Nys closes out 2013 with victory at Superprestige Diegem

With an overpowering ride at the sixth round of the Superprestige cyclo-cross series in Diegem, Sven Nys (Crelan-KDL) concluded his era on a Colnago bike with the panache and style worthy his world champion's kit. Nys dominated the evening race near Brussels from the start and finished alone, 21 seconds ahead of runner-up Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea). Superprestige series leader Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) was unable to grab a fifth consecutive win in Diegem and place third under the lights, 45 seconds down on the world champion.

With the victory Nys reduced Albert's overall lead in the Superprestige standings to six points.

"I had a day which you want to have at the championships," Nys told Sporza. "During the last five or six years I never rode like this. I led from start to finish. The rest weren't too far [back] but I always rode my pace.

"I was the only rider with Grifos at the start whereas the rest rode with Rhinos. I was always steering well except for that one minor slip I made," Nys told TV-channel Vier.

Nys had enough of a winning margin in Diegem that he was able to dismount just prior to the finish line and lift his Colnago bike in the air and kiss it goodbye as he walked across the line. "It's a worthy way of thanking and saying goodbye to the people I worked with for fifteen years, thanking the team and manager Gérard Bulens who says farewell to the sport."

Right from the start Nys took the initiative with Meeusen attentive on his wheel. Behind them Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) ran rather then bunny-hopped the barriers, made a mistake and the duo were gone. During the second lap Albert started the chase of the leading duo with only Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) able to keep up. The two pairs kept each other in check at seven seconds while further back Vantornout broke his rear derailleur and was forced to abandon the race. With that bit of bad luck Vantornout tumbled from second to fifth overall in the Superprestige series standings.

The tenor of the race changed on the third lap as Nys dropped Meeusen while Albert dropped Peeters. Soon afterwards Albert was chasing Nys with Meeusen on his wheel. While the gap to Nys wasn't large, closing the deficit seemed impossible as Nys had a firm grip on affairs.

During the fourth lap, however, that changed briefly when Nys crashed while taking a slippery right hand corner. "It's become a bit of a tradition that I'm going down at least once each race," said Nys. "It was a difficult corner and that's the risk when riding these tubulars. I didn't go over the limit. I shifted back for a moment and then restarted."

While Albert and Meeusen were able to make contact with Nys, straight away Albert found himself in trouble again under Nys's impetus and early on in the fifth lap the BKCP-Powerplus rider was dropped for good. Meeusen, meanwhile, stood tall and remained with Nys.

"I was seeing all the stars in the sky but I didn't care because I was on the podium," Meeusen told Vier. "I apologized to Nys that I didn't co-operate more but it wasn't possible."

During the seventh, penultimate lap the inevitable happened as Meeusen was dropped by Nys after a couple of short climbs. Nys continued to attack the course and then cruised to his fifth victory in Diegem with the celebration starting long before the finishing straight.

After Nys walked across the finish line in first with his Colnago aloft a delighted Meeusen celebrated his second place result with a wheelie. Albert kept the leaders in sight for a long time but then settled for third during the final laps.

"Every series must come to an end," Albert said. "When I get beaten in a fair way like Sven did today I can live with that. He was very dominant. Thinking about the championships one can only hope that Sven is in top form too early. I still need to fight hard to win the Superprestige. Six points is not a lot but it's not too little either. It would take two bad days for me to give it away."

Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) was best of the rest more than a minute behind Nys in fourth place ahead of his compatriot Martin Bina (Kwadro-Stannah). Lars van der Haar (Rabobank Development Team) narrowly beat Peeters in the sprint for sixth place.

