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Hi and welcome to the Individual Time Trial in Koksijde, Belgium. The sun is shining and there is hardly any wind, so ideal weather. Question of the day is; Can anyone beat defending champion Dominique Cornu? Well, let's find out!

The first 62 riders have already finished (all TT < 74), Thomas Degand is currently leading, he was 1 second faster than Victor Campenaerts.

The last 11 riders are about to start (all TT > 73) and first up is
Jurgen Van den Broeck (TT75). He sets the new best time 1h09'22.


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But he won't be happy with his time because right behind him Serge Pauwels (TT74) is having better times at all the 3 checkpoints sofar and in the end is 1'23" faster: 1h07'59, what an amazing performance by the Aegon rider!


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For the number freaks, the information from the checkpoints up until now:


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Frederik Frison (TT75) gets a morale boost by overtaking Niels Albert during his ride, but his checkpoint times are slower than his teammate;

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Welle Jallays (TT75) is one of the many Team BPost'ers here today (22 in total), but he can't beat the Aegon riders, in the end he is 49 seconds slower than Serge Pauwels.


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Michiel Van Aelbroeck (TT75) is the only rider from Sancor Cycling Team, but he is 22 seconds faster than Serge Pauwels at the first checkpoint, 49 seconds at the second checkpoint, 54 seconds at the third checkpoint, lost a little in the last part of the race, but still takes the new best time -> 1h07'09!

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Only 6 more riders to go, Team BPost isn't doing well up until now and Sven Vandousselaere (TT76) also fails to impress, finishing almost 2 minutes behind Michiel Van Aelbroeck. Colnago isn't known for there time trial equipment, so this could be bad news for Dominique Cornu.


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Next in line: Kristof Vandewalle (TT76), he is on paper the best time trialist of Aegon - Lavazza, but also he fails big time, finishing behind his weaker teammates Pauwels and Frison; 1'35" behind the surprise of the day Michiel Van Aelbroeck of Sancor Cycling Team;

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Thomas De Gendt (TT76) also fails to come close to the best time up until now, he lost 30 per checkpoint and he finished almost 2 minutes behind Michiel Van Aelbroeck, still fastest man of Quickstep but just enough to finish top-10 it seems.


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Only 3 riders left now, Kristof Goddaert (TT76) of Metinvest started of good during the first half of the race, but slowly came to the conclusion that he won't be Belgian Next Top TimeTrialist; 1'14" on Sancor's finest.


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Jan Ghyselinck (TT76) is the second last rider to give it a try, at the first checkpoint he is only 9 seconds slower than Michiel Van Aelbroeck. But Van Aelbroeck can breath a sigh of relief, second checkpoint +15", third checkpoint +28" and finish +38". So only Cornu left and Michiel Van Aelbroeck is still leading!

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Because Dominique Cornu (TT82) is the defending champion he has the luxury of starting last, so he knows he has to be faster than Michiel Van Aelbroeck. Cornu has a solid first part of the race and at the first checkpoint he is 22 seconds faster than Van Aelbroeck, but it is not over yet because Van Aelbroeck was able to keep a constant high pace, even in the last kilometres.


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At the second checkpoint Dominique Cornu is again 22 seonds faster than Van Aelbroeck. He also now can see Jan Ghyselinck of Becherovka - Petrof in front of him which is a big advantage.


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During the last part of the race Dominique Cornu doesn't slow down at all, another 20 extra on Michiel Van Aelbroeck making it -> 1'02". Cornu is still using Jan Ghyselinck as a target, he might even get past him before the race ends!


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So Dominique Cornu in hindsight easily defends his jersey, his time; 1h05'56!


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Again for the number freaks, all the information from the checkpoints top-10 riders:

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Dominique Cornu is by far the best Time Trialist of Belgium!


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Hi and welcome to Ghent, Belgium, the sun is shining and there is hardly any wind, so again ideal weather. Dominique Cornu won the Individual Time Trial for Team BPost. Question of today is; Can Team BPost get the double? Well, let's find out!

22 Teams are here at the start with all good cobble leaders like Boonen, Nolf, Vanbilsen, Vanmarcke/Nooytens, Jacobs and Nuyens.

They all will fight against Team BPost who by far are the largest squad with 23 riders, it will be interesting to see how the splitting-up-in-3-subteams will affect their team tactic:

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Right from the start we see numerous attacks as soon as the flag drops; Jelle Vanendert, Dimitri Claeys, Romain Zingle, Louis Verhelst, Jens Keukeleire, Eliot Lietaer, Jérome Giaux, Zico Waeytens and Tosh Van der Sande.


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The gap soon goes to 41" as a result of the peloton's hesitation, so a little bit later also Lars Croket attacks, probably smart move being the only rider from Project: Africa.


