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Cyclo-cross: Oostmalle

Wellens wins in Oostmalle

By:
Brecht Decaluwé
Published:
February 21, 2010, 15:56,
Updated:
February 21, 2010, 21:42

Great day in the sand for Telenet-Fidea and Nys

Former world champion Bart Wellens (Telenet - Fidea) takes his first major victory of the season.

Former world champion Bart Wellens (Telenet - Fidea) takes his first major victory of the season.

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Bart Wellens ended his season with a bang by grabbing his first big victory since November 2008. The former world champion won the last round of the Gazet van Antwerpen Trophy in Oostmalle on Sunday after an eight-lap solo effort.

The 31-year-old Telenet-Fidea rider was joined on the podium by teammates Zdenek Stybar and Kevin Pauwels who finished second and third respectively. Belgian champion Sven Nys finished sixth which was more than enough to secure his seventh overall victory in the Gazet van Antwerpen Trophy.

The past year has been full of troubles for Wellens, a former world champion. The Belgian got back in form just in time to claim a selection for the world championships where he couldn't pull off a good result. His form kept improving, though, and after a victory at the small event in Eeklo he now won the last official cyclo-cross race of the season in Oostmalle.

After only two laps - right after the intermediate sprint - Wellens seized his moment and blasted away from the leader's group.

"This is a magnificent victory," Wellens told Sporza. "Early on I had to dig really deep to keep up with Nys but I knew that they were fighting for the points at the intermediate sprint. After the sprint the speed dropped and then it was my moment. I hoped that the speed would drop further behind me and it happened."

His old arch-rival Nys confirmed that it was a well-timed attack. "The only thing that mattered today was the overall classification in the GvA Trophy, so I was very happy to see Wellens pull away," said Nys. "He didn't play a role in the battle for the overall classification and Stybar couldn't ride because Wellens is his teammate. From that moment on I was at ease. I just made sure that I was always riding in the top-three of our group."

Before that there had been a lot of action on the sandy course in Oostmalle, where the Belgian championships were held. The ice from the championships was gone and the sand played a much more important role. Niels Albert, starting the day second overall on the GvA Trophy, missed his start completely and was at the back of the bunch. The Belgian never fully recovered from that dramatic start and eventually finished tenth. This meant that Stybar, who was tied with Albert in second place, pushed Albert back to third overall.

"I missed my pedal at the start and was the last rider to leave the grid," said Albert. "I came back quite well but I ended up riding at the back of the group, constantly losing contact, then my saddle broke off. I will not be losing any sleep because of this. Tonight we'll have good food and next year there will hopefully be a new Niels Albert."

Meanwhile, four riders were leading the race during the second lap: Nys, Stybar, Kevin Pauwels and Wellens. The latter led out the sprint for Stybar, who won ahead of Nys and Pauwels. Thanks to this win Stybar became the overall winner of the intermediate sprint competition.

Nys and Stybar eased off and then Wellens attacked. Teammates Pauwels and Stybar protected the attack and Nys didn't bother chasing either. Wellens quickly gathered half a minute on a chase group of 12 riders, also including Albert. A few minor accelerations from Bart Aernouts and Sven Vanthourenhout didn't close the gap and halfway the race Wellens had an advantage of 43 seconds.

With three laps to go Albert was confronted with saddle problems and he was forced to switch bikes, dropping out of the top-10. Meanwhile, Wellens increased his lead to one minute and it became clear that without any bad luck he would win in Oostmalle.

With Wellens safely in the lead Stybar accelerated during the penultimate lap and only Nys, Klaas Vantornout, Sven Vanthourenhout and Aernouts were able to follow the world champion. Just before the riders crossed the finish line to begin the final lap Vantornout blasted away. The Belgian clearly thought the race was over and thought he'd wrapped up second place. Vantornout suddenly realized his mistake, continued his efforts but halfway the last lap he was caught back by an unleashed Stybar.

Even more chaos occurred when the two hooked into each other in the sand, which resulted in Vantornout hitting a pole with his head. Sven Vanthourenhout and Nys powered past the two riders, and also Dieter Vanthourenhout and Pauwels returned to the front.

