In Castricum the Lotto Mountain Bike Beach Race’s last race has been ridden today. Ramses Bekkenk started the event leading the ranking and needed to stay in front of his closest adversaries to win the race.
At the start Bekkenk, accompanied by teammate Bram Rood, seemed to be going to fulfil that mission. However, the nasty little climbs at Bergen and Camperduin spoiled that plan. Bekkenk had to take a toilet break and teammate Rood waited for him in an attempt to return to the leading group, but the leaders smelled blood and they fought hard to stay in front of Bekkenk and Rood. In the end, they succeeded.
Bram Imming won the race, and despite Rood’s support Bekkenk lost a lot of time. Bekkenk ended up third in the ranking, Sven Broekaart won and Robbert de Nijs held second place. Bekkenk was disappointed: “I just wasn’t good enough today. It’s a great pity, because there are not many opportunities to win the ranking.”