Pauwels prevails at Rome 'cross World Cup

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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.