The Dans take on the Belgians

Author: Dan Patten

The the 6th August saw me and Daniel Kogan racing togther again, this time in Belgium at the Lokeren Kermesse. This circuit had many sections of pave which saw a huge split in the bunch on the first lap, with 20 or so riders going off the front.

For the rest of the race it was a case of chasing down and trying to catch these riders and I attacked a few times going over a section of pave that led through to the finish line, which helped to split the bunch and get a bit of a chase group going. Not a fan of the cobbles, unfortunately, Daniel Kogan didn't make the split.

Even this chase group was getting whittled down and, as we got further into the race, we started pulling riders back who were in the early break. As we neared the finish the sprint for the line began over the final section of cobbles. I ended up placing 13th, finding out later that we had caught a lot of the riders that were away and the winner was less than a minute up the road come the finish, so what seemed like a race that was all over once such a big move had gone so early, was clearly not come the later part of the race.

Result:

1.) Guy Smet
2.) Adam Gawlik
3.) Bart Heirewegh
4.) Kurt Eeckhout
5.) Jurgen De Deyn

13.) Dan Patten: Ciclos Uno-Plowman Craven-Isaac RT