Meanwhile Wellens had plenty of time to celebrate his victory, pleasing his still numerous and fanatic fans. "The race went on for a long time, a very long time. It seemed like there was no end to it but that made the win feel even more satisfactory," said Wellens of the ten laps on the sandy course. "This was a season that I want to forget quickly but to end it like that is nice."

About a minute later the sprint for second place was set up. Nys didn't bother to contest the sprint and took his time to celebrate his overall win. "The last lap I had time to enjoy it. I didn't want to repeat Pijnacker where I chased down Richard Groenendaal but blew my engine, which allowed several others to overtake me. I saw Richard along the course and didn't want that to happen again," said Nys about why he didn't try to chase Wellens or make a last lap effort for second place.

Stybar hit the pavement first ahead of teammate Pauwels and won the sprint. The world champion was happy with today's action. "I won the intermediate sprint, finished second and my teammate won his first big race of the season, so I think that I can be happy," Stybar said.

Elite men
1 Bart Wellens (Bel) 1:01:44  
2 Zdenek Štybar (Cze) 0:00:59  
3 Kevin Pauwels (Bel)    
4 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) 0:01:03  
5 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 0:01:05  
6 Sven Nys (Bel) 0:01:07  
7 Tom Meeusen (Bel) 0:01:08  
8 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) 0:01:09  
9 Bart Aernouts (Bel)    
10 Niels Albert (Bel) 0:01:34  
11 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 0:01:42  
12 Eddy van Ijzendoorn (Ned)    
13 Thijs Al (Bel) 0:01:48  
14 Radomir Simunek (Cze) 0:02:01  
15 Christian Heule (Swi)    
16 Marco Bianco (Ita)    
17 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 0:02:24  
18 Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) 0:02:29  
19 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) 0:02:34  
20 Petr Dlask (Cze)    
21 Jonathan Page (USA)    
22 Ben Berden (Bel) 0:03:05  
23 Rob Peeters (Bel) 0:03:20  
24 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) 0:03:38  
25 Bart Verschueren (Bel) 0:03:47  
26 Jan Soetens (Bel) 0:04:00  
27 Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) 0:04:16  
28 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) 0:04:40  
29 Stijn Huys (Bel) 0:05:08  
30 Sten Raeymaekers (Bel) 0:05:20  
31 Joachim Parbo (Den) 0:05:25  
32 Gianni Denolf (Bel) 0:05:30  
33 Martin Zlámalík (Cze) 0:05:32  
34 Stijn Penne (Bel) 0:05:46  
35 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) 0:06:42  
36 Mike Garrigan (Irl)    
37 Sam Govaert (Bel)    
38 Ken Smets (Bel)    
Elite men - Intermediate sprint
1 Zdenek Štybar (Cze) 3 pts
2 Sven Nys (Bel) 2  
3 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 1  
Elite men - Final Gazet van Antwerpen Trofee classification
1 Sven Nys (Bel) 188 pts
2 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) 182  
3 Niels Albert (Bel) 168  
4 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 125  
5 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) 115  
6 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) 111  
7 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 101  
