Two days after the Belgian Cyclocross Championships, winner Michael Vanthourenhout and runner-up Laurens Sweek have caused a stir in the national media, claiming that the race was ruined by an intentional delay during a bike change.

The controversy began with a heated race held in Lokeren. Sweck and Vanthourenhout pulled away from the rest of the field on the first lap, and the two were running close together. On the second and final lap, Sweck came out of the pits a few seconds behind and said after the race that he felt robbed by the accident.

"The mechanics didn't stand where they should have stood and deliberately got in my way," Sweck told Het Nieuwsbad newspaper while it was still hot and humid in Otegem. But no one dares to overrule them anymore. I shouldn't get that jersey either. But it's okay to say what happened."

Jürgen, team manager of Van Hollenhout, wants the talks to end. 'We were practically in the given box [number 4]. There was an unwanted and unintentional collision, but it did not determine the race. Michael Vanthourenhout was strong in the last lap.

"Michael joined the team in 2014. He is a late bloomer. He is now 29 years old and certainly not at the top of his ability. He has made great strides in the last two years. He is the European champion and now also the Belgian champion. I would say this: Michael Vanthourenhout is the man of the season."

Sweek took revenge by winning Otegem. After the race, Mettepenningen showed a video of Swek pirouetting in front of Bantulenhout's mechanics in the pits and a video of the Diegem Superprestige three weeks earlier in which Swek descended between the barriers and swung his bike into the path of Bantulenhout, causing the European He posted the video side-by-side with the video of him crashing the champion.

Bantulenhout also blamed Sweck for cornering him and forcing him to make an unscheduled pit stop because his team was not ready to change bikes, which delayed him somewhat.

Sweck came clean, saying that he came out of the turn too fast and avoided entering the pit lane just in time. He said, "But I think Michael had no choice but to pit. It was nothing more than that. Was his bike not ready?

The drama of the relationship was bound to be a hot topic for years, if not weeks, to come: the fight between Wout Van Aert and Remco Evenepoel after the 2021 Road World Championships in Flanders made headlines for months.

Van Hollenhout says that if Sweck wants to continue to claim that the team deliberately sabotaged him, "so be it."

"At Diegem, it was Lawrence who fell into the barrier. I don't think he could have done anything himself. He could have said at the time that it was intentional, but I will not stand for that. If he thinks this was an accident, I can live with that. I am not going to talk to him about it."

Sweek also concluded that the accident was unfortunate." We have played against each other for years and hopefully we will continue to do so, but Lokelen was not happy."