Albert powers to his third Diegem win

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Only one week after his comeback to the cyclo-cross scene, Belgian champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) nailed a first win, his third win in a row in Diegem. Albert dominated affairs in the muddy evening cross near Brussels. He finished with a gap of 16 seconds over Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) and 36 seconds on Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet).

"It's great to win here three times in a row. That's a unique accomplishment that nobody from this cyclo-cross generation has done," Albert said.

French youngster Aurélien Duval (Club Cyclisme Charlott') was the surprise of the day with his fifth place. In the overall rankings of the Superprestige Series, it is Nys who still dominates affairs with 78 points, which is five more than Pauwels.

"That's how you win a classification, by grabbing a lot of points on a bad day. I felt un-energetic," said Nys. The overall rankings of the Superprestige Series are no longer a target for winner Albert as he was out injured for four weeks in which he missed two rounds.

After his comeback in Essen last weekend, it was clear Albert was back on his old high level right away. "After last weekend, I realized that I was ok. Today there was humor during the warm-up, I felt relaxed. I'm enormously happy, and I didn't expect it," Albert said.

The first attacks in dark Diegem were led by world champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step Team), but the Czech repeated his recent performances by fading halfway through the race. There were more accelerations from men like Dieter Vanthourenhout (BKCP-Powerplus), Mariusz Gil (Baboco) and Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) but none equaled the punch from Albert's attack in the third lap. Only Pauwels and Stybar were able to keep up with the Belgian champion. They recovered a little by hopping the barriers while Albert ran them.

"If I jump, I receive a painful knock on my wrist," Albert said of his decision not to hop the barriers. During the fourth lap, Albert accelerated again which cost Stybar his spot up front.

The Albert-Pauwels duo remained in front with Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea), Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant Off-Road Team), Stybar and Duval trailing by 12 seconds.

During the fifth lap, Albert switched tactics. Instead of accelerating just ahead of the barriers, he now made his move in a short sand section. "Pauwels always managed to come back on me after the barriers, so I had to come up with something. I knew I had to make a gap before the barriers. If there's a bit of sand on the course I always feel like a kid on the playground," Albert said.

Pauwels stumbled slightly in the sand, and Albert was gone. "Niels was stronger. If the sand section hadn't been in the course, it might have been a closer game. I got stuck in the sand because I was hitting the high revs," Pauwels said.

Albert cruised to a well-deserved win. Pauwels easily held on for second place but behind him there was a battle going on for the remaining podium spot. Eventually it was Nys who finished well ahead of Aernouts, Duval and Wellens.

Further back Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor) sneaked passed an empty Stybar. Radomir Simunek (BKCP-Powerplus) and Gil closed down the top-10 in Diegem.

Jonathan Page (Planetbike) was in touch with the lead group during the first lap. "I'm back on the way up. I rode a lot on my own today which hurt in the headwind," Page said. He faded slightly but never dropped back completely and eventually finished 16th at almost two minutes from winner Albert.

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