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December 26, Elite men: Zolder, Belgium

Pauwels triumphs in Zolder

By:
Brecht Decaluwé
Published:
December 26, 2009, 15:53,
Updated:
December 26, 2009, 17:46

Belgians sweep top three spots

Kevin Pauwels (Telnet Fidea) takes the win.

Kevin Pauwels (Telnet Fidea) takes the win.

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Kevin Pauwels (Telenet Fidea) broke through the cyclo-cross dominance of the triumverate of Niels Albert (BKCP Powerplus), Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet - Colnago) and Zydenek Stybar (Telenet Fidea) on Saturday with a win at the World Cup in Zolder. The venue was the same as when he became the junior World Champion in 2002. On a fast course up and around the Terlaemen car race track, the timid 25-year-old Belgian grabbed his second elite career victory after taking the initiative early on.

Pauwels ended up leading the race with two Rabobank men and World Champion Albert, and then started a four-lap solo attack during which he held off Albert. The latter still had a good day when considering the World Cup standings; co-leader Stybar dropped 20 points after finishing sixth.

The winner handed the victory flowers to his grandmother before talking about his success. "I'm very happy. It's my second victory with the pros, and the fact that it is a World Cup puts it a level above my victory in Overijse last year," Pauwels said.

"I got away well with [Bart] Aernouts and [Gerben] De Knegt and rode tempo, but suddenly Albert was there. On a technical section I shook him off. I suffered a lot. It was the longest cyclo-cross I've ridden in my life," Pauwels said after grabbing the victory in the one-hour race.

The Belgian didn't plan to rest on his laurels and is now targeting the Belgian National Championships in Oostmalle. "The champagne will be for after the season."

The decisive moment in the race came during the sixth lap with a crash from Nys. At that moment, Pauwels was leading the race together with De Knegt and Aernouts. Albert took the initiative in the chase group and was closing the 16-second gap together with Stybar and Nys.

When Nys crashed on a tricky drop, he held up Stybar and thus allowed Albert to get rid of his World Cup series rival. Albert bridged up to the leaders while Nys and Stybar were caught behind other chasers. Though Albert made it to the front, he didn't stay there for long since Pauwels quickly attacked.

"I needed half a lap to recover, but I didn't have time to do that since Pauwels accelerated right away. The gap remained the same for a while but I couldn't close it down," Albert said.

Looking back at Nys' crash, Stybar didn't want to blame the Belgian champion, even though Nys then opted to sit back and recover before grabbing third place after finding his legs again in the last lap. "That's cross," Stybar concluded. "When Sven crashed, I knew it was over. I was having a bad day but from then on mentally it was over, too.

"I was riding my own race, and it was Nys' right to sit on the wheels half the race, saving energy. It's not the end of the world. I lost some points for the World Cup, but it is still possible [to win the overall]," Stybar said.

Nys explained that he needed time to weigh his chances after his crash, yo-yo-ing between easing off and saving energy for tomorrow's race in Diegem. "I crashed on my right knee, and it hurt a lot. I thought about tomorrow and the [Superprestige] lead I'm defending over there. During the last lap, I was able to move from 10th to third position, so it's confirmed that my form is alright. Now I have to wait and see how my knee will react to the crash," Nys said.

The Belgian champion was surprised to see that Pauwels was able to hold off Albert in Zolder. "Before and even during the race, I was convinced that this was Albert's course, given it's a power course good for clocking steady lap times. It's a major surprise to me, and it will stick in my mind. Pauwels showed that beating Albert on a course like this is possible," Nys said.

Albert wasn't as impressed with his defeat as Nys was. "Only Pauwels finished ahead of me. All the others were dropped quite easily," Albert said. "Kevin will not blame me for saying that he isn't there all the time. Last week he finished 32nd in Kalmthout," Albert said.

Pauwels' win today made up for that poor showing - at least in his own mind. "I don't know why I was so bad over there; this time I wasn't sliding away that much," Pauwels said. The quiet Belgian will soon forget about Kalmthout as he cherishes his breakthrough performance in Zolder.

