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Superprestige #5 Diegem - C1
Diegem, Belgium, December 25, 2003
2002 Results Results Past winners
Wellens conquers Diegem at last
Bart Wellens has added a fourth victory to his Superprestige haul this season, finally conquering the race in Diegem where he has traditionally never ridden well. Wellens beat Mario De Clercq (Palmans-Collstrop) and Erwin Vervecken (Spaar Select), increasing his lead in the series over Sven Nys (4th) to 30 points.
Wellens' 16th season victory was perhaps not as emphatic as some of his others - he tried attacking from the start but could not shake Mario De Clercq and Tom Vannoppen. Sven Nys, Erwin Vervecken and Peter Van Santvliet also made the cut, forming a lead group of six riders. Wellens tested them again on the second lap but could not break the shackles, and the group grew with the addition of Davy Commeyne, Ben Berden (who crashed at the start), Sven Vanthourenhout and Jan Verstraeten.
At the halfway point, Wellens made what turned out to be the decisive attack, and Nys, Vervecken, De Clercq and Vannoppen formed a chase group 10 seconds behind the World Champion. But he did not fail this time, and kept his margin until the finish. De Clercq beat Vervecken to take second, while Nys had to be content with fourth.
"A disappointment," said Nys. "I certainly thought in Diegem that I could follow Wellens. But we tried everything, De Clercq as well but it was to no avail. He remains too strong for us. Maybe I could have done it better if the barriers were further apart, because the others were running as fast as I rode and I couldn't recuperate properly. That was certainly to my disadvantage, but that's not the only reason for my loss."
Wellens was happy with his new success. "I tried to finish it in the second lap," he said. "I immediately felt that I had enough power in the legs. But five of them stayed behind me and thus it was better to wait. I didn't have to ride myself into the ground. That's why I went in the second half of the race. De Clercq was getting ready to attack, but I was too quick for him. With teammate Erwin Vervecken with the chasers I was always at ease. If they caught me, he could still attack. But I stayed in front. It's a win that I'm really quite happy with. After what happened in the past three years, I started the race with stress. That will not happen in the future."
Second placed De Clercq also admitted that Wellens was too strong for everyone. "I sat next to him when he attacked and I was also just ready to attack myself, but it didn't happen. Indeed he is too strong, but we knew that before the start. I did not come here to win. But to work on my strength for World Championship selection. In that I succeeded nicely."
Results
Elite Men 1 Bart Wellens (Bel) Spaar Select 2 Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 0.07 3 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Spaar Select 0.08 4 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank 0.16 5 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 0.38 6 Ben Berden (Bel) John Saey-Deschacht 1.08 7 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) Spaar Select 1.19 8 Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 1.34 9 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamo 1.39 10 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 11 Dariusz Gil (Pol) 1.56 12 Christian Heule (Swi) 1.59 13 Camiel van den Bergh (Ned) John Saey-Deschacht 2.03 14 Arne Daelmans (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 2.08 15 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) Wincor-Nixdorf 