Pauwels wins bpost Bank Trofee Essen

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With an impressive half-race solo ride, Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) captured his second win of the season in just one week time. Pauwels profited from a spectacular crash at the barriers from world champion Sven Nys (Crelan-KDL) who seemed to be heading for an even more impressive solo ride himself.

Despite a possible wrist-injury, Nys reinforced his lead in the overall classification of the bpost Bank Trophy over a struggling Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) by fifteen seconds. Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) received a blow in Essen, and now trails in third place overall at nearly two minutes from Nys.

In the past, Pauwels wasn't regarded as a rider for muddy races but in Essen he showed that he knew how to deal with a heavy course. "After today I can say that. There was quite a bit of running indeed. I rode very good - as good as last week - but if Sven hadn't crashed it would have been a different race. I didn't hop the barriers as I lacked speed when doing so. Hopefully I'll recover in time for the World Cup in Namur," Pauwels told Sporza.

Despite recent rain, the new course at the Essen railway station wasn't as soaked as the old course would have been in similar weather conditions. Nevertheless, there were still some mud running sections included during the fourth round of the bpost bank Trophy cyclo-cross series. Coming into the fourth round of the series Nys held a 50 seconds lead over Albert and 18 seconds more over Vantornout. More rain and strong winds would make it a tough race on Saturday afternoon.

Pauwels took the best start in Essen but he quickly faded back. Thijs van Amerongen (AA Drink/Leontien.nl) took the initiative and grabbed the five bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint after one and a half laps. Radomir Simunek (Kwadro-Stannah) was second (3s) just ahead of Nys (1s).

At that moment Niels Albert was still recovering from another missed start. "Well, Van Amerongen made a false start and I was caught by surprise as everybody else started too," Albert said. Nys didn't wait for Albert to gain back ground and led the pack through the second lap, and then left everybody behind in the third lap.

By the end of the fourth lap Nys had a gap of 15 seconds on the first chase group with Albert trailing by another five seconds. Half a lap later things turned around. Just like every other lap Nys bunny hopped the planks, but slipped off his line and crashed into the fencing.

While Nys was licking his wounds, Pauwels and the rest of the former chase group blasted by the world champion. "I slightly lost balance and moved a bit to the right. I could not avoid the fencing and went over the handlebars. It was a big blow. My chances to win the race vanished," Nys said.

Pauwels realized it was the ideal moment to play his card. By the end of the tumultuous lap Pauwels led by 10 seconds over a struggling Stybar, while a large group was 16 seconds down on the leader; Nys was alone at 24 seconds.

Lap after lap Pauwels added to his lead and he headed for an impressive win. Behind him, Nys clearly struggled with his right wrist whilst fighting his way back towards the podium. "I tried to recover and then get back in the race while keeping an eye on Niels. I felt great but made a crucial mistake," Nys said.

During the seventh lap an already bruised Meeusen crashed away from the front while riding in second position. Van Amerongen and Jim Aernouts found themselves in podium positions with Nys, Albert and Rob Peeters on their heels when hitting the final lap.

With a late acceleration Nys easily took second place. Albert held off young Jim Aernouts, Van Amerongen and Peeters for the final podium spot. Popular Stybar saluted the crowd little later as he landed seventh place. "It's my first cyclo-cross after four weeks of training," Stybar said. "The last lap I struggled a lot. The course didn't favour me as my technique is pretty bad. I wasted a lot of energy. I did hop the barriers when nobody rode in front of me."

The next round in the Bpost bank Trophy cyclo-cross series is held on December 27 in Loenhout. As Pauwels pointed out straight after his victory the riders now head for Namur in the sourth of Belgium to tackle the fourth round in the UCI cyclo-cross World Cup, these series are led by Lars van der Haar who skipped the race in Essen.

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