Meeusen wins Under 23 race

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An in-form Tom Meeusen won the Under 23 men's cyclo-cross World Cup round in Roubaix on Sunday and strengthened his overall World Cup lead. The Belgian Meeusen dropped Robert Gavenda (Slovakia), Pawel Szczepaniak (Poland), Tijmen Eising (Netherlands) and fellow Belgian Jan Denuwelaere on a muddy course during the final lap up and around the vélodrome in Roubaix, France.

Meeusen has been a player in the not only the Under 23 racing, but also in the elite racing lately. He finished as the third elite racer at the Belgian championships only last week. While the races in which Meeusen has excelled thus far have been frozen and fast and well-suited to his technical skills, in Roubaix, he proved he had the power to also ride well in power-sapping mud.

"I wasn't feeling comfortable in the mud today. The last few weeks we've been racing on frozen courses, and I needed time to adapt to a real mud race," Meeusen said. "Added to that, I had mechanical problems. I was not able to keep pressure on the chain, without it skipping, so I opted to sit on some wheels. In the last lap, I went for it, and it proved to be a successful tactic."

Eising claimed the hole shot and probably didn't notice much of the pile-up behind him after the first corner. During that first lap, he was joined by Szczepaniak, Gavenda, Micki Van Empel (Netherlands), Meeusen and Joeri Adams (Belgium).

Szczepaniak took over from Eising during the third lap and created damage behind him as Van Empel and Adams were dropped. During the second half of the race, Gavenda led the charge at the front, and Eising struggled to keep up.

Meeusen left it to Gavenda and Szczepaniak to take the initiative, but then on the last lap, he proved he had something left. The Belgian powered away and at the finish line, he had time enough to celebrate his second World Cup win.

With the 60 points that accompany his victory, Meeusen has earned himself a comfortable gap of 35 points over second-placed Gavenda in the World Cup overall. Just one round, in Hoogerheide remains, and it will be run next weekend.

The Americans didn't have the the best day in Roubaix. Top finisher Zach McDonald had fond memories of last year's race, in which he finished on the podium as a junior, but there would be no podium this year in the Under 23 race.

"If I could pick the circumstances for a race, these would be it," McDonald said, referring to the muddy technical course combined with sunny weather. McDonald sat in the pack at about the halfway point through much of the race and eventually finished in 30th.

US National Under 23 Champion Danny Summerhill started off much worse although he gained about 10 places throughout the race and finished in 33rd. Jerome Townsend was lapped en route to an official 40th place finish.

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