In addition to the close race in the Elite Women’s field, the U23 and Junior Men’s Telenet Superprestige series also had tight overall standings that came down to Saturday’s race in Middelkerke.
In the U23 race, Tom Pidcock (Telenet Fidea Lions) bounced back from a disappointing U23 World Championships to beat World Champion Eli Iserbyt (Marlux-Bingoal) at Middelkerke. Pidcock, however, missed several of the races and finished fifth in the overall series.
Sieben Wouters (Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservice) entered the race with a six-point lead, and although he finished tenth on Saturday, he held on for the overall series win ahead of Adam Toupalik (Corendon-Circus).
In the Junior race, Niels Vandeputte (IKO-Beobank) joined teammate Cant on the top step of the Middelkerke podium. The overall series win went to second-place finisher Tomas Kopecky (Acrog-Balen), who leap-frogged Ryan Kamp (ZZPR Orange Baby Handclean) after the latter rider had an off day.
Top ten series standings and Middelkerke results are below.
Superprestige Overall Series Top Ten
U23 Men's Overall Standings: 2017-18 Superprestige Series
| Rank | Name | Total | Gieten | Zonhoven | Boom | Rudder- voorde | Gavere | Diegem | Hoog- straten | Middelkerke |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sieben Wouters | 84 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 | Adam Toupalik | 82 | 14 | 5 | 14 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| 3 | Jens Dekker | 82 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 13 | 13 |
| 4 | Toon Vandebosch | 74 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 12 |
| 5 | Tom Pidcock | 72 | 0 | 12 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| 6 | Thijs Aerts | 68 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 14 | 11 |
| 7 | Yannick Peeters | 61 | 13 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 5 |
| 8 | Jelle Schuermans | 57 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Thomas Joseph | 51 | 7 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Maik van der Heijden | 41 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Junior Men's Overall Standings: 2017-18 Superprestige Series
| Best Seven Races, Double Points for Last Two | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Total | Gieten | Zonhoven | Boom | Rudder- voorde | Gavere | Diegem | Hoog- straten | Middelkerke |
| 1 | Tomas Kopecky | 119 | 0(3) | 14 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 24 | 28 |
| 2 | Ryan Kamp | 112 | 15 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 30 | 16 |
| 3 | Pim Ronhaar | 102 | 14 | 15 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 26 | 26 |
| 4 | Niels Vandeputte | 89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 28 | 30 |
| 5 | Jarno Bellens | 87 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 18 | 22 |
| 6 | Witse Meeussen | 66 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 20 | 24 |
| 7 | Gerben Kuypers | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 8 | Mees Hendrikx | 48 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 0 |
| 9 | Vince Van den Eynde | 47 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Anton Ferdinande | 44 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
Middelkerke Results
U23 Men's Results: 2018 Superprestige Middelkerke
| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55 | PIDCOCK Thomas | GBR | 0h49´49.0" | |
| 2 | 1 | ISERBYT Eli | BEL | 0h50´02.0" | +13.0" |
| 3 | 40 | DEKKER Jens | NED | 0h50´10.0" | +21.0" |
| 4 | 52 | VANDEBOSCH Toon | BEL | 0h50´25.0" | +36.0" |
| 5 | 2 | AERTS Thijs | BEL | 0h50´46.0" | +57.0" |
| 6 | 51 | TOUPALIK Adam | CZE | 0h50´51.0" | +1´02.0" |
| 7 | 31 | CALUWE Stijn | BEL | 0h50´53.0" | +1´04.0" |
| 8 | 12 | BONNE Jenko | BEL | 0h50´58.0" | +1´09.0" |
| 9 | 22 | LOOCKX Lander | BEL | 0h51´01.0" | +1´12.0" |
| 10 | 53 | WOUTERS Sieben | NED | 0h51´16.0" | +1´27.0" |
| 11 | 42 | PEETERS Yannick | BEL | 0h51´19.0" | +1´30.0" |
| 12 | 45 | TURNER Ben | GBR | 0h51´19.0" | +1´30.0" |
