Pauwels prevails at Rome 'cross World Cup
Albert regains overall World Cup lead with 2nd place result
On a blisteringly fast course at the Capannelle hippodrome on the outskirts of Rome, one rider showed that he’s hard to beat on this type of course, as the quietly-spoken Belgian rider Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb – Napoleon Games) claimed a convincing win that puts him back in contention for the overall win in the cyclo-cross World Cup. Pauwels joined teammate Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb – Napoleon Games) in front in a tactical move which left World Cup leader and World champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) behind in a chase group with Italian champion Marco Aurelia Fontana (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Francis Mourey (FDJ-Big Mat). Albert eventually exploited a late mechanical from Vantornout to take second place.
“It was a perfect course for me. It was fast and I could use my power. Niels probably wasn’t happy with our move but that’s the benefit of being with two in a team. Vantornout? It’s too bad, otherwise he would have been runner-up,” Pauwels said.
Thanks to his second place, Albert limited the damage for the overall standings of the World Cup in Rome, losing only ten on Pauwels. Albert now holds 485 points, Pauwels 469. That was in stark contrast to Sven Nys (Crelan-Euphony), who entered the race as co-leader of the World Cup. Due to illness in the previous weeks, however, Nys was never able to make a fist of it and he steadily lost ground. The Belgian champion finished twentieth and drops back to third place overall with 446 points. “I gave everything but got worse every metre. You can’t defend your chances if you’re ill. I’m not sure if I’ll take part in the Belgian championships [next week]. I wasn’t ill enough to skip this race, but I couldn’t go faster,” Nys told Sporza.
A surprise presence on the podium was Marco Aurelio Fontana. Despite a bad starting position, the Italian worked his way to the front group, helped by the small crowds who showed up to cheer him on. Fontana moved up from a spot outside the top-20 to a fifth place on the third lap. The Italian closed the gap on the four-man lead group with Pauwels, Vantornout, Mourey and Albert few laps later.
In the closing laps, Fontana battled with Albert and Mourey for third place. Albert gapped the Italian but suddenly the duo blasted over Vantornout who stood next to his bike, putting his chain back on the bike. On crossing the line Fontana was exuberant in his celebrations, and by pointing his hands in the air he seemed to dedicate the win to late Burry Stander, the mountain bike rider who died only a few days ago.
Despite his bad luck, Vantornout finished fifth, half a minute behind teammate Pauwels. Lars van der Haar (Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team) was best of the rest, winning the sprint for sixth place at 50 seconds from the winner. Van der Haar originally was part of the lead group. During the third lap he even led the race but at that moment he overshot a corner and went over the handlebars.
1 | Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games | 1:01:17 |
2 | Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus | 0:00:16 |
3 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing | 0:00:22 |
4 | Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:27 |
5 | Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games | 0:00:32 |
6 | Lars van der Haar (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team | 0:00:50 |
7 | Radomir Simunek (Cze) Kwadro-Stannah | 0:00:51 |
8 | Bart Aernouts (Bel) AA Drink Cyclocross Team | 0:00:53 |
9 | Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB Racing Team | 0:01:02 |
10 | Twan van den Brand (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team | 0:01:10 |
11 | Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite | 0:01:12 |
12 | Martin Bina (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor | 0:01:13 |
13 | Simon Zahner (Swi) EKZ Racing Team | |
14 | Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) AA Drink Cyclocross Team | 0:01:14 |
15 | Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus | |
16 | Aurelien Duval (Fra) UV Aube | 0:01:16 |
17 | Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Métropole | 0:01:34 |
18 | Elia Silvestri (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite | 0:01:40 |
19 | Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet - Fidea | 0:01:50 |
20 | Sven Nys (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | 0:02:10 |
21 | Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | |
22 | Marcel Meisen (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus | 0:02:12 |
23 | Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet - Fidea | 0:02:13 |
24 | Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus | 0:02:15 |
25 | Niels Wubben (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team | 0:02:18 |
26 | Thijs Al (Ned) Telenet - Fidea | 0:02:22 |
27 | Micky van Empel (Ned) Crelan-KDL | 0:02:39 |
28 | Jan Denuwelaere (Bel) Style & Concept | 0:02:41 |
29 | Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team | 0:02:44 |
30 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 0:02:56 |
31 | Lubomir Petrus (Cze) BKCP - Powerplus | 0:02:58 |
32 | Martin Haring (Svk) CK Banská Bystrica | 0:03:01 |
33 | Marco Ponta (Ita) Centro Sportivo | |
34 | Stefano Capponi (Ita) | 0:03:15 |
