Venturini leads French charge
By Brecht Decaluwé published
Sweeck retains World Cup lead before final race
Clément Venturini (France) captured his first victory in a round of the UCI's World Cup on home soil in Pontchâteau, France, as six French riders filled the top-ten of the Junior Men category race.
The only French World Cup round of the cyclo-cross season kicked off with a splendid start for the local fans as the French riders performed at their best in Pontchâteau. Venturini rode near the front of a large leading group all race long. Then after a blistering fast final lap, he held off a combative Danny van Poppel (The Netherlands) and compatriot Quentin Jauregui (France). Vojtech Nipl (Czech Republic), Kévin Bouvard (France) and Silvio Herklotz (Germany) finished just off the podium.
World Cup leader Laurens Sweeck and the other Belgians who were seemingly unbeatable up until this stage of the season failed to crack the top-10 in Pontchâteau. Sweeck finished 14th at more than half a minute from winner Venturini. Nevertheless Sweeck remains comfortably in the lead of the World Cup rankings. Daniel Peeters (Belgium) moved up from third to second place overall because Lars Forster (Switzerland) skipped the Pontchâteau race. Peeters' 12th place was just enough to stay one point ahead of Venturini, who moved up from sixth to third place. Laurens Sweeck's twin brother Diether failed to score any points in Pontchâteau and he tumbled from fourth to sixth place overall.
The results mean next week's last World Cup race in Hoogerheide, in the Netherlands, will be fiercely contested. Laurens Sweeck has to score points to secure his World Cup victory. Peeters, Venturini and Forster look the favourites to fight for the podium places in the overall rankings.
1 | Clément Venturini (Fra) France | 0:41:11 |
2 | Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Netherlands | 0:00:03 |
3 | Quentin Jauregui (Fra) France | 0:00:04 |
4 | Vojtech Nipl (Cze) Czech Republic | |
5 | Kévin Bouvard (Fra) France | 0:00:05 |
6 | Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Germany | 0:00:06 |
7 | Fabien Doubey (Fra) France | 0:00:11 |
8 | Romain Seigle (Fra) France-B | 0:00:13 |
9 | Jaap De Man (Ned) Netherlands | |
10 | Loic Doubey (Fra) France | 0:00:14 |
11 | Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Belgium | 0:00:23 |
12 | Daniel Peeters (Bel) Belgium | 0:00:26 |
13 | Stan Godrie (Ned) Netherlands | 0:00:30 |
14 | Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Belgium | 0:00:33 |
15 | Tomas Medek (Cze) Czech Republic | 0:00:35 |
16 | Jens Vandekinderen (Bel) Belgium | 0:00:40 |
17 | Jakub Skala (Cze) Czech Republic | 0:00:43 |
18 | Anthony Turgis (Fra) France-B | 0:00:46 |
19 | Justin Mottier (Fra) France-B | 0:00:57 |
20 | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) Spain | 0:00:58 |
21 | Nicolas Rigaud (Fra) France-B | 0:00:59 |
22 | Kevin Ledanois (Fra) France-B | 0:01:03 |
23 | Jan Dieteren (Ger) Germany | 0:01:07 |
24 | Twan Brusselman (Ned) Netherlands | 0:01:28 |
25 | Victor Koretzky (Fra) France-B | 0:01:34 |
26 | Yannick Eckmann (Ger) Germany | 0:01:36 |
27 | Julian Lehmann (Ger) Germany | 0:01:47 |
28 | Anthonin Didier (Fra) France | 0:01:54 |
29 | Toon Aerts (Bel) Belgium | 0:02:12 |
30 | Yannick Gruner (Ger) Germany | |
31 | Yorben Van Tichelt (Bel) Belgium | 0:02:24 |
32 | Diether Sweeck (Bel) Belgium | 0:02:27 |
33 | Federico Zurlo (Ita) Italy | 0:02:29 |
34 | Douwe Verberne (Ned) Netherlands | 0:02:42 |
35 | Lorenzo Samparisi (Ita) Italy | 0:03:39 |
36 | Kevin Suarez Fernandez (Spa) Spain | 0:04:24 |
37 | Tomas Svoboda (Cze) Czech Republic | 0:05:35 |
1 | Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Belgium | 177 | pts |
2 | Daniel Peeters (Bel) Belgium | 138 | |
3 | Clément Venturini (Fra) France | 137 | |
4 | Lars Forster (Swi) Switzerland | 130 | |
5 | Vojtech Nipl (Cze) Czech Republic | 118 | |
6 | Diether Sweeck (Bel) Belgium | 114 | |
7 | Quentin Jauregui (Fra) France | 106 | |
8 | Stan Godrie (Ned) Netherlands | 91 | |
9 | Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Netherlands | 90 | |
10 | Jaap De Man (Ned) Netherlands | 90 | |
11 | Fabien Doubey (Fra) France | 84 | |
12 | Tomas Medek (Cze) Czech Republic | 77 | |
13 | Jakub Skala (Cze) Czech Republic | 75 | |
14 | Jens Vandekinderen (Bel) Belgium | 73 | |
15 | Yannick Eckmann (Ger) Germany | 72 | |
16 | Yorben Van Tichelt (Bel) Belgium | 71 | |
17 | Kévin Bouvard (Fra) France | 69 | |
18 | Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Germany | 68 | |
19 | Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Belgium | 48 | |
20 | Federico Zurlo (Ita) Italy | 41 | |
21 | Pablo Rodriguez Guede (Spa) Spain | 41 | |
22 | Daan Soete (Bel) Belgium | 35 | |
23 | Lorenzo Samparisi (Ita) Italy | 34 | |
24 | Toon Aerts (Bel) Belgium | 34 | |
25 | Romain Seigle (Fra) France | 26 | |
26 | Tomas Bohata (Cze) Czech Republic | 23 | |
27 | Loic Doubey (Fra) France | 22 | |
28 | Douwe Verberne (Ned) Netherlands | 21 | |
29 | Daan Hoeyberghs (Bel) Belgium | 18 | |
30 | Jeroen Meijers (Ned) Netherlands | 14 | |
31 | Maxim Panis (Bel) Belgium | 14 | |
32 | Matthias Van De Velde (Bel) Belgium | 14 | |
33 | Anthony Turgis (Fra) France | 13 | |
34 | Justin Mottier (Fra) France | 12 | |
35 | Kevin Ledanois (Fra) France | 12 | |
36 | Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Switzerland | 12 | |
37 | Nicolas Rigaud (Fra) France | 10 | |
38 | Julian Lehmann (Ger) Germany | 9 | |
39 | Jan Dieteren (Ger) Germany | 8 | |
40 | Twan Brusselman (Ned) Netherlands | 7 | |
41 | Tomas Svoboda (Cze) Czech Republic | 7 | |
42 | Jorn Claes (Bel) Belgium | 7 | |
43 | Victor Koretzky (Fra) France | 6 | |
44 | Anthonin Didier (Fra) France | 3 | |
45 | Andrew Dillman (USA) United States | 2 | |
46 | Andri Frischknecht (Swi) Switzerland | 2 | |
47 | Dominic Zumstein (Swi) Switzerland | 2 | |
48 | Yannick Gruner (Ger) Germany | 1 | |
49 | Wojciech Malec (Pol) Poland | 1 | |
50 | Emil Arvid Olsen (Den) Denmark | 1 |

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