The penultimate round of the World Cup will happen in Roubaix, France, on January 17.

Results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 1:04:30  
2 Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 0:00:22  
3 Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 0:00:33  
4 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:38  
5 Radomir Simunek (Cze) BKCP-Powerplus 0:00:43  
6 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 0:00:44  
7 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb Pro Job Cycling Team 0:00:47  
8 Bart Aernouts (Bel) Rabobank 0:00:49  
9 Steve Chainel (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom    
10 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 0:00:58  
11 Martin Bina (Cze) 0:01:04  
12 Christian Heule (Swi) 0:01:12  
13 Thijs Al (Ned) 0:01:18  
14 Jonathan Page (USA) 0:01:28  
15 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 0:01:53  
16 Petr Dlask (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 0:01:55  
17 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP-Powerplus 0:02:20  
18 Martin Zlamalik (Cze)    
19 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas 0:02:25  
20 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 0:02:26  
21 Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 0:02:42  
22 Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) 0:02:48  
23 David Derepas (Fra) 0:02:49  
24 Nicolas Bazin (Fra) Continental Team Differdange 0:02:57  
25 James Driscoll (USA) Rock Racing 0:03:19  
26 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 0:03:31  
27 Ondrej Bambula (Cze) 0:03:33  
28 Marco Bianco (Ita) 0:03:37  
29 John Gadret (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale 0:03:44  
30 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Continental Team Differdange 0:03:47  
31 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) 0:03:49  
32 Troy Wells (USA) 0:03:50  
33 Wilant Van Gils (Ned) 0:03:51  
34 Luca Damiani (Ita) Colavita / Sutter Home Pb Cooking Light 0:03:52  
35 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) 0:03:57  
36 Laurent Colombatto (Fra) 0:04:00  
37 Bram Schmitz (Ned) Van Vliet Ebh Elshof 0:04:06  
38 Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 0:04:16  
39 Ian Field (GBr) 0:04:53  
40 Milan Barenyi (Svk) 0:05:00  
41 Patrick Van Leeuwen (Ned) 0:05:03  
42 Robert Glajza (Svk) 0:05:06  
43 Joachim Parbo (Den) 0:05:10  
44 Keiichi Tsujiura (Jpn) 0:05:14  
45 Paul Voss (Ger) Team Milram 0:05:16  
46 Eddy Van Ijzendoorn (Ned) 0:05:31  
47 Tommy Nielsen (Den) 0:05:33  
48 Jérome Chevallier (Fra) 0:05:41  
49 Marek Cichosz (Pol) Legia - Felt 0:05:45  
50 Jean-Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 0:05:51  
51 Alessandro Gambino (Ita) 0:06:16  
52 Marco Ponta (Ita) 0:06:19  
53 Peter Presslauer (Aut) 0:06:24  
54 Martin Haring (Svk)    
55 Ivar Hartogs (Ned) 0:07:15  
56 Brian Matter (USA) 0:07:50  
-2laps Lukas Kloucek (Cze) Sunweb Pro Job Cycling Team    
-3laps Osmond Bakker (Can)    
-6laps Masashi Matsui (Jpn)    
-6laps Boldbaatar Bold-Erdene (Mgl)    
-6laps Ariunbold Naranbat (Mgl)    
DNF Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Sunweb Pro Job Cycling Team    
DNF Justin Lindine (USA)    
DNF Jeremy Powers (USA) Jelly Belly Cycling Team    
DNF Fabio Ursi (Ita)    
World Cup standings after seven rounds
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 505  pts
2 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 485  
3 Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 415  
4 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb Pro Job Cycling Team 387  
5 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 335  
6 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) 330  
7 Bart Aernouts (Bel) Rabobank 307  
8 Francis Mourey (Fra) Française Des Jeux 302  
