Superprestige Diegem: Tibor Del Grosso claims back-to-back victories as rivals Joran Wyseure and Thibau Nys crash in the sand pit

The evening shadows cast across the start line at the elite men’s Superprestige Diegem as a crash took down several riders, including series runner-up Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw).

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The leading group fought for position along the technical circuit, with Del Grosso first into the deep sand pit. He opened a five-second lead up and over the flyer and completed the opening lap in 6:41, nine seconds ahead of the chase group.

Nys and Wyseure were among the chasers along with Mees Hendrikx (Heizomat-Cube), Felipe Orts Lloret (Ridley Racing Team), Cameron Mason (Seven Racing), Yordi Corsus (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw), Kevin Kuhn (Heizomat-Cube), series leader Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development) and Jente Michels (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development).

Del Grosso carried speed around the course, making it difficult for Nys to close the gap, and the Dutch rider built an eight-second lead at the start of the second lap.

Nys eventually made contact with him, and the pair raced head-to-head around the circuit, but he lost the wheel several times and had to spend energy regaining contact.

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Behind the leaders, Vandeputte, Orts, Michels, Wyseure and Hendrikx chased at about 30 seconds behind as they started the sixth of nine laps.

Vanthourenhout continued to chase after his unlucky start, moving from 80th place to sixth with three laps to go.

Up front, Nys took the race lead ahead of the sand pit on lap seven, and while he opened a small gap, Del Grosso appeared to easily close it. The surprise of the race was Wyseure, who put in a massive effort to bridge to Nys and Del Grosso to form a leading trio heading into lap eight.

Del Grosso opened a gap when his two rivals crashed in the sand pit, and he led the race by six seconds on the final lap. Nys tried to close the gap with Wyseure on his wheel, but it seemed an insurmountable task with just half a lap to go.

Del Grosso entered the finish straight alone with the victory, looking back to watch Wyseure take second place and Nys third on the day.