Stybar wins in Roubaix

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Czech champion Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea) took over the lead in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup from World Champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) by winning the World Cup round in Roubaix on Sunday in grand style. Stybar threw his fists in the air on the famed Paris-Roubaix vélodrome and won ahead of Belgians Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor), Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), Erwin Vervecken and Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea). Albert finished on a disappointing eighth place in Roubaix and now trails Stybar by 16 points in the World Cup standings with only one round left in the series.

"This is unbelievable. Of course, I'm happy but I didn't expect it," Stybar said. "I've only just returned from a training week in Majorca, and I was feeling tired. The first few laps were reasonable, but then I was doing worse, and I lost positions."

"At one moment, I was able to move back up, and suddenly I was in the lead," Stybar said, recalling his acceleration during the sixth of nine laps. "It was ideal because I ended up leading the race together with my teammate [Bart] Wellens who was very motivated because he was still fighting for a spot in the Belgian selection for the World Championships."

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Besides a minor dropping in places by Belgian champion Nys, who recovered well, the first half of the race, was marked by a natural selection that created an eight-man leaders' group including Stybar, Albert, Vantornout, Nys, Vervecken, Wellens, Gerben De Knegt (Rabobank) and local hero Steve Chainel (Bbox Bouygues Telecom).

Disappointing the local crowds, Chainel fell off the pace of the rest of the group and the first chasers after an acceleration from Stybar and Wellens. However, he Chainel eventually finished as first French rider in ninth place.

After the sixth lap, Stybar and Wellens had 20 seconds on Nys, Vantornout, Vervecken and Albert, who was unable to bring the chasers back to his closest rival in the World Cup standings. Half a lap later, Albert had to say goodbye to the first chase group, too. He would go on to finish in eighth, one spot ahead of Chainel.

"This way it wasn't possible to race. I suffered a lot because of my chest [Albert broke a rib last weekend. - Ed.], and it's very sad that I could not defend my chances in a fair way," Albert said.

Stybar was able to ride the seventh lap 15 seconds faster than anybody else and thus he rode Wellens off his wheel. Nys, Vantornout and Vervecken were trailing Stybar by 25 seconds at that moment in the race.

During the remaining laps, Stybar was never in trouble and the popular Czech got to start celebrating his win before he actually hit the track for the final stretch of the race.

Vantornout had most energy left of the chasers, and he stormed toward second place ahead of Nys, Vervecken and Wellens, who was running on empty during the last lap. Once again it was "close but no cigar" for Vantornout, who never came closer to a World Cup victory this season.

"I'd rather win, and I was not far away from doing so. The first four laps I wasn't feeling good, but in the end I was getting stronger every lap," Vantornout said.

Belgian champion Nys explained that a hectic week kept him from being fresh at the start in Roubaix. "Every day there was something going on that kept me from training on a normal way. Whereas the Czech champion can travel to Majorca the day after the championships, the Belgian champion has to race in Otegem. Then there was also a team presentation... . I simply wasn't fresh enough to win today,."

When Vervecken raced in Roubaix in 2007, he claimed a win over De Knegt. And while he finished fourth today - better than he'd expected, it wasn't quite as good. "I had a good day, but I suffered an awful lot. I'm very happy, and I think I showed that I'm a level above the other two riders who're claiming a spot [in the Belgian selection for the World Championships]," Vervecken said to Cyclingnews.

link: http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/cross.php?id=cross/2007/jan07/roubaix07

The American riders didn't have their best day in Roubaix. Before the race, Jonathan Page was expected to go well on the muddy course that includes lots of running, but Page messed up his start and punctured during the third lap, forcing him to ride all along the track and beyond with a flat tyre.

Page got going on the fourth lap. "I'm disappointed that I had that flat tyre and a bad start. Maybe a top-10 result was possible, but I wasn't give the chance to see if that was true. The start was terrible, and I ended up riding on the inside, off the track. That flat tyre soaked a lot of energy even though I tried hard to control damages."

"Eventually I rode my own race and figured I'd better use the race as a good training," said a muddy post-race Page to Cyclingnews.

Compatriot Ryan Trebon rode his first European race of the season in Roubaix; the tall American has a love-hate-relation with the legendary vélodrome. "Last year I said I would never come back and now I remember why. It's so hard, I've never been so f*****d up."

"It was impossible to stay with anybody as everybody's riding at his own speed on this course. There was so much running, and when you got back on the bike the concrete was hard to get through. My bad start didn't help, of course. I blew up my engine before halfway and actually I hoped Stybar would lap me so I wouldn't have to complete another lap," Trebon said to Cyclingnews.

As if he hasn't suffered enough, the former US national champion also had his wheels stolen from the pit during the race. "Things like that happen at a small race, but you wouldn't expect that at a World Cup event where the pit is only accessible for official pit crew," Trebon said. Other American riders like Jamey Driscoll and Troy Wells were lapped during the penultimate World Cup round.

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