Laurens Sweeck able to brush off the events of the last ten days to go on to win at Hoogerheide. © Thomas van Bracht / Cyclocross Magazine
Hoogerheide, Netherlands- Laurens Sweeck (Corendo – Kwadro) came mentally prepared to race against all odds today at the final stage of the World Cup, taking a win over fellow countryman Michael Vanthourenhout (Sunweb – Napoleon Games) and French rider Fabien Doubey. Vanthourenhout, however, was able to seal the overall win of the World Cup by over 5 points over Sweeck. Wout van Aert took third overall despite having ridden in the Elite category for multiple rounds.
Sweeck gave Vanthourenhout chase at Hoogerheide, and eventually overtook him. © Thomas van Bracht / Cyclocross Magazine
For the week before the race, Sweeck had plenty of ups and downs. He won the Belgian U23 Championship, but because his name was on file for an open investigation due to his connection with an ozone doctor, he was originally held out of the World Cup by the the Royal Belgian Cycling Federation. In a last minute effort late in the week, he joined with Tom Meeusen in the Belgian Arbitrage for Sports and got the decision against him overturned.
Unlike Meeusen, Sweeck needed a good result in the World Cup to persuade the Belgian selection committee that he was the right choice to add to the Belgian U23 Worlds team. Cyclocross Magazine contributor, Christine Vardaros, informed us that Laurens Sweeck had been training the past ten days as if his participation in the World Cup was assured, and it turned out to be the smart move.
Fabien Doubey had a mid-race surge to reach the leaders, but couldn’t hold on as the two Belgians pulled away. © Thomas van Bracht / Cyclocross Magazine
In the U23 Race, Dutch Rider Stan Godrie (Rabo – Giant Offroad Team) took the holeshot, although Venturini and Sweeck did not linger far behind. The three had a small lead, and it looked as if Sweeck was in fine position to get the overall World Cup standing, if not for Vanthournhout’s ability to catch up to the leaders early in the second lap.
The leaders shed the holeshot-winning Godrie, and Vanthournhout and Sweeck were able to pull away from Venturini and late-comer Doubey.
Sweeck eventually attacked to solo ahead all the way to the finish line.
Drew Dillman was the top American finisher at Hoogerheide. © Thomas van Bracht / Cyclocross Magazine
Andrew Dillman was the first American rider across the line at 26th, finishing a little over five minutes back. Tobin Ortenblad was next in 30th, with Grant Ellwood pulled with one lap to go in 35th place. Sam O’Keefe took 40th, and lone Canadian U23 rider, Danick Vandale, finished 49th. Despite having a few riders contending for places in the U23 final standings, Great Britain had no riders show for the U23 race today.
Vanthourenhout secured an overall World Cup win with his second place today. © Thomas van Bracht / Cyclocross Magazine
Also available: the 2015 UCI World Cup at Hoogerheide, Elite Women’s Race report and Elite Men’s Race Report.
2014-15 World Cup, U23 Race at Hoogerheide Results
| Rank Rang | Name Nom | National Team Equipe nationale | Time Temps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SWEECK Laurens | BELGIUM / BELGIQUE | 0:52:02 |
| 2 | VANTHOURENHOUT Michael | BELGIUM / BELGIQUE | +00:28 |
| 3 | DOUBEY Fabien | FRANCE / FRANCE | +00:52 |
| 4 | SWEECK Diether | BELGIUM / BELGIQUE | +01:20 |
| 5 | VENTURINI Clement | FRANCE / FRANCE | +01:21 |
| 6 | AERTS Toon | BELGIUM / BELGIQUE | +01:23 |
| 7 | BERTOLINI Gioele | ITALY / ITALIE | +01:50 |
| 8 | SKALA Jakub | CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE | +01:57 |
| 9 | HERMANS Quinten | BELGIUM / BELGIQUE | +02:04 |
| 10 | NIEUWENHUIS Joris | NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS | +02:13 |
| 11 | NIPL Vojtech | CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE | +02:15 |
| 12 | BUDDING Martijn | NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS | +02:15 |
| 13 | PEETERS Yannick | BELGIUM / BELGIQUE | +02:41 |
| 14 | DRUMM Felix | GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE | +02:54 |
| 15 | GODRIE Stan | NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS | +03:03 |
| 16 | RUSSO Clement | FRANCE / FRANCE | +03:14 |
| 17 | LIENHARD Fabian | SWITZERLAND / SUISSE | +03:21 |
| 18 | FRISCHKNECHT Andri | SWITZERLAND / SUISSE | +03:34 |
| 19 | TOUPALIK Adam | CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE | +03:51 |
| 20 | CLARKSON Jack | GREAT BRITAIN / GRANDE BRETAGNE | +04:11 |
| 21 | GRAB Dominic | SWITZERLAND / SUISSE | +04:23 |