35 | Petr Dlask (Cze) Madeta - Fitness / Specialized | 0:03:18 |
36 | Christian Helmig (Lux) Elbowz Racing p/b Trisport | 0:03:21 |
37 | Ondrej Bambula (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor | 0:03:23 |
38 | Martin Zlamalik (Cze) Crelan-KDL | 0:03:25 |
39 | Fabio Ursi (Ita) | 0:03:26 |
40 | Thomas Paccagnella (Ita) ADV Team | 0:03:27 |
41 | Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team | 0:03:35 |
42 | Martin Loo (Est) | 0:03:49 |
43 | Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 0:05:03 |
44 | Lukas Winterberg (Swi) Team Müller Gartengestaltung/BH Bikes | 0:05:41 |
45 | Adrien Pascal (Fra) | -1lap |
46 | Robert Glajza (Svk) | -3laps |
47 | David Quist (Nor) | -4laps |
1 | Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus | 485 | pts |
2 | Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games | 469 | |
3 | Sven Nys (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | 446 | |
4 | Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games | 356 | |
5 | Lars van der Haar (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team | 341 | |
6 | Bart Aernouts (Bel) AA Drink Cyclocross Team | 336 | |
7 | Radomir Simunek (Cze) Kwadro-Stannah | 311 | |
8 | Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ | 300 | |
9 | Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) AA Drink Cyclocross Team | 283 | |
10 | Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet - Fidea | 276 | |
11 | Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet - Fidea | 250 | |
12 | Niels Wubben (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team | 236 | |
13 | Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite | 235 | |
14 | Simon Zahner (Swi) EKZ Racing Team | 233 | |
15 | Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus | 232 | |
16 | Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team | 219 | |
17 | Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet - Fidea | 218 | |
18 | Twan van den Brand (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team | 214 | |
19 | Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus | 213 | |
20 | Marcel Meisen (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus | 212 | |
21 | Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB Racing Team | 189 | |
22 | Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team | 187 | |
23 | Thijs Al (Ned) Telenet - Fidea | 178 | |
24 | Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Métropole | 174 | |
25 | Martin Bina (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor | 165 | |
26 | Mariusz Gil (Pol) Kwadro-Stannah | 155 | |
27 | Jonathan Page (USA) | 145 | |
28 | Lubomir Petrus (Cze) BKCP - Powerplus | 142 | |
29 | Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team | 138 | |
30 | Egoitz Murgoitio Rekalde (Spa) Grupo Hiremet Taldea | 122 | |
31 | Jeremy Powers (USA) Rapha-Focus | 113 | |
32 | Micky van Empel (Ned) Crelan-KDL | 101 | |
33 | Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Cyclingteam De Rijke-Shanks | 94 | |
34 | Steve Chainel (Fra) FDJ | 93 | |
35 | Martin Zlamalik (Cze) Crelan-KDL | 90 | |
36 | Ondrej Bambula (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor | 85 | |
37 | Jirí Polnický (Cze) Whirlpool - Author | 83 | |
38 | Arnaud Grand (Swi) Telenet - Fidea | 77 | |
39 | Aurelien Duval (Fra) UV Aube | 75 | |
40 | Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing | 65 | |
41 | Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quickstep | 65 | |
42 | Nicolas Bazin (Fra) Auber 93 | 65 | |
43 | Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) | 63 | |
44 | Martin Haring (Svk) CK Banská Bystrica | 58 | |
45 | Timothy Johnson (USA) Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld | 57 | |
46 | Ian Field (GBr) Hargroves Cycles-Specialized | 57 | |
47 | Elia Silvestri (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite | 54 | |
48 | Guillaume Perrot (Fra) | 46 | |
49 | Vladimír Kyzivát (Cze) Johnson Controls TJ Auto Škoda | 46 | |
50 | Petr Dlask (Cze) Madeta - Fitness / Specialized | 43 | |
51 | Marco Ponta (Ita) Centro Sportivo | 43 | |
52 | Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez (Spa) | 42 | |
53 | Christian Helmig (Lux) Elbowz Racing p/b Trisport | 42 | |
54 | Isaac Suarez Fernandez (Spa) | 35 | |
55 | Jim Aernouts (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games | 34 | |
56 | Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | 30 | |
57 | Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Trek World Racing | 29 | |
58 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) | 26 | |
59 | David Kášek (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor | 26 | |
60 | Arnaud Jouffroy (Fra) Telenet - Fidea | 26 | |
61 | Jan Denuwelaere (Bel) Style & Concept | 23 | |
62 | Magnus Darvell (Swe) Team Herbalife 24 Raumerrittet | 23 | |
63 | Mitchell Huenders (Ned) | 21 | |
64 | Justin Lindine (USA) Redline | 18 | |
65 | Robert Gavenda (Svk) Dukla Trencín Trek | 18 | |
66 | Stefano Capponi (Ita) | 17 | |
67 | Lukas Winterberg (Swi) Team Müller Gartengestaltung/BH Bikes | 16 | |
68 | Kenneth Hansen (Den) Baboco | 15 | |
69 | Robert Glajza (Svk) | 15 | |
70 | Lewis Rattray (Aus) | 15 | |
71 | Sascha Weber (Ger) Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de | 14 | |
72 | Aaron Schooler (Can) Norco Bicycles - SRI Importing | 13 | |
73 | Adrien Pascal (Fra) | 13 | |
74 | Jose Antonio Diez Arriola (Spa) | 13 | |
75 | Fabio Ursi (Ita) | 12 | |
76 | Ole Quast (Ger) | 12 |
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