{"id":664195,"date":"2026-06-29T11:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/664195\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T11:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:17:15","slug":"it-took-some-getting-used-to-riding-for-myself-but-i-had-incredible-legs-today-rune-herregodts-outsmarted-favourites-in-chaotic-finale-to-become-new-belgian-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/664195\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt took some getting used to riding for myself, but I had incredible legs today\u201d: Rune Herregodts outsmarted favourites in chaotic finale to become new Belgian champion"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\u201cI can still hardly believe it,\u201d Herregodts said in a post-race interview<\/a>. \u201cI had ambition, but avoiding a sprint seemed impossible. When I missed the big group, I thought it was over. Then I forced it myself and it became a criterium. It took some getting used to riding for myself, but I had incredible legs today.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also admitted that he had to play smart as he is a weaker sprinter than the other two. \u201cOn paper I have the weakest sprint of the three and I used that to play poker. I boxed Fabio (Van den Bossche) a bit. That hurt, but I had to think of myself. On days like this I know I\u2019m quite fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my only chance ever to become Belgian champion. I didn\u2019t want to have regrets and now it\u2019s sinking in. I enjoy working for guys like Pogacar, but it\u2019s nice to show I can ride hard on the bike. I haven\u2019t signed anywhere yet for next year. There are talks with several teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frustration for the chasers<\/p>\n

Behind him, second place Jonas Rickaert narrowly missed out on victory after animating the decisive move but lacking the final sprint power. \u201cIt\u2019s bitter. I will never be this close again. I rode a perfect race, but in the end there was nothing left. I can position someone perfectly, but I don\u2019t have the pure speed,\u201d Rickaert said.<\/p>\n

Fabio Van den Bossche, who completed the podium in third, also expressed disappointment after being outmanoeuvred in the sprint. \u201cHerregodts was smart. I didn\u2019t expect him to close me in during the sprint. That\u2019s when I felt it going wrong. I have to accept how it went. It could be that I never get that chance again. It\u2019s gone,\u201d Van den Bossche said.<\/p>\n

Tim Merlier, one of the pre-race favourites, acknowledged that he never managed to control the race situation. \u201cWe lost control quite early in the beginning. Then I knew it would be a long race. At the moments when I moved up myself, the legs were immediately shut down,\u201d Merlier said.<\/p>\n

He nevertheless finished the race for the supporters and already turns his focus to the upcoming Tour de France. \u201cFor all the supporters I still finished,\u201d he said calmly. \u201cThe signals are good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thibau Nys, who finished fifth, had good legs but missed the decisive move. \u201cThere was more in it, but I\u2019m also quite satisfied,\u201d Nys said. \u201cI can\u2019t say I left much on the road. It\u2019s a pity I missed the move of the final three. I hoped we could keep the pace high in the chase, but they were gone. They didn\u2019t slow down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI can still hardly believe it,\u201d Herregodts said in a post-race interview. \u201cI had ambition, but avoiding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,222569,222568,139170,133881,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-664195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-fabio-van-den-bossche","tag-jonas-rickaert","tag-national-championships","tag-rune-herregodts","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}