By Graham Healy
Ronan McLaughlin’s impressive form continued today, Saturday, when he finished in 8th place in the UCI 1.2 Beverbeek Classic in Belgium. The Donegal man was a late replacement for An Post-ChainReaction team mate Sean Downey who had to pull out of the team due to illness.
McLaughlin had originally been due to just race tomorrow in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, but was drafted into the team at late notice.
This morning the organisers decided to shorten the race to 148 kilometres, due to snowfall in the Limburg region. The riders would now have to first race an 88 kilometre loop, before hitting the finish line for the first time, and then complete seven laps of an 8.2 kilometres loop.
The An Post–ChainReaction team’s plan was to work for Niko Eeckhout and Sam Bennett, as it was expected the race could finish in a sprint.
Advertisement
Related News
Another member of the team, Alphonse Vermote was optimistic before the start, saying: "I have the advantage of having raced in the Etoile de Bessèges and the Tour of Algarve. I even escaped once on a stage of Bessèges. But I have a lot riding in the sun. And today is under the snow, so this may be a disadvantage. We'll see, but this is a great opportunity for our team to take a win unlike tomorrow at Kuurne, where it will be much more difficult.”
A number of breakaways went clear throughout the race, but were nullified each time. So it wasn’t until the 115km mark that the first real threat escaped, consisting of Roy Sentjens (De Rijke), Dries Hollanders (Metec), Tom Dernies (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and Ruben Boons (Lotto-Belisol U23).
They quickly gained the best part of a minute on the peloton, as the duo of Nicky Van der Lijke (Rabobank Development Team), and Tom Vermeer (Jo Piels) took up the chase. This pair eventually made it across to the leaders to form a group of six with an advantage of 52” over the peloton with just five kilometres remaining.
McLaughlin then took off in pursuit with 4km remaining with Christer Jensen (Joker Merida), but they had left it too late.
Up ahead, Van der Lijke won the sprint ahead of Hollanders, whilst McLaughlin finished 53” seconds later, having been outsprinted for seventh place by Jensen with the bunch right behind them.
Bennett also finished well to the front in 25th place, U23 Irish international Conor Dunne (VL TECHNICS - Abutriek) was also taking part and finished in 87th place. Jack Wilson, competing in his first race for the An Post-ChainReaction team, wasn’t listed amongst the finishers.
Beverbeek Classic 2013
| Position | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | VAN DER LIJKE Nick | 00:00:40 |
| 2. | HOLLANDERS Dries | 00:00:30 |
| 3. | VERMEER Tom | 00:00:16 |
| 4. | DERNIES Tom | 00:00:12 |
| 5. | SENTJENS Roy | 00:00:10 |
| 6. | BOONS Ruben | 00:00:08 |
| 7. | JENSEN Christer | 00:00:06 |
| 8. | MC LAUGHLIN Ronan | 00:00:03 |
| 9. | TE BRAKE Remco | 00:00:00 |
| 10. | VAN DER WEIJST Geert | 00:00:00 |
| 11. | MCLAY Daniel | 00:00:00 |
| 12. | GJOLBERG Adrian | 00:00:00 |
| 13. | VALLEE Boris | 00:00:00 |
| 14. | VAN STAEYEN Kevin | 00:00:00 |
| 15. | BUGGE Vegard Robinson | 00:00:00 |
| 16. | BOUWMAN Koen | 00:00:00 |
| 17. | DEWEER Jochen | 00:00:00 |
| 18. | DOMS Steven | 00:00:00 |
| 19. | CAROLUS Jorne | 00:00:00 |
| 20. | KAUPAS Vytautas | 00:00:00 |
| 21. | RIGAUX Lewis | 00:00:00 |
| 22. | YDENS Andrew | 00:00:00 |
| 23. | MONREAL Florian | 00:00:00 |
| 24. | VERNAECKT Thomas | 00:00:00 |
| 25. | BENNETT Sam | 00:00:00 |
| 26. | SALOMEIN Jarl | 00:00:00 |
