Pauwels repeats at Tabor with solo victory

Last year's World Cup champion Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) commenced his new World Cup campaign with a convincing win in Tábor, Czech Republic. Just as he did last year at the Tábor round, one the Belgian's four World Cup triumphs the prior season, Pauwels rode away from his rivals in the closing laps to notch a solo victory.

Near the end of the seventh of nine laps Pauwels made his move, separating himself from the four-man lead group containing teammate Klaas Vantornout, world champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) and young Dutch phenom Lars van der Haar (Rabobank-Giant Off-road Team). Vantornout played his team role to perfection as the Sunweb-Revor riders rode 1-2 at the front and Vantornout let a gap grow to Pauwels which neither Albert nor van der Haar could close.

"This time it took longer," Pauwels said, comparing this victory to last year's solo win in Tabor. "Earlier I was unable to drop Niels. Thanks to Klaas, who played team tactics, I received a couple of metres. That was enough. It was hard but it worked out well."

On the final lap Albert and van der Haar dropped Vantornout with the young Dutchman winning the sprint for second against Albert, a fine performance for the 21-year-old Rabobank-Giant rider's first World Cup in the elite ranks.

"I can't believe it. I didn't expect it to go so fast. Last night I dreamed of a top-5 result, now I know that I can get somewhere in this sport," van der Haar said after his second place performance in Tábor. "This course suits me to perfection. I'm going really well and I'm technically good so in these corners they couldn't drop me."

Van der Haar was pragmatic about the Sunweb-Revor team tactics which prevented a potential sprint for victory. "That's racing, I understand them. It's part of the race but it's not fun," said van der Haar.

Vantornout finished alone in fourth place, 27 seconds behind Pauwels, while Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) finished a frustrating fifth place eight seconds later, yet still a remarkable result considering his early misfortune. The Belgian champion rode dominantly at the front of the pack but then his chain snapped at the beginning of the third lap. "Suddenly I was kicking in the air," Nys said.

After Nys got a new bike from the pits he found himself in 22nd place, more than 40 seconds behind the leaders, and he set to work with a lengthy pursuit. "At first I thought that I would be able to join the large chase group behind the leaders and then aim for a last-lap effort," said Nys. "Once I bridged up to them I was able to continue. I had a very good day."

Eight seconds behind Nys, Bart Aernouts (AA Drink) won the sprint for sixth place ahead of U.S. champion Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus), Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea), Twan van den Brand and Simon Zahner. After his career best World Cup result in Plzen last year, a 10th place finish, Powers showed a lot of improvement in Tábor. During the second half of the race Powers moved up in the large chase group and started setting the pace.

Powers's result is the best-ever World Cup finish from an American in the elite men's ranks, an honor previously held by Jonathan Page with eighth place finishes at Igorre and Hoogerheide in the 2009-2010 season.

Local rider Radomir Simunek (BKCP-Powerplus) rode in the lead group during the first half of the race, then rode alone in fifth place for a long time but in the closing laps he ran out of steam. Simunek ultimately finished in 11th place, 54 seconds behind Pauwels.