5 minutes with Andy Truyts
Andy Truyts has had a few busy days with La Chinelle and his home cross at Keiheuvel. Curious how this all went for him? He tells you now here on MXmag.
Andy Truyts:
Since last year, the weekend of Our Lady's Ascension has been a busy weekend for me with important competitions on the program: La Chinelle and De Keiheuvel. Although this year it looked like I would have to pass due to an infection in my wrist. I contracted it during my motorcycle training in Romania and the enduro races afterwards. Fortunately, it is due to the fantastic work of my physiotherapist Jef Kissembeek from Kinesis and Dr. Claes, everything was arranged on time. This meant I could just start last weekend during La Chinelle. The 12 hours of La Chinelle was the most important event of the year for me. I started with only one goal and that was to be able to show off on the podium with my teammates after 12 hours!
La Chinelle
Unfortunately, the floodgates opened a few hours before the match. Everything immediately turned into one big mud puddle. I knew then that I had only one job to do and that was to stay straight. That paid off, partly due to the fantastic work of our Team led by Dany Leloup and my teammates Nick Trieste & Andrew Leloup we came out third on the night. We had already lost too much time compared to the first two teams. That's why we focused on securing third place. Hour by hour we managed to increase our lead over our closest pursuers little by little. That's how we finally won third place. The entire team was extremely satisfied with this third place, because La Chinelle is and remains something very special. You can't really compare it to anything! You can only really say what it is like after you have participated yourself. But it remains beautiful and they will certainly see me there every year...
The Keiheuvel
After being awake for 34 hours during La Chinelle and pushing for 5 hours on the bike, it was especially important to get rid of the fatigue by the Keiheuvel! The classic of the year remains the most physically challenging race of the year. While I am now used to spending 9 hours on the bike during enduro races, 20min+1R on the Keiheuvel is more than enough (laughs). Although this year was mainly about having fun, while I also tried to bring out the best in myself. By the way, it had been about a hair since I had actually ridden in the sand. But luckily I didn't notice too much of that on Tuesday. Actually everything went more than well with a 16de and a 15de place in the series. Without any real MX preparation beforehand, I could still be very satisfied with this result. Finally, you cannot simply compare MX and enduro! For the rest of the season I will therefore fully focus on the BK enduros and BEX competitions. In the BEX I am standing together with Bob Van Looveren currently 1th in the championship. I will also be at the start again next week in Orp-Le Grand. A race that of course suits me now as it is more enduro oriented.
Of course I would like to thank the following people: My parents, sister and brother-in-law for all the help, Team KTM/Leloup for their fantastic work during La Chinelle, all friends and supporters for the support last weekend and the sponsors: BO Motoroil, Wellnesscenter Andor , Dam Racing KTM, Klorophyl lights, Starmeal, Boulangerie Wilkins & Ktm _Official
PS: I won't sit still during the winter months either, because my goal for next year is to participate in the Erzberg in Austria!
Text and photo: Dieter Jans
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