| 27. | STASSEN Julien | 00:00:00 |
| 28. | BERNATONIS Marius | 00:00:00 |
| 29. | PIETERS Sibrecht | 00:00:00 |
| 30. | MERTENS Nick | 00:00:00 |
| 31. | VANDYCK Niels | 00:00:00 |
| 32. | ASSELMAN Jesper | 00:00:00 |
| 33. | MOSER Ignazio | 00:00:00 |
| 34. | KÖRBER Sebastian | 00:00:00 |
| 35. | SMIRNOVS Andris | 00:00:00 |
| 36. | VAN DE WAETER Sean | 00:00:00 |
| 37. | CRAEGHS Maarten | 00:00:00 |
| 38. | LEEMANS Rob | 00:00:00 |
| 39. | ZABEL Rick | 00:00:00 |
| 40. | BURKHARDT Holger | 00:00:00 |
| 41. | VANBILSEN Kenneth | 00:00:00 |
| 42. | KURTH Michael | 00:00:00 |
| 43. | PEETERS Kevin | 00:00:00 |
| 44. | VAN TRIJP Maarten | 00:00:00 |
| 45. | DHAENE Brecht | 00:00:00 |
| 46. | DUFRASNE Jonathan | 00:00:00 |
| 47. | VAN HOECKE Justin | 00:00:00 |
| 48. | FAUVILLE Dimitri | 00:00:00 |
| 49. | SPRENGERS Thomas | 00:00:00 |
| 50. | MOTTET Florent | 00:00:00 |
| 51. | HAVIK Yoeri | 00:00:00 |
| 52. | CASTELIJNS Twan | 00:00:00 |
| 53. | VIAENE Jonas | 00:00:00 |
| 54. | CONVENS Louis | 00:00:00 |
| 55. | GUARDIOLA Salvador | 00:00:00 |
| 56. | THEUNS Edward | 00:00:00 |
| 57. | VANSUMERE Ian | 00:00:00 |
| 58. | KAUPAS Gediminas | 00:00:00 |
| 59. | WALSLEBEN Max | 00:00:00 |
| 60. | GROENEWEGEN Dylan | 00:00:00 |
| 61. | PARDINI Olivier | 00:00:00 |
| 62. | GOOVAERTS Tom | 00:00:00 |
| 63. | DESCHESNE Julien | 00:00:00 |
| 64. | MIESSEN Andreas | 00:00:00 |
| 65. | BOVENHUIS Jasper | 00:00:00 |
| 66. | BORGERSEN Reidar | 00:00:00 |
| 67. | PREMONT Christophe | 00:00:00 |
| 68. | SKJERPING Kristoffer | 00:00:00 |
| 69. | FRANSSEN Wout | 00:00:00 |
| 70. | VAN LENT Kenny | 00:00:00 |
| 71. | KOUWENHOVEN Sjoerd | 00:00:00 |
| 72. | DE ROOZE Niels | 00:00:00 |
| 73. | FINDERS Dirk | 00:00:00 |
| 74. | DOHLUS Tobias | 00:00:00 |
| 75. | COENEN Johan | 00:00:00 |
| 76. | DE WINTER Ludwig | 00:00:00 |
| 77. | NOVAK Jakub | 00:00:00 |
| 78. | WILLIAMS Tyler | 00:00:00 |
| 79. | DEMOITIE Antoine | 00:00:00 |
| 80. | MINNAARD Marco | 00:00:00 |
| 81. | HAGENAARS Luc | 00:00:00 |
| 82. | JACOBS Bert | 00:00:00 |
| 83. | GEYSEN Kurt | 00:00:00 |
| 84. | BREEN Vegard | 00:00:00 |
| 85. | KERF Jerome | 00:00:00 |
| 86. | CAMPENAERTS Victor | 00:00:00 |
| 87. | DUNNE Conor | 00:00:00 |
| 88. | SORTVEIT Sondre Gjerdevik | 00:00:00 |
| 89. | LETEN Wouter | 00:00:00 |
| 90. | FRANCKAERT Gregory | 00:00:00 |
| 91. | VEKEMAN Maxime | 00:00:00 |
| 92. | NACHTERGAELE Niels | 00:00:00 |
| 93. | KERKHOFS Mathias | 00:00:00 |
| 94. | VERMANT Wim | 00:00:00 |
| 95. | NORDHOFF Alexander | 00:00:00 |
| 96. | WINTERS Ronald | 00:00:00 |
| 97. | AMPLER Rick | 00:00:00 |
| 98. | BAILLIFARD Valentin | 00:00:00 |
| 99. | RATCLIFF Alister | 00:00:00 |
| 100. | GOOS Frederik | 00:00:00 |
| 101. | BERTHOLET Quentin | 00:00:00 |
| 102. | ANCIAUX Maxime | 00:00:00 |
| 103. | BENOIT Andre | 00:00:00 |
| 104. | BAUGNIES Jérôme | 00:00:00 |
| 105. | KOOLS Jos | 00:00:00 |
| 106. | VERMELTFOORT Coen | 00:00:00 |
| 107. | PAAJANEN Paavo | 00:00:00 |
| 108. | JOSEPH Stijn | 00:00:00 |
| 109. | TRUSOV Nikolai | 00:00:00 |
| 110. | SLIK Ivar | 00:00:00 |
| 111. | WARNIER Antoine | 00:00:00 |
| 112. | VANSTAEN Roman | 00:00:00 |
| 113. | DE KORT Bram | 00:00:00 |
| 114. | FLET Axel | 00:00:00 |
| 115. | PESTIAUX Loic | 00:00:00 |
| 116. | VAN DE MAELE Glenn | 00:00:00 |
| 117. | OP HET EYNDE Thomas | 00:00:00 |
| 118. | MOTKE Ritchie | 00:00:00 |
| 119. | PFINGSTEN Christoph | 00:00:00 |
| 120. | BERTLING Matthias | 00:00:00 |
| 121. | BROEKMANS Glenn | 00:00:00 |
| 122. | MERTENS Tom | 00:00:00 |
| 123. | BIHEL César | 00:00:00 |
Topics
