Albert conquers Koksijde sand
By Brecht Decaluwé published
Stybar bests Nys for second
Niels Albert (BCKP-Powerplus) continued to take advantage of his excellent form, winning the third round of the UCI World Cup series in the sand of Koksijde, Belgium, which will host the 2012 world championships.
The Belgian surged clear of the other big names around half way through the race and disappeared on the up and down course.
Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) tried to close the gap as Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) and Zdenek Štybar (Telenet-Fidea) marked each other but he faded and Stybar managed to pass him on the final lap. Wellens then stumbled on a slight rise, hindering Nys and allowing Stybar go clear to secure second place, 27 seconds behind Albert and just ahead of Nys.
Stybar still leads the overall classification of the World Cup but Albert took back 10 points and he's now trailing the world champion by just 15 points.
“I knew I would get back on winning ways one day; today was that day,” Albert said in the post-race interview with Sporza.
Tumultuous start
After a tumultuous start, the first lap was marked by the presence of the lesser-names of the sport at the front of the race, with Christophe Pfingsten (Van Vliet) hitting the front after the long start area. Albert had a bad start and came through outside the top-30 but didn’t panic. “I didn't start well but I managed to move up quite easily,” Albert said.
Once he joined the front of the race a lead group of nine riders formed. The race was decided just before halfway the race when Albert made a counter-attack after Nys' acceleration was slowed by a dropped chain.
“I saw Sven standing there but I just went past Gerben de Knegt because I knew he wouldn’t go well through the sand that was coming up. I wanted to create a selection as we were still riding in a large group. It's better to ride alone at your own pace,” Albert said.
It took a while before the chase of Albert got going and by that time he had a five second gap, although there were still four laps remaining on the demanding sandy course. Wellens led the chasers but one lap later the gap had grown to 13 seconds. During the following lap it grew even more, with Albert carving out half a minute on a group including Nys, Stybar, Wellens, Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea) and Bart Aernouts (Rabo-Giant Offroad). In that chase group there was some annoyance about the lack of space on the course, especially for Nys. “The race was ruined. When you were third in the group at a dune run-up there was a good chance you came to a standstill and eventually ended up chasing 10 seconds behind,” Nys said.
Going into the last lap Wellens had a comfortable gap over rivals Nys, Stybar and Aernouts in the battle for second place. It would've been the first podium in a World Cup for the experienced Belgian this season but he faded in the latter stages of the race. “Someone who shouldn't chase me down, chased me down. Then I made a mistake in the sand. I couldn't click out of my pedal and crashed. By that time the podium was gone,” Wellens told Cyclingnews. Stybar took advantage of the delay and blasted clear to secure second place and secure his lead in the World Cup. Nys was hindered by Wellens' crash and settled for third place.
Johnson and Page suffer in the sand
US riders Timothy Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) and Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) didn't have a great day on the course that will be used for the 2012 world championships. Johnson couldn't take advantage of his front row start position and ended up riding in 33rd position. The US champion couldn't move up and eventually pulled out with two laps to go. Page started much better and rode in the front group after the first lap. After the race Page said he was hit by cramp with still three thirds of the race to go and after making a couple of mistakes, he faded and eventually finished 21st.
1 | Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus | 1:06:05 |
2 | Zdenek Štybar (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 0:00:27 |
3 | Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | 0:00:31 |
4 | Bart Aernouts (Bel) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team | 0:00:32 |
5 | Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 0:00:42 |
6 | Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:56 |
7 | Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team | 0:00:58 |
8 | Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 0:01:01 |
9 | Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 0:01:03 |
10 | Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 0:02:43 |
11 | Eddy van Ijzendoorn (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team | 0:03:02 |
12 | Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP-Powerplus | |
13 | Christian Heule (Swi) Champion System LBS | 0:03:20 |
14 | Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Revor | 0:03:31 |
15 | Nicolas Bazin (Fra) Auber 93 | 0:03:48 |
16 | Marco Bianco (Ita) | 0:04:12 |
17 | Enrico Franzoi (Ita) BKCP-Powerplus | 0:04:37 |
18 | Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team | |
19 | Petr Dlask (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 0:04:39 |
20 | Thijs Al (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team | 0:04:45 |
21 | Jonathan Page (USA) Planet Bike | 0:04:54 |
22 | John Gadret (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale | 0:05:39 |
23 | Egoitz Murgoitio Rekalde (Spa) | 0:05:52 |
24 | Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) | 0:06:00 |
25 | Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing | 0:06:04 |
26 | Steve Chainel (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 0:06:29 |
27 | Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Van Vliet EBH Elshof | 0:07:11 |
28 | Mariusz Gil (Pol) Baboco - Revor Cycling Team | -1lap |