| 22 | GRUNER Yannick | GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE | +04:37 |
| 23 | VAN DER MEER Gosse | NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS | +04:37 |
| 24 | SUMNER Ben | GREAT BRITAIN / GRANDE BRETAGNE | +04:48 |
| 25 | WEIJERS Koen | NETHERLANDS-B / PAYS-BAS-B | +04:51 |
| 26 | DILLMAN Andrew | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE | +05:11 |
| 27 | COLLEDANI Nadir | ITALY / ITALIE | +05:12 |
| 28 | DUBAU Lucas | FRANCE / FRANCE | +05:12 |
| 29 | JANSEN Richard | NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS | +05:39 |
| 30 | ORTENBLAD Tobin | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE | +05:48 |
| 31 | DUBAU Joshua | FRANCE / FRANCE | +06:03 |
| 32 | LINDENAU Paul | GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE | +06:17 |
| 33 | VAN DIJKE Koen | NETHERLANDS-B / PAYS-BAS-B | +06:25 |
| 34 | LINDENAU Max | GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE | +06:47 |
| 35 | ELLWOOD Grant | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE | -1LAP |
| 36 | SUAREZ FERNANDEZ Kevin | SPAIN / ESPAGNE | -1LAP |
| 37 | RUEGG Timon | SWITZERLAND / SUISSE | -1LAP |
| 38 | SCHUBERT Stepan | CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE | -1LAP |
| 39 | GLAJZA Ondrej | SLOVAKIA / SLOVAQUIE | -1LAP |
| 40 | O'KEEFE Sam | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / ETATS-UNIS D'AMERIQUE | -1LAP |
| 41 | MULLER Manuel | GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE | -1LAP |
| 42 | VAN DER HEIJDEN Bjorn | NETHERLANDS-B / PAYS-BAS-B | -1LAP |
| 43 | VRANA Dominik | CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE | -1LAP |
| 44 | VOZAR Simon | SLOVAKIA / SLOVAQUIE | -1LAP |
| 45 | YOKOYAMA Kota | JAPAN / JAPON | |
| 46 | BARNES Nicholas | GREAT BRITAIN / GRANDE BRETAGNE | |
| 47 | ERIKSSON David | SWEDEN / SUEDE | |
| 48 | HOGAN Jack | AUSTRALIA / AUSTRALIE | |
| 49 | VANDALE Danick | CANADA / CANADA | |
| WOUTERS Sieben | NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS | ||
| SCHREIBER Steven | GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE | ||
| OSTERGAARD Nikolaj Ruud | DENMARK / DANEMARK | ||
| MAEDA Kohei | JAPAN / JAPON |
2014-15 World Cup, U23 Overall Standings
| Rank | Name | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Vanthourenhout (Bel) Belgium | 190 |
| 2 | Laurens Sweeck (Bel) Belgium | 185 |
| 3 | Wout Van Aert (Bel) Belgium | 160 |
| 4 | Clement Venturini (Fra) France | 131 |
| 5 | Fabien Doubey (Fra) France | 129 |
| 6 | Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Netherlands | 125 |
| 7 | Toon Aerts (Bel) Belgium | 107 |
| 8 | Stan Godrie (Ned) Netherlands | 106 |
| 9 | Gioele Bertolini (Ita) Italy | 86 |
| 10 | Jakub Skala (Cze) Czech Republic | 86 |
| 11 | Adam Toupalik (Cze) Czech Republic | 79 |
| 12 | Diether Sweeck (Bel) Belgium | 75 |
| 13 | Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Netherlands | 72 |
| 14 | Daan Soete (Bel) Belgium | 71 |
| 15 | Yannick Peeters (Bel) Belgium | 70 |
| 16 | Quinten Hermans (Bel) Belgium | 61 |
| 17 | Clement Russo (Fra) France | 50 |
| 18 | Vojtech Nipl (Cze) Czech Republic | 46 |
| 19 | Martijn Budding (Ned) Netherlands | 31 |
| 20 | Andri Frischknecht (Swi) Switzerland | 30 |
| 21 | Jens Vandekinderen (Bel) Belgium | 29 |
| 22 | Nicolas Cleppe (Bel) Belgium | 28 |
| 23 | Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Switzerland | 28 |
| 24 | Thijs Aerts (Bel) Belgium | 27 |
| 25 | Felix Drumm (Ger) Germany | 23 |
| 26 | Logan Owen (USA) United States of America | 20 |
| 27 | Sieben Wouters (Ned) Netherlands | 20 |
| 28 | Dominic Grab (Swi) Switzerland | 19 |
| 29 | Yorben Van Tichelt (Bel) Belgium | 18 |
| 30 | Romain Seigle (Fra) France | 18 |
| 31 | Ben Sumner (GBr) Greece | 17 |
| 32 | Richard Jansen (Ned) Netherlands | 16 |
| 33 | Lorenzo Samparisi (Ita) Italy | 13 |
| 34 | Kobe Goossens (Bel) Belgium | 13 |
| 35 | Andrew Dillman (USA) United States of America | 12 |
| 36 | Tobin Ortenblad (USA) United States of America | 12 |
| 37 | Jack Clarkson (GBr) Greece | 11 |
| 38 | Yannick Eckmann (USA) United States of America | 10 |
| 39 | Gosse Van Der Meer (Ned) Netherlands | 10 |
| 40 | Yannick Gruner (Ger) Germany | 9 |
| 41 | Koen Weijers (Ned) Netherlands | 7 |
| 42 | Timon Ruegg (Swi) Switzerland | 5 |
| 43 | Curtis White (USA) United States of America | 5 |
| 44 | Koen Van Dijke (Ned) Netherlands | 5 |
| 45 | Nadir Colledani (Ita) Italy | 4 |
| 46 | Lucas Dubau (Fra) France | 3 |
| 47 | Thomas Joseph (Bel) Belgium | 3 |
| 48 | Lukas Meiler (Ger) Germany | 3 |
| 49 | Kevin Suarez Fernandez (Spa) Spain | 2 |
