UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, Valkenburg 2018: Junior Men Results

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Ben Tulett (Great Britain) wins the junior men's race at the World Championships (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Ben Tulett (Great Britain). (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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The fans turned up for the Worlds in Valkenburg (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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The leaders had to deal with a demanding course at Worlds (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Tomas Kopecky (Czech Republic) on his way to silver (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Ben Tulett (Great Britain) opens a lead at the Worlds in Valkenburg (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Ben Tulett (Great Britain) in the rainbow jersey at Worlds (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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The junior men's podium of Tomas Kopecky (Cze), Ben Tulett (GBr) and Ryan Kamp (Ned) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Ben Tulett (Great Britain) on the front (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Ben Tulett (Great Britain) wins the men's junior race at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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The fans turned out for the junior men's race (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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The mud was a major factor in the junior men's race (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

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Ben Tulett (Great Britain) rode to victory on a muddy morning in Valkenburg, making it two wins in a row for Great Britain at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. Tomas Kopecky (Czech Republic) took silver, 22 second back, while Ryan Kamp (Netherlands) took bronze at 30 seconds.

After last year’s British clean sweep in Luxembourg, Tulett - brother to 2017 silver medallist Dan - had a lot to live up to, and was among the leaders from the start of the race.

It was UCI World Cup winner Loris Rouiller of Switzerland who took the initiative at the start, riding on his own up front as others, including World Cup runner-up Kopecky, tested the limits of traction as they got used to the wet mud.

Kopecky soon joined Rouiller in the lead; the pair enjoying a five second-gap at the end of lap one before the swelling chase group recaptured the duo. They looked the strongest in the early exchanges, pulling away on a few occasions while not taking a decisive lead.

An on-foot section towards the end of the second lap provided the impetus for the first real sort-out, with Tullett pulling out a solo lead as the race reached its halfway point. Rouiller lost contact with the whittled-down chase group, which saw Kopecky joined by a trio of Dutch riders.

Tullett looked comfortable with a fifteen-second lead at the beginning of the penultimate lap, though any mistake would blow the race wide open again. Further back Kopecky punched out alone, eating into the gap with a big effort.

The duo were together at the start of the final lap, and the momentum looked to be with the Czech rider as he pushed the pace early, gapping Tullett. American Lane Maher was ten seconds back in third, but under attack from the Dutch trio.

After a cat-and-mouse game among the leaders, Tullett struck out midway through the final lap - a move that immediately looked decisive as Kopecky had no answer. Indeed, he would be forced to go on the defensive against the Dutch surge behind him.

A ten second gap soon opened up for Tullett, and the first year junior duly avoided any mistakes as he soloed across the line to take the first rainbow jersey of the weekend.

Full Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Ben Tulett (Great Britain)	0:41:19
2	Tomas Kopecky (Czech Republic)	0:00:22
3	Ryan Kamp (Netherlands)	0:00:30
4	Tom Lindner (Germany)	0:00:34
5	Lane Maher (United States Of America)	0:00:35
6	Pim Ronhaar (Netherlands)	0:00:36
7	Mees Hendrikx (Netherlands)	0:00:48
8	Gerben Kuypers (Belgium)	0:00:55
9	Ryan Cortjens (Belgium)	0:00:59
10	Thibault Valognes (France)	0:01:10
11	Luke Verburg (Netherlands)	0:01:18
12	Benjamin Rivet (France)	0:01:31
13	Scott Funston (United States Of America)	0:01:37
14	Jarno Bellens (Belgium)	0:01:44
15	Witse Meeussen (Belgium)	0:01:53
16	Loris Rouiller (Switzerland)	0:02:08
17	Emil Lindgren (Sweden)	0:02:23
18	Arthur Kluckers (Luxembourg)	0:02:24
19	Tyler Clark (Canada)
20	Anthony Courriere (France)	0:02:41
21	Jakub Schierl (Czech Republic)	0:02:47
22	Sam Noel (United States Of America)	0:02:51
23	Niels Vandeputte (Belgium)	0:03:00
24	Tomáš Ježek (Czech Republic)	0:03:02
25	Nicolas Kess (Luxembourg)	0:03:21
26	Filippo Fontana (Italy)	0:03:34
27	Federico Ceolin (Italy)	0:03:48
28	Adrian Barros Rodriguez (Spain)	0:03:52
29	Conor Martin (Canada)	0:03:54
30	Jakub Toupalík (Czech Republic)	0:04:12
31	Calder Wood (United States Of America)	0:04:15
32	Théo Thomas (France)	0:04:24
33	Sean Flynn (Great Britain)	0:04:27
34	Jakub Ríman (Czech Republic)	0:04:29
35	Jenson Young (Great Britain)	0:04:32
36	Anton Niederbach (Sweden)	0:04:33
37	Aloïs Charrin (France)	0:04:37
38	Benjamin Gomez Villafane (United States Of America)	0:04:40
39	Alvin Tomášek (Czech Republic)	0:04:44
40	Bart Artz (Netherlands)	0:04:46
41	Loïc Bettendorff (Luxembourg)	0:04:47
42	Frederik Raßmann (Germany)	0:05:06
43	Alex Morton (United States Of America)	0:05:10
44	Dylan Kerr (Canada)	0:05:19
45	Koutarou Murakami (Japan)	0:05:23
46	Felix Stehli (Switzerland)	0:05:27
47	Balázs Vas (Hungary)	0:05:31
48	David Westhoff (Germany)	0:05:32
49	Søren Wærenskjold (Norway)	0:05:35
50	Ian Millennium (Denmark)	0:05:36
51	Cédric Pries (Luxembourg)
52	Thomas Creighton (Ireland)	0:05:43
53	Pascal Tömke (Germany)	0:06:09
54	Piotr Krynski (Poland)	0:06:10
55	Noé Barras (Switzerland)	0:06:32
56	Tommaso Dalla Valle (Italy)	0:06:39
57	Adam Mcgarr (Ireland)	0:07:09
58	Gonzalo Inguanzo Macho (Spain)	0:07:25
59	Simon Bak (Denmark)	0:07:35
60	Davide Toneatti (Italy)	0:07:44
61	Joshua Amos Gudnitz (Denmark)	0:07:59
62	Paul Mysko (Canada)	0:08:01
63	Carlos Canal Blanco (Spain)	0:08:55
64	Hubert Drobek (Poland)	0:09:31
65	Alfred Thoft Christiansen (Denmark)	0:09:38
66	Mik Esser (Luxembourg)	0:10:03
67	Ren Tsumita (Japan)
68	Alexander Matthews (Australia)
69	Rémi Premand (Switzerland)
70	Archie Ryan (Ireland)
71	Anakin Williams (Australia)
72	Zach Larsson (Australia)
73	Piotr Gruszczynski (Poland)
DNF	Leonardo Cover (Italy)

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Daniel Ostanek

Daniel Ostanek has been a staff writer at Cyclingnews since August 2019, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later part-time production editor. Before Cyclingnews, he was published in numerous publications around the cycling world, including Procycling, CyclingWeekly, CyclingTips, Cyclist, and Rouleur, among others. As well as reporting and writing news and features, Daniel runs the 'How to watch' content throughout the season.

Daniel has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, and has interviewed a number of the sport's biggest stars, including Egan Bernal, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mark Cavendish, and Anna van der Breggen. Daniel rides a 2002 Landbouwkrediet Colnago C40 and his favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Vuelta a España.