| 13 | 43 | BAKX Kelvin | NED | 0h51´27.0" | +1´38.0" |
| 14 | 28 | WUYTS Mathijs | BEL | 0h51´35.0" | +1´46.0" |
| 15 | 54 | DERVEAUX Niels | BEL | 0h51´41.0" | +1´52.0" |
| 16 | 36 | LIESSENS Jarno | BEL | 0h51´44.0" | +1´55.0" |
| 17 | 27 | GOEMAN Andreas | BEL | 0h51´57.0" | +2´08.0" |
| 18 | 39 | VAN DER HEIJDEN Maik | NED | 0h52´04.0" | +2´15.0" |
| 19 | 7 | PAUWELS Tijl | BEL | 0h52´06.0" | +2´17.0" |
| 20 | 50 | JOSEPH Thomas | BEL | 0h52´23.0" | +2´34.0" |
| 21 | 6 | VAN DER STEGEN Roel | NED | 0h52´27.0" | +2´38.0" |
| 22 | 5 | BEKAERT Yentl | BEL | 0h52´33.0" | +2´44.0" |
| 23 | 4 | ROMBOUTS Seppe | BEL | 0h52´40.0" | +2´51.0" |
| 24 | 37 | VANDEBOSCH Victor | BEL | 0h52´50.0" | +3´01.0" |
| 25 | 25 | KIELICH Timo | BEL | 0h52´55.0" | +3´06.0" |
| 26 | 10 | SMETS Gert | BEL | 0h53´00.0" | +3´11.0" |
| 27 | 15 | DEBEIR Arno | BEL | 0h53´30.0" | +3´41.0" |
| 28 | 26 | DRIESEN Jarne | BEL | 0h53´42.0" | +3´53.0" |
| 29 | 13 | DE MEYER Senne | BEL | 0h53´47.0" | +3´58.0" |
| 30 | 46 | MUSKENS Mart | NED | 0h53´50.0" | +4´01.0" |
| 31 | 24 | VAN DIJKE Koen | NED | 0h53´54.0" | +4´05.0" |
| 32 | 11 | SCHUERMANS Jelle | BEL | 0h54´09.0" | +4´20.0" |
| 33 | 34 | VERMEERSCH Florian | BEL | 0h54´10.0" | +4´21.0" |
| 34 | 21 | ALDERWEIRELD Robin | BEL | 0h55´13.0" | +5´24.0" |
| 35 | 48 | JACOBS Johan | SUI | 0h55´19.0" | +5´30.0" |
| 36 | 20 | VRACHTEN Arne | BEL | 0h55´23.0" | +5´34.0" |
| 37 | 38 | MUSEEUW Stefano | BEL | 0h55´40.0" | +5´51.0" |
| 38 | 9 | VERHEYEN Thomas | BEL | 0h55´53.0" | +6´04.0" |
| 39 | 33 | TIBACKX Lawrence | BEL | 0h56´02.0" | +6´13.0" |
| 40 | 18 | DE SMET Thibaut | BEL | 0h56´36.0" | +6´47.0" |
| 41 | 16 | VAN ROY Matthias | BEL | 0h56´51.0" | +7´02.0" |
| 42 | 29 | VAN DE KERCKHOVE Nick | BEL | 2 r | |
| 43 | 3 | BEKAERT Seppe | BEL | 2 r | |
| 44 | 44 | DE BOCK Yoni | BEL | 2 r | |
| 45 | 17 | TIBACKX Lander | BEL | 2 r | |
| 46 | 8 | VERBRUGGEN Niels | NED | 3 r | |
| DNF | 23 | LOGIE Aaron | BEL | DNF | |
| DNF | 30 | SIEBENS Gianni | BEL | DNF |
Junior Men Results: 2018 Superprestige Middelkerke
| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | VANDEPUTTE Niels | BEL | 0h44´06.0" | |
| 2 | 14 | KOPECKY Tomas | CZE | 0h44´20.0" | +14.0" |
| 3 | 29 | RONHAAR Pim | NED | 0h44´34.0" | +28.0" |
| 4 | 28 | MEEUSSEN Witse | BEL | 0h44´39.0" | +33.0" |
| 5 | 1 | BELLENS Jarno | BEL | 0h44´44.0" | +38.0" |
| 6 | 16 | KUYPERS Gerben | BEL | 0h44´52.0" | +46.0" |
| 7 | 32 | ROUILLER Loris | SUI | 0h45´03.0" | +57.0" |
| 8 | 3 | KAMP Ryan | NED | 0h45´06.0" | +1´00.0" |
| 9 | 30 | FERDINANDE Anton | BEL | 0h45´27.0" | +1´21.0" |
| 10 | 4 | DEJONGHE Len | BEL | 0h45´38.0" | +1´32.0" |
| 11 | 19 | CORTJENS Ryan | BEL | 0h45´39.0" | +1´33.0" |
| 12 | 23 | VERVOORT Wout | BEL | 0h46´05.0" | +1´59.0" |
| 13 | 34 | VERMOOTE Jelle | BEL | 0h46´13.0" | +2´07.0" |
| 14 | 9 | ARTZ Bart | NED | 0h46´21.0" | +2´15.0" |
| 15 | 18 | VAN DEN BROECK Arno | BEL | 0h46´41.0" | +2´35.0" |
| 16 | 33 | BERVOETS Michael | BEL | 0h46´47.0" | +2´41.0" |
| 17 | 2 | DE VET Sander | BEL | 0h46´55.0" | +2´49.0" |
| 18 | 26 | JORDENS Jarno | BEL | 0h47´09.0" | +3´03.0" |
| 19 | 13 | HENDRIKX Mees | NED | 0h47´20.0" | +3´14.0" |
| 20 | 8 | WYSEURE Joran | BEL | 0h47´59.0" | +3´53.0" |
| 21 | 25 | VAN DER SMISSEN Lennick | BEL | 0h48´31.0" | +4´25.0" |
| 22 | 20 | PEIRENS Yente | BEL | 0h49´20.0" | +5´14.0" |
| 23 | 31 | QUARTIER Jonas | BEL | 0h50´16.0" | +6´10.0" |
| 24 | 11 | VAN COMPERNOLLE Jason | BEL | 0h50´33.0" | +6´27.0" |
| 25 | 21 | UPTEGROVE Pete | NED | 0h50´42.0" | +6´36.0" |
| 26 | 24 | VAN CUTSEM Senna | BEL | 0h52´20.0" | +8´14.0" |
| 27 | 5 | JANSE Stef | BEL | 0h52´51.0" | +8´45.0" |
| 28 | 22 | VERHEYDE Leander | BEL | 2 r | |
| 29 | 10 | DEMEYER Guillian | BEL | 2 r | |
| 30 | 17 | SALOMEZ Ydris | BEL | 2 r | |
| 31 | 6 | VANLUCHENE Maxim | BEL | 3 r | |
| 32 | 27 | VAN CAUWENBERGH Obe | BEL | 3 r | |
| DNF | 7 | VANDEN BUSSCHE Wannes | BEL | DNF | |
| DNF | 15 | DE SMET Nicolas | BEL | DNF | |
| DNF | 35 | CLAUWAERT Maarten | BEL | DNF |
