Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) won the elite men's time trial title for the third time in his career at the Belgian Road Championships in Herzele.
Van Aert covered the 41.6km rain-soaked course with a winning time of 51:52, beating runner-up Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny) by 50 seconds and third-placed Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) by 1:06.
"I felt like a fish in the water today for the first time in a long time," Van Aert said after his victory.
"After the Tour de Suisse, I had a few days off. Yesterday I got that good feeling back. That’s nice, but it's even better to see it confirmed with good results. I did that today. I came here with a goal, and I achieved it. It's nice to be back on the top step of the podium."
While many anticipated a close race for the time trial title between Van Aert and defending champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), that battle did not happen as the Evenepoel crashed into a roadside ditch but got back up and finished fourth, 1:22 slower than Van Aert's winning time.
Only 17 riders took the start line on Wednesday to race the two laps of the 20.8km flat and technical figure-eight course for the time trial at the Belgian National Championships in Herzele.
Each lap twisted through East Flanders with a relentless procession of small climbs totalling 355 metres of elevation gain. At 41.6km, the time trial came in as the longest race against the clock in three years.
Van Aert did not participate in the time trial last year as it did not fit into his schedule.
Sander De Pestel (Team Flanders-Baloise) set the bench-mark opening time under rainy conditions, a time that stood until the faster riders began to cross the finish line, which saw De Pestel eventually finishing in ninth on the day.
Van Aert and then Evenepoel were the two last riders off the starting ramp as the overwhelming favourites.
However, Evenepoel crashed in the opening kilometres of the 41.6km race through a righthand corner, sliding across the rain-soaked roads and landing in a shallow ditch at the side of the road.
Otherwise unscathed by the fall, Evenepoel got up and continued racing, though he had lost too much time to challenge Van Aert for the title.
Van Aert crossed the first time check 58 seconds faster than Evenepoel, but Evenepoel was able to somewhat recover and bring the gap between the two down considerably in the closing of the race, but could only manage the fourth-fastest time.
Segaert ended his time trial with a strong result and a brief spell in the hot seat until Van Aert finished 50 seconds faster with a blistering time of set the best time of 51:52.
Results
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