish because bad luck awaits around every corner."