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James Driscoll tries in vain to get the mud off. © Bart Hazen

James Driscoll tries in vain to get the mud off. © Bart Hazen

HOOGERHEIDE, NETHERLANDS – It was an exciting battle today at the final World Cup race in Hoogerheide, where Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) and Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea) traded podium spots from last weekend’s World Cup Pont-Chateau. Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea), perhaps seeking to quiet those critical of him missing Pont-Chateau, launched off the front on the first lap, creating a gap that would take his chasers six laps to bridge.

Swiss rider Christian Heule (Champion System LBS) was the first to go off the front of the race, but it wasn’t long before Stybar showed his hand and took control. By the end of the first lap, he’d build a lead of almost 20 seconds, and he’d hold that gap for the first half of the race despite a rotation of chasers in pursuit.

Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) decided to show that his rubbing shoulders with the world’s best last weekend was no fluke, and led the chase for the first lap, giving the Green Machine some international exposure. Johnson would eventually finished in 16th, with Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) coming in a few places behind, in 20th.  But it was the efforts of a driving Kevin Pauwels and determined Niels Albert that ultimately whittled the chasers down to five Europeans – Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) and Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor) rounding out the group – and brought the riders within striking distance of Stybar.

By the end of lap number five, Stybar’s lead had shrunk to eight seconds over Albert, Pauwels and Vantornout, and the reigning world champ looked to be running out of gas.

“The legs were a bit empty,” Stybar said on his website. “Because of that, I made one mistake after the other.” It was one such miscue – a bobble by the Czech star – that ultimately closed the gap, and a botched bike exchange would then put him a few seconds behind the new leaders, Albert and Pauwels. The lead group of five stayed together for a short period, during which time Nys had a number of small setbacks that kept him chasing, before Albert played his card and drove off the front, with Pauwels the only rider able to follow.

“It would have been fantastic to go off to St. Wendel with some extra confidence,” Stybar told Belgian radio station Sporza. “But I’m going to enjoy [this experience] too. This could be my last day in the rainbow jersey.”

Stybar, however, is not giving up on his chances for another world title just yet. He’s just wrapped up a long training camp in Mallorca, Spain, to help come back from tendinitis, and feels that he hasn’t fully recovered from that workload yet. “At first I felt like Mallorca was out of my legs, but that feeling changed as the race progressed. I’m really looking forward to the World Championships in Germany and hope to extend my title. That would save my season.”

“It’s a shame, but I’m never good in Hoogerheide,” Stybar continued. “A week later I am though. Hopefully that will be the case again.”

As Albert maintained his lead over Pauwels to take the win, the perpetually calm Nys overtook Stybar and came into third comfortably. Vantornout finished just a second behind a fading Stybar for fifth, with the young Tom Meeusen in sixth. German champion Philipp Walsleben, enjoying a fabulous campaign in just his second season as an Elite, finished in seventh – putting six riders within a minute of Albert’s winning pace. This bodes well for an exciting culmination to the season next weekend for the World Championships.

Like Stybar, Albert, too, has been piling on the training efforts, and didn’t expect such a good performance from his weary body. “It was a very tough week,” said Albert. “Today the legs were very tired but I’m happy with the victory. First I had to close the gap on Stybar, Kevin didn’t want to work because of his teammate. But it was a goal for me to win the race, so I’m very happy.”

“I am very happy with my third place, because the two were slightly better for me,” Nys told Sporza. “The progression compared with last week is great. I think next week at the World Championship I again will have good legs.”

Albert’s effort was more than enough to secure his lead in the overall World Cup standings, with Pauwels coming in second, and – as reflected in today’s finishing order – Nys in third. Bart Aernouts (Rabo-Giant) finished in fourth and Francis Mourey (Francaise de Jeux) in fifth overall, although the duo could only manage ninth and 10th on the day.

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Full Results:

Rank NAME / First Name Team Time
1 ALBERT Niels BKCP – POWERPLUS 1:04:21
2 PAUWELS Kevin TELENET – FIDEA +00:06
3 NYS Sven LANDBOUWKREDIET +00:32
4 STYBAR Zdenek TELENET – FIDEA +00:37
5 VANTORNOUT Klaas SUNWEB – REVOR +00:38
6 MEEUSEN Tom TELENET – FIDEA +00:47
7 WALSLEBEN Philipp BKCP – POWERPLUS +01:00
8 CHAINEL Steve FDJ +01:11
9 AERNOUTS Bart RABOBANK-GIANT OFFROAD TEAM +01:35
10 MOUREY Francis FDJ +02:00
11 DE KNEGT Gerben RABOBANK-GIANT OFFROAD TEAM +02:05
12 BAZIN Nicolas BIG MAT – AUBER 93 +02:05
13 PEETERS Rob TELENET – FIDEA +02:06
14 VAN COMPERNOLLE Kenneth +02:16
15 GADRET John AG2R LA MONDIALE +02:26
16 JOHNSON Timothy CANNONDALE p/b CyclocrossWorld +02:29
17 ZLAMALIK Martin SUNWEB – REVOR +02:34
18 VANTHOURENHOUT Dieter BKCP – POWERPLUS +02:40
19 HEULE Christian +02:43
20 PAGE Jonathan Planet Bike +02:49
21 PFINGSTEN Christoph +02:58
22 DLASK Petr TELENET – FIDEA +03:10
23 AL Thijs +03:12
24 FONTANA Marco Aurelio CANNONDALE FACTORY RACING +03:28
25 VAN AMERONGEN Thijs +03:29
26 GIL Mariusz +03:30
27 BIANCO Marco +03:43
28 DRISCOLL James CANNONDALE p/b CyclocrossWorld +03:59
29 WILDHABER Marcel SCOTT-SWISSPOWER MTB-RACING +04:06
30 GAVENDA Robert TELENET – FIDEA +04:11
31 SIMUNEK Radomir BKCP – POWERPLUS +04:12
32 KYZIVAT Vladimir +04:12
33 COMINELLI Cristian TX ACTIVE BIANCHI +04:23
34 CICHOSZ Marek +04:29
35 FIELD Ian +04:39
36 POWERS Jeremy CANNONDALE p/b CyclocrossWorld +04:44
37 DARVELL Magnus +04:52
38 VAN IJZENDOORN Eddy +05:04
39 BAMBULA Ondrej +05:07
40 BIRKENFELD René +05:11
41 VAN LEEUWEN Patrick +05:16
42 RUIZ DE LARRINAGA IBANEZ Javier +05:44
43 SICKMUELLER Johannes +06:08
44 URSI Fabio -1LAP
45 TSUJIURA Keiichi -1LAP
46 GENZE Hannes MULTIVAN MERIDA BIKING TEAM -1LAP
47 RENARD Ludovic -1LAP
48 VAN GILS Wilant -1LAP
49 BAUSCH Gusty -1LAP
50 KASEK David -1LAP
51 VAN HEESWIJK Roy -2LAP
52 TAKENOUCHI Yu -2LAP
53 NIELSEN Tommy -2LAP
54 MARUYAMA Atsushi -3LAP
55 ST JOHN Derrick -3LAP
56 RICHEY Craig -3LAP
57 ANIA GONZALEZ Daniel -4LAP
58 ADAMSON Shaun -5LAP

U23 Results:

Rank NAME / First Name Team Time
1 BOULO Matthieu FRANCE 0:51:48
2 ADAMS Joeri BELGIUM +00:01
3 VAN DER HAAR Lars NETHERLANDS +00:03
4 AERNOUTS Jim BELGIUM +00:06
5 BRAET Vinnie BELGIUM +00:07
6 KONWA Marek POLAND +00:10
7 BOSMANS Wietse BELGIUM +00:20
8 GRAS Irwin FRANCE +00:40
9 VAN DEN BRAND Twan NETHERLANDS +00:40
10 QUAST Ole GERMANY +00:42
11 GRAND Arnaud SWITZERLAND +00:45
12 DOLFSMA Emiel NETHERLANDS-B +00:45
13 TEUNISSEN Mike NETHERLANDS +00:46
14 BOSMAN Gert-Jan NETHERLANDS +00:58
15 VAN DER POEL David NETHERLANDS-B +01:07
16 SILVESTRI Elia ITALY +01:07
17 VERMEERSCH Gianni BELGIUM +01:07
18 ADAMS Jens BELGIUM +01:13
19 EISING Tijmen NETHERLANDS +01:20
20 MEISEN Marcel GERMANY +01:22
21 HEREIJGERS Kobus NETHERLANDS-B +01:22
22 SUMMERHILL Daniel UNITED STATES +01:27
23 TURGIS Jimmy FRANCE +01:28
24 TABACCHI Mirko ITALY +01:38
25 HNIK Karel CZECH REPUBLIC +01:44
26 SCHERZ Valentin SWITZERLAND +01:49
27 SCHWEIZER Michael GERMANY +02:15
28 BAESTAENS Vincent BELGIUM +02:21
29 NESVADBA Jan CZECH REPUBLIC +02:27
30 TRENTIN Matteo ITALY +02:45
31 BOROS Michael CZECH REPUBLIC +02:50
32 PAPRSTKA Tomas CZECH REPUBLIC +02:54
33 HANSEN Kenneth DENMARK +02:58
34 BRAIDOT Luca ITALY +03:03
35 PETRUS Lubomir CZECH REPUBLIC +03:04
36 VAN KESSEL Corne NETHERLANDS-B +03:25
37 MÜLLER Lukas SWITZERLAND +03:35
38 WINTERBERG Michael SWITZERLAND +03:43
39 DANNER Fabian GERMANY +03:44
40 KIRSCH Alex LUXEMBOURG +03:46
41 VAN DER HORST Geert NETHERLANDS-B +04:02
42 KAISER Cody UNITED STATES +04:16
43 VAN KOOY Nils NETHERLANDS-B +04:17
44 MCDONALD Zach UNITED STATES +04:36
45 TOWNSEND Jerome UNITED STATES +05:31
46 WALSLEBEN Max GERMANY +05:51
47 DIAS DOS SANTOS Vincent LUXEMBOURG +06:10
48 HERBA Wojciech POLAND -1LAP
49 GUDDAL Jonas DENMARK -1LAP
50 ANTKOWIAK Piotr POLAND -3LAP

