Nys and De Knegt led start to finish at Nacht van Woerden. © Bart Hazen
Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) took his second win of the season, winning the ninth running of the Nacht van Woerden night cyclocross race in the Netherlands for the second time.
The race took place under the lights with a 21:45 p.m. start.
As usual, the AA Drink Cycling Team took control of the holeshot. In the first lap Eddy van IJzendoorn attacked and stayed in front for two laps before Belgian Champion Sven Nys and Gerben de Knegt (Rabobank) took control in the race.
Nys and De Knegt had an exciting battle
until the final lap when De Knegt was dropped after the Belgian placed an attack in order to take the win. Nys was five seconds faster than his companion of the day Gerben de Knegt. At 30 seconds Thijs Al completed the podium. Eddy van IJzendoorn and the surprising Mariusz Gil rounded off the top five.
The battle for the third place was much more exciting with Eddy van IJzendoorn, Thijs Al, Micki van Empel, Mariusz Gil and Planet Bike’s Jonathan Page. In the end Thijs Al was the strongest to take the third podium spot. Jonathan Page had a very good ride and finished seventh, 58 seconds behind Nys.
In the women’s race, Marianne Vos entered her first cyclocross race of the season in her rainbow jersey but had a back row start due to her lack of UCI points. ZZPR’s Sanne van Paassen and Kona’s Helen Wyman (Kona) took to the front, but Vos wasted no time in working her way through the field to make contact with the two leaders on the second lap, and the race for the podium was set.
But the three didn’t stay together for long as both Van Paassen and Wyman were droped by the multi-talented World Champion as she pushed the pace with her road racing speed.
In the final two laps, Van Paassen clawed her way back, and nearly closed on Vos but wasn’t able to rejoin her. Wyman would hold on to third place. Zanatta-Champion Systems’ Christine Vardaros finished as 19th 4:14 down on Vos.
‘I thought I’d finished with Night racing for the season, but when I was invited to start I thought why not,” Wyman explained. “The course is really good fun and you couldn’t get a much better use of space than this. I must add that I’ve never won a huge block of cheese before, so I have to be happy. I feel a little more Dutch now.”
Photo Gallery:
Results:
Elite Men:
Result
1 Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0:59:45
2 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:05
3 Thijs Al (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team 0:00:30
4 Eddy van IJzendoorn (Ned) AA Drink Cycling Team 0:00:41
5 Mariusz Gil (Pol) LKS Pom Strzelce Krajenskie
6 Micki van Empel (Ned) ZZPR.nl-Destil-Merida 0:00:50
7 Jonathan Page (USA) Planet Bike 0:00:58
8 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Baboco-Revor 0:01:27
9 Ben Berden (Bel)
10 Patrick Van Leeuwen (Ned)
11 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned)
12 Lars Van Der Haar (Ned)
13 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 0:01:34
14 Christian Heule (Swi) Rendementhypo 0:02:03
15 Ian Field (GBr) 0:02:05
16 Johannes Sickmüller (Ger) 0:02:13
17 Pawel Szczepaniak (Pol) 0:02:17
18 Ivar Hartogs (Ned) 0:02:35
19 Roy Van Heeswijk (Ned) 0:03:07
20 Corne Van Kessel (Ned) 0:03:19
21 Kaj Slenter (Ned) 0:03:30
22 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) 0:03:57
23 Rik Van IJzendoorn (Ned) 0:04:27
24 Patrick de Laat (Ned) Berlicum NB 0:04:49
25 Edwin Arts (Ned) 0:04:58
26 Tim Heemskerk (Ned) 0:05:32
27 Jordy van Erp (Ned) ZZPR.nl-Destil-Merida 0:05:58
28 Geert Van Der Horst (Ned) Asito-Craft cyclingteam
29 Tommy Van Beem (Ned)
30 Cees De Ridder (Ned)
31 Luuk Van Vliet (Ned)
32 Bas Oude Elfrink (Ned)
33 Bram Wind (Ned)
34 David Quist (USA)
35 Christiaan De Rijk (Ned)
36 Rick Van Deursen (Ned)
Elite Women:
1. Marianne Vos DSB Bank – Nederland Bloeit 00:41:58 25 –
2. Sanne Van Paassen Pro Cycling Team ZZPR.nl-DESTIL-Merida 00:12 23 –
3. Helen Wyman Kona 00:30 21 –
4. Saskia Elemans Team Flexpoint 00:58 19 –
5. Linda Van Rijen 01:22 17 –
6. Arenda Grimberg s.t.. 15 –
7. Reza Hormes Pro Cycling Team ZZPR.nl-DESTIL-Merida s.t.. 14 –
8. Joyce Vanderbeken s.t.. 13 –
9. Sophie De Boer 01:42 12 –
10. Rebecca Talen 01:52 11 –
11. Sabrina Stultiens 02:37 10 –
12. Mika Ogishima 02:47 9 –
13. Esther Kortekaas 03:22 8 –
14. Elke Riedl s.t.. 7 –
15. Kirsten Peetoom s.t.. 6 –
16. Evy Kuijpers 03:37 5 –
17. Iris Ockeloen s.t.. 4 –
18. Sophie Borra WV Ede 04:14 3 –
19. Christine Vardaros s.t.. 2 –
20. Helena Van Leijen s.t.. 1 –
21. Britt Jochems s.t.. – –
22. Lana Verberne 04:32 – –
23. Francis Keizer Wielerland.nl – s.t.. – –
24. Dirkje Bazuin 05:34 – –
25. Ashlynn Van Baarle 05:42 – –
26. Joyce Van Der Peet 05:55 – –
27. Jet Wildeman 6:05 – –
28. Veerle Goossens 06:14 – –
29. Ashley Hellemons s.t.. – –
30. Maud Kaptheijns s.t.. – –
31. Julia Schobben s.t.. – –
32. Rylana Soepenberg s.t.. – –
33. Alicia Van Buel JvR De Batauwers s.t.. – –
34. Anne Peer WV Uden s.t.. – –
35. Yulia Van Der Lee s.t.. – –
36. Romy Adegeest s.t.. – –
37. Thamara Pijpers s.t.. – –
