Among the 63 athletes present at the start of this marathon organized on the streets of Munich, two other Belgians, Mike Gorisen and Astrid Verhoeven, finished 13th and 32nd.

The leading group, who reached the halfway point in 1:14.33, consisted of 16 riders, including Hanne Verbruggen. She was in third place behind Belgian player Nienke Brinkmann and French player Melody Julien.

A month after the Worlds in Eugene, where he finished 19th in the marathon, Mike Gorisen went down in the first kilometer and was a minute behind in the first kilometer. Astrid Verhoeven pointed out, meanwhile, in last place.

Melody Julian upped the tempo and made breaks on the leading pack. At the 25th kilometer, they were only nine, namely Melody Julien (France), Nienke Brinkmann (Netherlands), Han Verbruggen, Giovanna Eppes (Italy), Fionnuala McCormack (Ireland), Miriam Datke (Germany), Fabienne Schlumperland (Switzerland), Matia Parlov (Croatia) and Aleksandra Isowska (Poland).

At kilometer 30, German Domenica Mayer rejoined the leading group, while Frenchwoman Melody Julien showed signs of weakness. Mike Gorisen was 16th at 1:38 and Astrid Verhoeven was still in last place.

Skimming was done gradually on the last loop of this marathon. Melody Julian was the first to break, followed closely by Germany’s Meyer and Ireland’s McCormack.

Swiss Schlumpf accelerated and Verbruggen took the win, eventually catching the top six women a few minutes later.

After 38km, the Swiss got off the hook, as did Verbruggen, a few meters behind the five-man group of Datke, Brinkmann, Lisovska, Eppis and Parlov.

Verbruggen lost more and more contact with the first places where Eppies took his turn. Three kilometers from the finish they were just four.

At the 40th kilometer, Lisovska crashed and isolated herself in the lead. Dutke, Brinkman and Kostro saw Poland fly to victory. She crossed the line after 2:28:36

Among the chasers, Croatian Parlov finished very strongly and pocketed the silver medal by 7 seconds. Brinkmann and Datke battled for bronze in the sprint, with the Dutch woman eventually winning.

Han Verbruggen finished eighth in 2:29:44, overtaken at the end by Meyer and McCormack.

Mike Gorrisen made a great comeback to finish 13th in 2:31:48. Meanwhile, Astrid Verhoeven finished 32nd in 2:38:37.