Junior Men Results:

Rank NAME / First Name Team Time
1 SWEECK Laurens BELGIUM 0:44:53
2 BOUVARD Kévin FRANCE +00:00
3 DOUBEY Fabien FRANCE +00:01
4 HERKLOTZ Silvio GERMANY +00:12
5 DOUBEY Loic FRANCE +00:31
6 VAN POPPEL Danny NETHERLANDS +00:37
7 FORSTER Lars SWITZERLAND +00:38
8 ECKMANN Yannick GERMANY +00:41
9 JAUREGUI Quentin FRANCE +00:41
10 PEETERS Daniel BELGIUM +00:50
11 VENTURINI Clément FRANCE +00:54
12 MEDEK Tomas CZECH REPUBLIC +00:58
13 RODRIGUEZ GUEDE Pablo SPAIN +01:15
14 VAN TICHELT Yorben BELGIUM +01:25
15 VAN AERT Wout BELGIUM +01:27
16 GODRIE Stan NETHERLANDS +01:30
17 SKALA Jakub CZECH REPUBLIC +01:36
18 VERBERNE Douwe NETHERLANDS +01:43
19 VANDEKINDEREN Jens BELGIUM +01:54
20 LIENHARD Fabian SWITZERLAND +02:00
21 LEHMANN Julian GERMANY +02:01
22 DE MAN Jaap NETHERLANDS +02:02
23 DIDIER Anthonin FRANCE +02:18
24 ZUMSTEIN Dominic SWITZERLAND +02:33
25 DILLMAN Andrew UNITED STATES +02:40
26 ARIESEN Tim NETHERLANDS-B +02:43
27 SWEECK Diether BELGIUM +02:48
28 ZURLO Federico ITALY +02:49
29 FRISCHKNECHT Andri SWITZERLAND +02:59
30 VANTHOURENHOUT Michael BELGIUM +03:00
31 REDAELLI Riccardo ITALY +03:11
32 DIETEREN Jan GERMANY +03:14
33 VAN BEEK Pjotr NETHERLANDS-B +03:26
34 HOPPNER Karl CANADA +03:27
35 GRUNER Yannick GERMANY +03:27
36 BOHATA Tomas CZECH REPUBLIC +03:33
37 GROENEWEGEN Dylan NETHERLANDS-B +03:36
38 SCAPOLAN Enrico ITALY +03:43
39 OLSEN Emil Arvid DENMARK +03:56
40 KRAMER Erik NETHERLANDS-B +03:59
41 SAWADA Toki JAPAN +04:00
42 BRUSSELMAN Twan NETHERLANDS +04:26
43 SAMPARISI Lorenzo ITALY +04:30
44 BAHNSON Jeff UNITED STATES +04:37
45 PATRY Yohan CANADA +04:41
46 SVOBODA Tomas CZECH REPUBLIC +04:59
47 KOSTECKI Patryk POLAND +05:04
48 MALEWICZ Marcin POLAND +05:12
49 MALEC Wojciech POLAND +05:13
50 EIKELENBOOM Dennis NETHERLANDS-B +05:43
51 PERRY Benjamin CANADA +05:49
52 SCHWARMES Tom LUXEMBOURG +06:01
53 VAN BAKEL Robbie NETHERLANDS-B +06:10
54 WOLKIEWICZ Kamil POLAND +06:16
55 SZYNIEC Wojciech POLAND +06:42
56 SAMOL Pawel POLAND +06:54
57 FRITSCH Sven LUXEMBOURG +07:18
58 GLEIS Ralph LUXEMBOURG -1LAP
59 FOX Bjorn UNITED STATES -2LAP
60 REINERT Jimmy LUXEMBOURG -2LAP

Albert, Pauwels Vantornout