The Belgians no longer rule the U23 AVS Cup. On the fifth day, Nolan Huysmans and Thibaut Bernard had to cede the lead to Britons Elliot Rowe and William Salter. The Danish and Dutch teams also impressed on Saturday.
A Madison and 500-metre time trial were the two tests that made the difference on the penultimate day of the U23 AVS Cup. Nolan Huysmans and Thibaut Bernard started the fifth day as leaders. The Belgians had built up a nice lead of 24 points over first rivals Stan Dens and Tom Crabbe, putting Belgium in spots 1 and 2 in the ranking, but after Saturday’s Madison the picture looked completely different …
Danes Albert Holm/Peter Bheki Laursen and Brits Elliot Rowe/William Salter took a win in the Madison. The Belgian teams could not respond. Holm and Laursen amassed the most points to win the Madison. The Brits took the lead in the general classification having collected more points than the Danes in the first four days.
More points could also be earned in the 500-metre time trial. Most of the points went to Dutchmen Julian Vergouw and Elmar Abma, who won the time trial with a time of 28.154. Huysmans/Bernard (28.279) and Dens/Crabbe (28.454) were second and third respectively.
Rowe and Salter (seventh with 29.669) and Holm and Laursen (ninth with 29.715) lost out on points in the time trial, but that did not affect their overall position. The Brits go into the final day with 11 points ahead of the Danes: 50 for Rowe/Salter against 39 for Holm/Laursen. Huysmans and Bernard have as many as 109 points, but with one fewer lap that puts them in third place. Dens/Crabbe are fourth with 87 points, Vergouw/Abma fifth with 84 points.
