Albert is king in Plzen mud

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Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) won a muddy and cold edition of the second round of the World Cup in Plzen, in the Czech Republic, finish well clear of Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor), Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) and former World Cup leader Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor).

Peeters was removed from the official result after UCI commissaires spotted an irregular pit stop in the first half of the race. It didn’t matter much to world champion Albert, who looked unbeatable on the slippery course.

“I like this weather, when it’s raining and it’s muddy. Everybody rides on his own and that’s when I’m on my best. Hopefully it’s raining in Belgium too,” Albert said in the post-race interview.

“I’ve won here as a world champion in 2009 and now I win again in this jersey. The corners were really dangerous because you can make a mistake everywhere. You have to pay a lot of attention and use your technique.”

Unlike last years's World Cup race, the TV-camera was gone by the time the start was given but once again Albert wasn’t near the front when the race started. US champion Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) was even worse off, as he hit the deck in the first corner.

Albert managed to bridge up to the all-Belgian seven-man lead group by the end of the first lap. Lars van der Haar (Rabobank-Giant Off-road) – the revelation of the first World Cup round – rode in the first chase group at 15 seconds.

Halfway into the second lap, Albert moved into the lead. Soon after, his pace distanced most riders except for Belgian champion Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony). But the pace also proved too high for the experienced Belgian and he crashed hard in a tricky descent early on in the third lap.

“I’m in a lot of pain. I was on the wrong track and didn’t click into the pedal with one foot. I landed on the top of my frame. Physically I didn’t suffer much today but the crash hurt a lot,” Nys told Sporza.

Albert rode alone in front from then on, with Pauwels the sole chaser by the end of the third lap. Nys slipped to sixth position, at more than half a minute from Albert. However Pauwels failed to close the gap on Albert and he was caught back by teammate Vantornout and at halfway through the race – after four out of eight laps – the Sunweb duo trailed Albert by 18 seconds.

From there Vantornout occasionally seemed able to take ground back on Albert but he was never able to reduce the gap inside of 10 seconds. Eventually Albert easily took the win. Behind him Vantornout sat up in the final metres in order to hand the World Cup points for second place to teammate Pauwels but he didn’t know that Pauwels had suffered a mechanical problem in the last lap. Francis Mourey (FDJ) was the first non-Belgian in Plzen in eighth place. 

There was little to celebrate for the US riders. After his first corner crash Powers didn’t make up enough ground to gain UCI points and he didn’t finish the sixth lap. By that time Timothy Johnson (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) had also left the race, while riding at the back of the pack. Jonathan Page rode in the top-25 but faded in the second half of the race. He finished 32nd, 6:29 behind winner Niels Albert.

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