8 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 81  
9 Radomir Simunek (Cze) 68  
10 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 65  
11 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) 59  
12 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) 57  
13 Bart Wellens (Bel) 53  
14 Rob Peeters (Bel) 53  
15 Christian Heule (Swi) 38  
16 Thijs Al (Ned) 37  
17 Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) 37  
18 Tom Van den Bosch (Bel) 34  
19 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 32  
20 Françis Mourey (Fra) 31  
21 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 25  
22 Ben Berden (Bel) 20  
23 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) 19  
24 Tom Meeusen (Bel) 14  
25 Jan Soetens (Bel) 14  
26 Marco Bianco (Ita) 12  
27 Jonathan Page (USA) 11  
28 Petr Dlask (Cze) 11  
29 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) 10  
30 Eddy van IJzendoorn (Ned) 10  
31 Ian Field (GBr) 4  
32 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) 4  
33 Steve Chainel (Fra) 4  
34 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) 3  
35 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) 2  
36 Bram Schmitz (Ned) 2  
Elite men - Intermediate sprint classification
1 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) 18 pts
2 Sven Nys (Bel) 14  
3 Niels Albert (Bel) 8  
4 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) 3  
5 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 3  
6 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 2  
Elite women
1 Marianne Vos (Ned) 0:42:00  
2 Daphny van den Brand (Ned)    
3 Sanne Cant (Bel) 0:01:27  
4 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) 0:01:32  
5 Sanne van Paassen (Ned) 0:01:35  
6 Helen Wyman (GBr) 0:01:40  
7 Joyce Vanderbeken (Bel)    
8 Reza Hormes-Ravenstijn (Ned)    
9 Pavla Havlikova (Cze)    
10 Nicolle De Bie-Leijten (Bel)    
11 Nikki Harris (GBr)    
12 Arenda Grimberg (Ned)    
13 Loes Sels (Bel)    
14 Ellen Van Loy (Bel)    
15 Nancy Bober (Bel)    
16 Lana Verberne (Ned)    
17 Veerle Ingels (Bel)    
18 Karen Verhestraeten (Bel)    
19 Katrien Vermeiren (Bel)    
20 Ludivine Henrion (Bel)    
21 Katrien Thijs (Bel)    
22 Christine Vardaros (USA)    
23 Katrien Aerts (Bel)    
24 Nathalie Nijns (Bel)    
25 Steffy Van den Haute (Bel)    
26 Dorien Raeymaekers (Bel)    
27 Angela van der Velde (Ned)    
28 Madara Furmane (Lat)    
29 Liga Smite (Lat)    
30 Marijke De Pauw (Bel)    
31 Caitlin La Haye (Bel)    
32 Maaike Lanssens (Bel)    
Elite women - Final Gazet van Antwerpen Trofee classification
1 Daphny van den Brand (Ned) 94 pts
2 Sanne Cant (Bel) 88  
3 Helen Wyman (GBr) 88  
4 Pavla Havlikova (Cze) 87  
5 Sanne van Paassen (Ned) 76  
6 Marianne Vos (Ned) 72  
7 Joyce Vanderbeken (Bel) 63  
8 Reza Hormes-Ravenstijn (Ned) 53  
9 Linda van Rijen (Ned) 44  
10 Sophie de Boer (Ned) 40  
11 Arenda Grimberg (Ned) 34  
12 Nancy Bober (Bel) 32  
13 Saskia Elemans (Ned) 31  
14 Veerle Ingels (Bel) 30  
15 Nicole De Bie-Leijten (Bel) 25  
16 Nikki Harris (GBr) 23  
17 Gabriella Day (GBr) 20  
18 Ellen Van Loy (Bel) 20  
19 Ludivine Henrion (Bel) 17  
20 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) 17  