29 | Martin Zlámalík (Cze) Sunweb - Revor | -2laps |
30 | Laurent Colombatto (Fra) AC Bisontine | |
31 | Johannes Sickmüller (Ger) Stevens Racing Team | |
32 | Timothy Johnson (USA) Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com | |
33 | Wilant van Gils (Ned) CX Nederland | |
34 | Marco Ponta (Ita) | -3laps |
35 | Marek Cichosz (Pol) Legia-Felt | |
36 | Fabio Ursi (Ita) Buergi | |
37 | Ian Field (GBr) Hargroves Cycles | |
38 | Vladimír Kyzivát (Cze) Johnson Controls Aš Mb | |
39 | Romain Villa (Fra) | |
40 | Florian Le Corre (Fra) Flers Cyclisme 61 | |
41 | David Kášek (Cze) Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor | |
42 | Sacha Weber (Ger) Stevens Racing Team | |
43 | Mitchell Huenders (Ned) BKCP-Powerplus | -4laps |
44 | Tommy Nielsen (Den) | |
45 | René Lang (Swi) | |
46 | Craig Richey (Can) Cyclocrossracing.Com p/b Blue | |
47 | Jérome Chevallier (Fra) AC Bisontine | |
48 | Rene Birkenfeld (Ger) Harvesterhude Rv | |
49 | Xabier Garcia Irazola (Spa) | |
50 | Gusty Bausch (Lux) | |
51 | Joachim Parbo (Den) Kch Leopard Cycles | |
52 | Shaun Adamson (Can) Cycle-Smart | -6laps |
53 | Jorge Cantalicio Calero (Spa) | |
54 | Alberto Candelas Caballero (Spa) | -7laps |
DNF | Radomir Simunek Jr. (Cze) BKCP-Powerplus | |
DNF | Ondrej Bambula (Cze) Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor | |
DNF | Tom Flammang (Lux) | |
DNS | Robert Gavenda (Svk) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | |
DNS | Václav Metlicka (Svk) Johnson Controls Aš Mb | |
DNS | Milan Barenyi (Svk) | |
DNS | Martin Haring (Svk) CK Banská Bystrica | |
DNS | Robert Glajza (Svk) BKP |
1 | Zdenek Štybar (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 230 | pts |
2 | Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus | 215 | |
3 | Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 181 | |
4 | Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | 164 | |
5 | Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ | 160 | |
6 | Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Revor | 147 | |
7 | Bart Aernouts (Bel) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team | 145 | |
8 | Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Off Road Team | 128 | |
9 | Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP-Powerplus | 123 | |
10 | Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 121 | |
11 | Enrico Franzoi (Ita) BKCP-Powerplus | 114 | |
12 | Eddy van Ijzendoorn (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team | 111 | |
13 | Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team | 103 | |
14 | Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus | 99 | |
15 | Mariusz Gil (Pol) Baboco - Revor Cycling Team | 95 | |
16 | Marco Bianco (Ita) | 93 | |
17 | Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing | 87 | |
18 | Nicolas Bazin (Fra) Auber 93 | 86 | |
19 | Christian Heule (Swi) Champion System LBS | 85 | |
20 | Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) | 83 | |
21 | Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Sunweb-Revor | 82 | |
22 | Steve Chainel (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | 71 | |
23 | Jonathan Page (USA) Planet Bike | 67 | |
24 | Thijs Al (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team | 63 | |
25 | Egoitz Murgoitio Rekalde (Spa) | 63 | |
26 | Petr Dlask (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 62 | |
27 | Martin Zlámalík (Cze) Sunweb - Revor | 59 | |
28 | Johannes Sickmüller (Ger) Stevens Racing Team | 57 | |
29 | Ondrej Bambula (Cze) Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor | 56 | |
30 | David Kášek (Cze) Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor | 53 | |
31 | Ian Field (GBr) Hargroves Cycles | 51 | |
32 | Fabio Ursi (Ita) Buergi | 48 | |
33 | Robert Gavenda (Svk) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 46 | |
34 | Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 44 | |
35 | Timothy Johnson (USA) Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com | 44 | |
36 | Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 42 | |
37 | Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Van Vliet EBH Elshof | 42 | |
38 | Jirí Polnický (Cze) Sunweb - Revor | 41 | |
39 | Mitchell Huenders (Ned) BKCP-Powerplus | 39 | |
40 | Radomir Simunek Jr. (Cze) BKCP-Powerplus | 37 | |
41 | Pirmin Lang (Swi) Buergi | 37 | |
42 | Jeremy Powers (USA) Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com | 31 | |
43 | Vladimír Kyzivát (Cze) Johnson Controls Aš Mb | 31 | |
44 | Jérome Chevallier (Fra) AC Bisontine | 31 | |
45 | Sacha Weber (Ger) Stevens Racing Team | 30 | |
46 | John Gadret (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale | 29 | |
47 | James Driscoll (USA) Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com | 27 | |
48 | Tijmen Eising (Ned) Sunweb-Revor | 26 | |
49 | Romain Villa (Fra) | 26 | |
50 | Laurent Colombatto (Fra) AC Bisontine | 25 | |
51 | Marco Ponta (Ita) | 24 | |
52 | Karel Hník (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team | 22 | |
53 | Florian Le Corre (Fra) Flers Cyclisme 61 | 20 | |
54 | Kenneth Hansen (Den) | 19 | |
55 | Wilant van Gils (Ned) CX Nederland | 18 | |
56 | Marek Cichosz (Pol) Legia-Felt | 16 | |
57 | Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole | 13 | |
58 | Václav Metlicka (Svk) Johnson Controls Aš Mb | 11 | |
59 | Milan Barenyi (Svk) | 10 | |
60 | Mik Garrigan (Can) | 8 | |
61 | Tommy Nielsen (Den) | 8 | |
62 | Michael Schweizer (Ger) Stevens Racing Team | 7 | |
63 | René Lang (Swi) | 6 | |
64 | Martin Haring (Svk) CK Banská Bystrica | 6 | |
65 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 6 | |
66 | Craig Richey (Can) Cyclocrossracing.Com p/b Blue | 5 | |
67 | Rene Birkenfeld (Ger) Harvesterhude Rv | 3 | |
68 | David van der Poel (Ned) BKCP-Powerplus | 3 | |
69 | Xabier Garcia Irazola (Spa) | 2 | |
70 | Robert Glajza (Svk) BKP | 2 | |
71 | Gusty Bausch (Lux) | 1 |

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