False start or not, Joran Wyseure moves from 32nd to 1st at HG cyclocrosst: 'I was out for revenge'

The riders were lined up at the starting line, and the officials had just stepped off the course. Suddenly, the lights turned green: half the riders shot off, while the other half stood there confused, thinking a mistake had been made. But the riders weren’t called back, and so the race continued “as usual,” with a lot of riders suffering a significant disadvantage as a result.

Two major casualties were Pim Ronhaar and Wyseure. They lost a lot of time—and especially positions—right at the start. On the narrow, winding course at Heerderstrand, it was very difficult to make up ground quickly, but the pair still cut through the field like a knife through butter. However, while the Dutchman ultimately paid the price for his efforts, the Belgian fought his way to the front, all the way to first place.

Once he had it in his hands, he didn’t let it go. A truly impressive performance by Wyseure. But what actually happened at the start? “I’m not really sure myself where it all went wrong during the starting procedure,” he tells Het Nieuwsblad. “The race director announced that the start would take place within 30 seconds, and less than half a second later, the starting lights had already turned green.”

"I was kind of stuck in place like that and was completely taken by surprise. I thought it was a false start, so I hesitated for a moment, but when everyone else kept going, I set off after all." And so Wyseure found himself in the back half of the pack. The live timing data shows that he dropped out of the top thirty. After one lap, however, he was already back in fourteenth place. And his third lap was the fastest of the race.

That’s how he fought his way back to the front. “Not the ideal way to start a race. After that, I rode with a bit of a desire for redemption, and it turned into an exciting finish with Joris Nieuwenhuis and Niels Vandeputte. I’m glad I was able to finish it.” The powerhouse Wyseure still had the strength in the final lap to post the fastest lap of the race. Impressive, after such a comeback.