Eerste Vlaamse zege voor Samuel James in Lokeren

De Amerikaan Samuel James heeft het criterium gewonnen in Lokeren. Het was voor Samuel zijn eerste zege op Belgische bodem.

"The Lokeren Criterium was the seventh race for my GS-Cyclelife team so far in Belgium. I was a bit nervous because it would be the longest criterium I’d ever done and I haven’t done a criterium in the last few months. After seeing the course though, I liked the corners, so I thought it would be good. As always before the race, we had to go through the process of registering and getting our numbers for the race. Every race in Belgium is very professionally done, especially compared with the standards of some races in the United States. It amazes me how quickly they are able to sign people in and still the races and results come off much more smoothly than many races I’ve previously done in the United States.

The race started with a 2 lap neutral start, which is always a little weird in a criterium, because it is hard for the car and riders to know how fast it feels for the other, especially in corners. It came off well at this race though, letting the riders see the course another couple times before the real racing began. Once the neutral was over, the racing got off as usual, with regular attacks and a strung out field. Around 10-15 kilometers into the race, the field was very strung out, when a group of five riders was just being brought back from an attack and I accelerated to counter the move. I was expecting for a few riders to come with me, but no one followed, and I quickly had a gap of over 50 meters. I had to hold a hard pace for a few laps to try to get a bigger gap over the field, since I knew that if they could still see me on the straightaways, they would be enticed into chasing more easily. The gap stretched out to 25-30 seconds slowly, where it held for most of the race. In situations like this some riders talk about being able to get into a rhythm of sorts, but this usually isn’t the case for me. I generally just feel in a state of discomfort and try to keep myself there. I figure if I am hurting, then I am going fast. So from there on out, it was just 40 or 50 kilometers in the pain cave with my nose on the handlebars of my BMC. I was getting time checks from a few people on the course, so if I heard it come down to 25, I would try to summon up a little more so that I could push it back up to 45 seconds or so. Luckily, the motivation wasn’t so hard to summon up, because of the great fans cheering me on, even if I didn’t understand the Dutch that they were screaming. Other than that, I didn’t know anything about what was happening behind me. This was the way of the race until the last few laps when I knew that I had the win unless something happened. From there on out was pure enjoyment for me, except for afterwards learning that my teammate Jacob had crashed in the final corner while in position to sprint for second. Still, the team rode a good race, with Teddy getting fourth as well. Unfortunately, Keane was sick, so he had to pull out halfway through. ,Overall, it was a great race, and a good experience to get my first win in Belgium. The fans and the course were great, and my legs responded in kind."