21 Christine Vardaros (USA) 15  
22 Lana Verberne (Ned) 15  
23 Karen Verhestraeten (Bel) 12  
24 Sabrina Stultiens (Ned) 11  
25 Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra) 10  
26 Jana Kyptova (Cze) 8  
27 Loes Sels (Bel) 8  
28 Cynthia Huygens (Fra) 7  
29 Lucie Chainel-Lefevre (Fra) 7  
30 Katrien Vermeiren (Bel) 7  
31 Ilona Meter (Ned) 6  
32 Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Fra) 6  
33 Rocio Gamonal (Spa) 5  
34 Steffy Van den Haute (Bel) 5  
35 Katrien Aerts (Bel) 5  
36 Patsy Larno (Bel) 4  
37 Nathalie Nijns (Bel) 4  
38 Katrien Thijs (Bel) 3  
39 Sabrina Schweizer (Ger) 2  
40 Dorien Raeymaekers (Bel) 1  
U23 men
1 Jim Aernouts (Bel) 0:50:50  
2 Lars van der Haar (Ned)    
3 Kenneth Van Compernolle (Bel)    
4 Arnaud Jouffroy (Fra) 0:00:26  
5 Robert Gavenda (Svk) 0:00:42  
6 Mitchell Huenders (Ned) 0:00:47  
7 Micki van Empel (Ned) 0:00:52  
8 Kacper Szczepaniak (Pol)    
9 Jan Denuwelaere (Bel) 0:00:56  
10 Kevin Eeckhout (Bel) 0:01:00  
11 Jelle Brackman (Bel) 0:01:09  
12 Lubomir Petrus (Cze) 0:01:16  
13 Stef Boden (Bel) 0:01:22  
14 Pawel Szczepaniak (Pol) 0:01:30  
15 Kevin Cant (Bel) 0:01:34  
16 Corné van Kessel (Ned)    
17 Dries Pauwels (Bel) 0:02:02  
18 Marcel Meisen (Ger) 0:02:18  
19 Kristof Cop (Bel) 0:02:27  
20 Vincent Baestaens (Bel) 0:02:42  
21 Tijmen Eising (Ned) 0:02:48  
22 Niels Koyen (Bel) 0:02:55  
23 Sven Beelen (Bel) 0:03:16  
24 Vinnie Braet (Bel) 0:03:32  
25 Sonny Volders (Bel) 0:03:53  
26 Ritchie Denolf (Bel) 0:04:07  
27 Stijn Mortelmans (Bel) 0:04:39  
28 Sieën Veestraeten (Bel) 0:04:49  
29 Edwin Arts (Ned) 0:04:58  
30 Ruben Veestraeten (Bel) 0:05:01  
31 Ingmar Uytdewilligen (Bel) 0:05:18  
32 Wim Thijs (Bel) 0:05:42  
33 Valentijn Van de Velde (Bel) 0:05:46  
34 Robin Poelvoorde (Bel)    
35 Raf Risbourg (Bel) 0:06:39  
36 Hans Antonissen (Bel) 0:07:07  
37 Bart Barkhuis (Ned) 0:07:20  
38 Thomas Verbeek (Bel)  -1lap  
39 Kevin Neirynck (Bel)    
40 Vincent Van Hooste (Bel)    
41 Rutger Lahaye. (Bel)    
U23 men - Final Gazet van Antwerpen Trofee classification
1 Tom Meeusen (Bel) 156 pts
2 Jim Aernouts (Bel) 136  
3 Jan Denuwelaere (Bel) 133  
4 Robert Gavenda (Svk) 119  
5 Kenneth Van Compernolle (Bel) 116  
6 Stef Boden (Bel) 101  
7 Lubomir Petrus (Cze) 85  
8 Arnaud Jouffroy (Fra) 83  
9 Kacper Szczepaniak (Pol) 76  
10 Pawel Szczepaniak (Pol) 67  
11 Micki van Empel (Ned) 65  
12 Vincent Baestaens (Bel) 60  
13 Mitchell Huenders (Ned) 58  
14 Kevin Cant (Bel) 54  
15 Tijmen Eising (Ned) 52  
16 Wietse Bosmans (Bel) 46  
17 Joeri Adams (Bel) 38  
18 Kevin Eeckhout (Bel) 32  
19 Corné van Kessel (Ned) 31  
20 Jiri Polnicky (Cze) 28  
21 Lars van der Haar (Ned) 28  
22 Twan van den Brand (Ned) 26  
23 Marcel Meisen (Ger) 26  
24 Karel Hnik (Tsj) 19  
25 Sascha Weber (Ger) 18  
26 Vinnie Braet (Bel) 14  
27 Dave De Cleyn (Bel) 13  
28 Thomas Vernaeckt (Bel) 11  
29 Kristof Cop (Bel) 11  
30 Marek Konwa (Pol) 10  
31 Jelle Brackman (Bel) 10  
32 Sven Beelen (Bel) 7  
33 Dries Pauwels (Bel) 6  
34 Geert van der Horst (Ned) 5  
35 Boy van Poppel (Ned) 4  
36 Zeb Willems (Bel) 3  
37 Michael Winterberg (Swi) 2  
38 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) 1  
39 Sonny Volders (Bel) 1  
40 Kobus Hereygers (Ned) 1