Ronhaar came out on top in Dublin's mud
Sunday 26 November 2023
After Dendermonde, Pim Ronhaar also took victory in Dublin. The decisive move came in the last straight. Sweeck had to give the thumbs up to the Dutchman and came second. Iserbyt finished in third place and remains in the lead in the rankings.
Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) clearly enjoyed the muddy Dublin circuit. He opted for a decisive attack in the first lap and appeared to be pulling ahead, but there was still too much competition in the background to seal the match conclusively. However, Nys continued to keep up the pressure and caused a new order in the chasing group. It was Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauces - Bingoal) and Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) who managed to survive the first battle.
In the fourth lap, about halfway through the race, it was all over again. Wyseure (Crelan - Corendon) saw his moment come, but it was mainly Ronhaar's attack that set the stage for the final. Iserbyt and Sweeck (Crelan - Corendon) began the chase. It looked like it was going to be a battle between the three. That was until in the fifth of a total of seven laps, Sweeck suffered a puncture and suddenly found himself trailing by about 10 seconds.
Undeterred, last season's World Cup winner clearly still had a lot of power in his legs. When Iserbyt joined Ronhaar in the penultimate lap, Sweeck had also reduced his gap to six seconds. When they entered the final lap, everything came together again. It was a great moment for Ronhaar to accelerate again.
It was Sweeck who finally caught up with Ronhaar after one lap. In the last hectometres, an exciting duel unfolds. Sprint or not? Sweeck went up and over Ronhaar with pure power and we seemed to be heading for a sprint. However, the Dutchman hadn’t been factored into the equation, and he took Sweeck by surprise with an attack just before entering the final straight.
Ronhaar rushed to his second World Cup victory after Dendermonde. Sweeck ended up trailing by two seconds while in the slipstream. World Cup leader Iserbyt ended up third in 20 seconds, but still leads the ranking.