9 Christian Heule (Swi) 281  
10 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas 270  
11 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 266  
12 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) 252  
13 Radomir Simunek (Cze) BKCP-Powerplus 231  
14 Steve Chainel (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 230  
15 Martin Bina (Cze) 219  
16 Petr Dlask (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 211  
17 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 206  
18 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 206  
19 Thijs Al (Ned) 204  
20 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team 193  
21 Jonathan Page (USA) 190  
22 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Sunweb Pro Job Cycling Team 174  
23 Marco Bianco (Ita) 173  
24 Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 167  
25 Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 159  
26 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) 126  
27 Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) 124  
28 Laurent Colombatto (Fra) 122  
29 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 116  
30 Eddy Van Ijzendoorn (Ned) 116  
31 Patrick Van Leeuwen (Ned) 115  
32 Ondrej Bambula (Cze) 110  
33 Alessandro Gambino (Ita) 98  
34 Luca Damiani (Ita) Colavita / Sutter Home PB Cooking Light 98  
35 Wilant Van Gils (Ned) 92  
36 Nicolas Bazin (Fra) Continental Team Differdange 91  
37 David Derepas (Fra) 90  
38 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) 88  
39 Fabio Ursi (Ita) 82  
40 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP-Powerplus 76  
41 Jérome Chevallier (Fra) 75  
42 Jonathan Lopez (Fra) 71  
43 Ian Field (GBr) 71  
44 Milan Barenyi (Svk) 70  
45 Rob Peeters (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago 59  
46 Egoitz Murgoitio Rekalde (Spa) 54  
47 Ivar Hartogs (Ned) 51  
48 Johannes Sickmueller (Ger) 48  
49 Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez (Spa) 43  
50 Pawel Szczepaniak (Pol) 41  
51 James Driscoll (USA) Rock Racing 39  
52 Robert Glajza (Svk) 38  
53 Vaclav Metlicka (Svk) 37  
54 Robert Gavenda (Svk) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 35  
55 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) 33  
56 Joachim Parbo (Den) 32  
57 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Continental Team Differdange 30  
58 Lukas Kloucek (Cze) Sunweb Pro Job Cycling Team 30  
59 Elia Silvestri (Ita) 29  
60 Sascha Weber (Ger) 28  
61 Martin Haring (Svk) 28  
62 Sascha Wagner (Ger) 26  
63 Isaac Suarez Fernandez (Spa) 25  
64 Roy Van Heeswijk (Ned) 25  
65 Constantino Zaballa Gutierrez (Spa) La - Rota Dos Moveis 24  
66 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) 23  
67 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 22  
68 Marco Ponta (Ita) 21  
69 Jan Soetens (Bel) Revor-Jartazi Cyclingteam 20  
70 Troy Wells (USA) 20  
71 Vladimir Kyzivat (Cze) 18  
72 Marek Cichosz (Pol) Legia - Felt 17  
73 David Seco Amundarain (Spa) 16  
74 Unai Yus Kerejeta (Spa) 15  
75 Bram Schmitz (Ned) Van Vliet Ebh Elshof 14  
76 Daniel Ruiz Echeandia (Spa) 14  
77 Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 13  
78 Zdenek Mlynar (Cze) 13  
79 Jody Crawforth (GBr) 11  
80 Andreas Moser (Swi) 11  
81 Tommy Nielsen (Den) 11  
82 Julien Pion (Fra) 10  
83 Jens Westergren (Swe) 10  
84 René Lang (Swi) 10  
85 David Lozano Riba (Spa) 9  
86 Clément Bourgoin (Fra) 9  
87 Gusty Bausch (Lux) 8  
88 Keiichi Tsujiura (Jpn) 7  
89 Paul Voss (Ger) Team Milram 6  
90 Peter Presslauer (Aut) 4  
91 Marek Canecky (Svk) 3  
92 Zoltan Tisza (Hun) 2  
93 Jean-Eudes Demaret (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 1  
94 Rafael Visinelli (Ita) 1  

 

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