2.23 16 Maxim Lefebvre (Fra) 2.31 17 Maarten Nijland (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 2.38 18 Wilant Van Gils (Ned) WTC Woerden 2.55 19 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) 3.27 20 Wim Jacobs (Bel) Spaar Select 3.39 21 Jonathan Page (USA) 22 Tim Pauwels (Bel) 23 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) 24 Patrick Schurmans (Bel) 25 Tommy Nielsen (Den) 26 Andy Jacques-Maynes (USA) 27 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 28 Jean-Baptiste Beraud (Fra) 29 Marek Cichosz (Pol) 30 Isaac Suarez (Spa) 31 Shaun Snodden (USA) 32 Eric Tonkin (USA) 33 Jackson Stewart (USA) 34 Keiichi Czeujiura (Jpn) 35 Carsten Schaffter (Den) 36 Pavel Cierpikowski (Pol) 37 Shinia Ikemoto (Jpn) U23 Men 1 Wesley Van Der Linden (Bel) 47.48 2 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) 0.09 3 Radomir Simunek (Cze) 4 Lars Boom (Ned) 5 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 6 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 7 Bart Aernouts (Bel) 8 Geert Wellens (Bel) 9 Jan Soetens (Bel) 10 Sébastien Minard (Fra) 11 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 12 Martin Bina (Cze) 13 Eddy Van IJzendoorn (Ned) 14 Nick Sels (Bel) 15 Sebastiaan Langeveld (Ned) 16 Frederik Herpol (Bel) 17 Rob Peeters (Bel) 18 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) 19 Guus Magielse (Ned) 20 Stijn Penne (Bel) 21 Roy Vanheeswijk (Ned) 22 Marco Wesseling (Ned) 23 Nicky David (Bel) 24 Bram Wind (Ned) 25 Jeroen Nietveld (Bel) 26 Jeremy Powers (USA) 27 Daan De Jonge (Ned) 28 Lorenzo Van Damme (Bel) 29 Koen De Kort (Ned) 30 Jeroen Thielemans (Bel) 31 Alois Lievens (Bel) 32 Steven Sluyts (Bel) 33 Dylan Esmans (Fra) 34 Matt White (USA) 35 Stig Geerts (Bel) 36 Gino De Temmerman (Bel) 37 David Fleischauer (USA) Juniors 1 Niels Albert (Bel) 2 Jempy Drucker (Lux) 3 Rikke Dijkxhoorn (Ned) 4 Ricardo Van Der Velde (Ned) 5 Jeroen Dingemans (Bel) 6 Bart Verschueren (Bel) 7 Enrico Liebe (Ned) 8 Maxim Debusschere (Bel) 9 Kenny Geluykens (Bel) 10 Stijn Joseph (Bel) 11 Davy De Scheemaeker (Bel) 12 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned) 13 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) 14 Steven Van Vooren (Bel) 15 Patrick Vliegen (Ned) 16 Bart Senders (Ned) 17 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) 18 Froimens Fricher (USA) 19 Dries Dewit (Bel) 20 Tom Broekhuysen (Bel) Novices 1 Dries Govaerts (Bel) 2 Kevin Cant (Bel) 3 Kristof Zegers (Bel) 4 Bjorn De Decker (Bel) 5 Joeri Adams (Bel) 6 Jan Van Zeebroeck (Bel) 7 Wout Van Wijk (Ned) 8 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) 9 Bart Wouters (Bel) 10 Wim Thijs (Bel) 11 Stijn Mortelmans (Bel) 12 Jan Maes (Bel) 13 Kenneth Verhoeven (Bel) 14 Julien Ertveldt (Bel) 15 Hans Naets (Bel)
Superprestige standings after round 5
Elite Men 1 Bart Wellens (Bel) Spaar Select 145 pts 2 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank 115 3 Ben Berden (Bel) John Saey-Deschacht 83 4 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamo 80 4 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 80 6 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Spaar Select 76 7 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) Spaar Select 62 8 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 59 9 Arne Daelmans (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 55 10 Dariusz Gil (Pol) 48 11 Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 47 12 Petr Dlask (Cze) 44 13 Mixme Lefebvre (Fra) 37 14 Wilant Van Gils (Ned) WTC Woerden 32 15 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 29 16 Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 25 17 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) 23 17 Camiel van den Bergh (Ned) John Saey-Deschac 23 19 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank 19 20 Christian Heule (Swi) 15 21 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) Wincor-Nixdorf 12 22 Wim Jacobs (Bel) Spaar Select 11 23 Jonathan Page (USA) 9 23 Maarten Nijland (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 9 25 David Seco (Spa) 5 26 Thijs Verhaegen (Ned) 2 26 Matthew Ellis (GBr) John Saey-Deschacht 2 28 Michael Baumgartner (Swi) 1 28 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) 1 28 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) John Saey-Deschacht 1 U23 Men 1 Wesley Van Der Linden (Bel) 118 pts 2 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) 99 3 Bart Aernouts (Bel) 91 4 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 87 5 Geert Wellens (Bel) 81 6 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 69 7 Martin Bina (Cze) 66 8 Radomir Simunek (Cze) 56 9 Jan Soetens (Bel) 53 10 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) 48 11 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 45 12 Vladimir Kyzivat (Cze) 31 12 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) 31 14 Lars Boom (Ned) 30 15 Tom Van Den Bosch (Bel) 26 15 Stijn Penne (Bel) 26 17 Simon Zahner (Swi) 25 18 Eddy Van IJzendoorn (Ned) 23 19 Nick Sels (Bel) 21 20 Sébastien Minard (Fra) 19 21 Guus Magielse (Ned) 16 22 Krzysztof Kuzniak (Pol) 15 23 David Kasek (Cze) 8 23 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 8 23 Frederik Herpol (Bel) 8 26 Gerben De Vries (Ned) 7 26 Bart Dirkx (Ned) 7 26 Koen De Kort (Ned) 7 26 Sebastiaan Langeveld (Ned) 7 30 Dries Devenyns (Bel) 6 31 Pirmin Lang (Swi) 5 32 Kevin Van Lierde (Bel) 4 32 Rob Peeters (Bel) 4 34 Adrien Delautre (Fra) 2 35 Mike Thielemans (Bel) 1 Juniors 1 Niels Albert (Bel) 115 pts 2 Bart Verschueren (Bel) 91 3 Maxim Debusschere (Bel) 87 4 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned) 85 5 Jempi Drucker (Lux) 81 6 Jeroen Dingemans (Bel) 76 7 Enrico Liebe (Ned) 69 8 Rikke Dijkxhoorn (Ned) 50 9 Patrick Vliegen (Ned) 42 10 Ricardo Van Der Velde (Ned) 36 11 Kenny Geluykens (Bel) 35 11 Bart Senders (Ned) 35 13 Clement Lhotellerie (Bel) 30 14 Jan Verhaegh (Ned) 20 15 Koen Boelens (Bel) 17 15 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) 17 15 Gianni Denolf (Bel) 17 18 René Lang (Swi) 14 18 Rik Van IJzendoorn (Ned) 14 20 Quincy Vens (Bel) 13 20 Ales Broz (Cze) 13 20 Willem Schwaner (Ned) 13 20 Ivar Hartogs (Ned) 13 20 Krzsysztof Wieczorek (Pol) 13 25 Jan Aernouts (Bel) 11 25 Stijn Joseph (Bel) 11 27 Valentijn Ponseele (Bel) 10 27 Davy De Scheemaeker (Bel) 10 27 Jan Skarnitzel (Cze) 10 30 Nick Rafael (Swi) 9 31 Dieter Buyens (Bel) 8 31 Petr Novotny (Cze) 8 31 Djuri Van Rijbroek (Ned) 8 34 Karol Sroka (Pol) 7 34 Steven Van Vooren (Bel) 7 36 Kristof Luyten (Bel) 6 37 Wim Leemans (Bel) 5 37 Davy Gorissen (Ned) 5 39 Bart Van Erdeghem (Bel) 4 39 Rik Jonkhijm (Ned) 4 39 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) 4 39 Dries Dewit (Bel) 4 43 Harm Vandekerckhove (Bel) 3 43 Jan Mikkers (Ned) 3 43 Koen Van Grootel (Ned) 3 43 Stijn Hebben (Bel) 3 43 Jerry Kallenfels (Bel) 3 43 Paul Timmer (Ned) 3 43 Froimens Fricher (USA) 3 50 Davy Depaepe (Bel) 1
Past winners
2002 Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 2001 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 2000 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 1999 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank
Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