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The gap between the peloton and the breakaway ballooned to 3'10", but now Aegon - Lavazza and Team BPost are taking control. Aegon doesn't have a rider in the breakaway, while BPost has 2 riders in front, but this way they at least keep some control over the race situation.


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The breakaway is working well together, everyone doing equal turns, Lars Croket joined the breakaway just before they reached the first cobble section of today were Jérome Giaux is leading. The gap remains about the same; 3'21".


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Five men are leading the peloton over the first cobble section; Bart De Clercq, Sven Vandousselaere, Jurgen Van den Broeck, Serge Pauwels and Kristof Vandewalle. The gap is now 4 minutes, with 50 kilometres left to go.


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The second cobble section; Eliot Lietaer is leading the breakaway, last year his teammate Jurgen Roelandts won the National Championship and with one man in the break chances are that Bouygues Telecom might win it again. The gap is now 5 minutes, with 44 kilometres left to go.


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The third cobble section; Jens Keukeleire is leading the breakaway, it will be interesting to see how he and his teammate Romain Zingle will play out the extra man situation, if the break makes it to the finish. The gap is now 6 minutes, with 40 kilometres left to go. Crucial 10 kilometres ahead now for the peloton until the next cobble section.


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The fourth cobble section; The five men who are leading the peloton ( Aegon - Lavazza and Team BPost) were able to keep the same pace as the 10 men in front, 30 kilometres left to go (with the same cobble sections up until now) and the gap is 5'40", it looks like the winner is in this breakaway group, so let's have a closer look at them:

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Back in the peloton two former National Champions; Philippe Gilbert and Nick Nuyens still want to give it a try, 27,5 kilometres left to go and the gap to the breakaway is almost 7 minutes.


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A little bit later also Geert Steurs joins the two oldies, but the peloton is not far behind, the race situation half race;

Peloton	Escape2	Escape1
60	3	10
7'10"	6'20

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The fifth cobble section; The breakaway group is taking it easy with Jérome Giaux leading. They lost a minute both to three other escapees as well as the peloton, but nothing to worry about yet.


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The sixth cobble section; Eliot Lietaer tries to get the pace back in to the breakaway but not many others are helping, the gap to the peloton remains the same but Gilbert and co are gaining time fast -> 13 kilometres left to go;

Peloton	Escape2	Escape1
60	3	10
7'02"	4'57

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The seventh cobble section; After some talks the breakaway riders are working together again, 11 kilometres left to go and it's certain now that these ten men will fight for victory.


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Back in the peloton we see a late attack; Pieter Vanspeybrouck, Sep Vanmarcke, Frederik Nolf and a little bit later Bert De Backer. It seems like a late effort to at least get a top-20 ranking.


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5 kilometres to go; Romain Zingle is leading the group, he will probably try to keep the group together because his teammate Jens Keukeleire (who is riding at the back of the group) could win the groupsprint. Also Lars Croket, Jérome Giaux and Tosh Van der Sande are fast finishers. While Jelle Vanendert, Dimitri Claeys, Louis Verhelst, Eliot Lietaer, and Zico Waeytens will have to find a way to avoid a groupsprint.


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4 kilometres left to go; Jelle Vanendert and Eliot Lietaer try to get away on this small cobble section but they seem tired and the attack was without a real push, so the others are able to follow them easily.


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3 kilometres left to go; A small downhill section and a sharp turn just before they enter the last cobble section. Jens Keukeleire and Lars Croket are already in front of the group, to early?


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2 kilometres left to go; Jens Keukeleire and Lars Croket are still leading but Tosh Van der Sande moved up a few places and now is following the wheel of Project: Africa's rider. Louis Verhelst, Zico Waeytens and Romain Zingle are already far behind.


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1500 metres left to go; Jens Keukeleire keeps pushing forward while Jérome Giaux is going forward as well, between them still Lars Croket and Tosh Van der Sande.


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750 metres left to go; Last right turn before the finish, Jérome Giaux, Lars Croket and Tosh Van der Sande are taking a more inside line than the rider from Team BPost, Jens Keukeleire is still leading but can he finish it?


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BOEM yes he can, Team BPost takes the double; Jens Keukeleire is 2015's Belgian National Champion! Thanks to Romain Zingle he saved enough energy during the long breakaway and therefore was able to beat the other sprinters in the end. Tosh Van der Sande finished best of the rest (2nd), while Jérome Giaux (3rd) was able to finish just ahead of Lars Croket (4th) - he probably lost to much energy by getting in the breakaway in the first place.


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Eliot Lietaer (5th) won the sprint for fifth place, ahead of Jelle Vanendert (6th), Dimitri Claeys (7th), Romain Zingle (8th), Zico Waeytens (9th) and Louis Verhelst (10th).


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Jens Keukeleire's podium picture!


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