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Full Results
1Sven Nys (Bel) Crelan KDL Cycling Team1:02:41
2Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team0:00:21
3Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus Cycling Team0:00:45
4Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-QuickStep0:01:04
5Martin Bina (Cze) Kwadro-Stannah Cycling Team0:01:08
6Lars van der Haar (Ned) Rabobank Development Team0:01:18
7Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling TeamRow 6 - Cell 2
8Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP-Powerplus0:02:01
9Marcel Meisen (Ger) Kwadro-Stannah Cycling Team0:02:04
10Jim Aernouts (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games Cycling Team0:02:07
11Joeri Adams (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team0:02:09
12Niels Wubben (Ned) Rabobank Development Team0:02:32
13Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team0:02:54
14Twan van den Brand (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team0:03:13
15Micki Van Empel (Ned) Crelan KDL Cycling Team0:03:18
16Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus Cycling Team0:03:24
17Patrick Gaudy (Bel) The Barracuda Company0:03:29
18Kenneth Van Compernolle (Bel) DNCS-Pro 2012 Cycling Team0:03:31
19Dave De Cleyn (Bel) Team Thielemans-De Hauwere0:04:12
20Davy Commeyne (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty Cycling Team0:04:18
21Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team0:04:26
22Mariusz Gil (Pol) Kwadro-Stannah Cycling Team0:04:42
23Robert Gavenda (Svk) Dukla Trencin Trek0:04:54
24Kenneth Hansen (Den) Cannondale-Haderslev0:05:07
25Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Crelan KDL Cycling Team0:05:30
26Martin Haring (Svk) CK Banska Bystrica0:05:37
27Christian Helmig (Lux) Team Differdange-Losch-1lap
28Niels Koyen (Bel) DNCS-Pro 2012 Cycling TeamRow 27 - Cell 2
29Yannick Mayer (Ger) Team Baier Landshut-2laps
30Ingmar Uytdewilligen (Bel) DNCS-Pro 2012 Cycling TeamRow 29 - Cell 2
31Alexander Revell (NZl) PNP Cycling ClubRow 30 - Cell 2
32Christoph Ambroziak (Ger) Gunsha Racing Team-3laps
33Christophe Cavazzana (Fra) Etoile Sportive De Seynod-4laps
DNFKlaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games Cycling TeamRow 33 - Cell 2
DNFKevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games Cycling TeamRow 34 - Cell 2
DNFRadomir Simunek (Cze) Kwadro-Stannah Cycling TeamRow 35 - Cell 2
DNFJulien Taramarcaz (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing TeamRow 36 - Cell 2
DNFJonathan Page (USA) Fuji-Spy-Competitive CyclistRow 37 - Cell 2
DNFEddy van IJzendoorn (Ned) Team Natubalans-ApexRow 38 - Cell 2
DNFSascha Weber (Ger) Team Differdange-LoschRow 39 - Cell 2
DNSAngus Edmond (NZl) Stevens-MalteniRow 40 - Cell 2
DNSJeremy Durrin (USA) Optum p/b Kelly Benefit StrategiesRow 41 - Cell 2
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Superprestige standings after six rounds
1Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus Cycling Team79pts
2Sven Nys (Bel) Crelan KDL Cycling Team73Row 1 - Cell 3
3Lars van der Haar (Ned) Rabobank Development Team63Row 2 - Cell 3
4Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP-Powerplus61Row 3 - Cell 3
5Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games Cycling Team58Row 4 - Cell 3
6Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team58Row 5 - Cell 3
7Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team43Row 6 - Cell 3
8Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games Cycling Team38Row 7 - Cell 3
9Bart Aernouts (Bel) AA Drink Cycling Team33Row 8 - Cell 3
10Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team27Row 9 - Cell 3
11Niels Wubben (Ned) Rabobank Development Team27Row 10 - Cell 3
12Marcel Meisen (Ger) Kwadro-Stannah Cycling Team27Row 11 - Cell 3
13Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team23Row 12 - Cell 3
14Wietse Bosmans (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus Cycling Team21Row 13 - Cell 3
15Martin Bina (Cze) Kwadro-Stannah Cycling Team20Row 14 - Cell 3
16Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-QuickStep12Row 15 - Cell 3
17Joeri Adams (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team10Row 16 - Cell 3
18Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus Cycling Team9Row 17 - Cell 3
19Jim Aernouts (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games Cycling Team9Row 18 - Cell 3
20Twan van den Brand (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team8Row 19 - Cell 3
21Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team6Row 20 - Cell 3
22Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Crelan KDL Cycling Team4Row 21 - Cell 3
23Lubomir Petrus (Cze) BKCP-Powerplus Cycling Team4Row 22 - Cell 3
24Micki Van Empel (Ned) Crelan KDL Cycling Team3Row 23 - Cell 3
25Ian Field (GBr) Hargroves Cycles-Specialized2Row 24 - Cell 3
26Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez (Spa) Specialized-Garmar2Row 25 - Cell 3

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