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Belgian Cyclo-cross Championships - CN
Lille, Belgium, January 10-11, 2004
2003 Results Results Past winners
Wellens the king of 'cross
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Reigning world champion Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) proved unstoppable once more as he thundered to a close but convincing win in Belgium's national championships Sunday. The dominant force in Belgian (and world) cyclo-cross this year, Wellens rode his rainbow jersey to the national title in typically wet and heavy conditions, beating a resurgent Mario De Clercq and outgoing national champion Sven Nys.
Wellens took control early, intent on constructing his victory in the first minutes of the hour-long race. Tom Vannoppen dared to follow, but would soon find his legs unable to keep pace with the flying Wellens. The top Belgian's display of dominance was almost sidelined by mechanical troubles in the final third of the race, allowing De Clercq to not only regain ground, but assume the race lead for just over one lap of the course.
Wellens didn't panic, however, and resumed his rhythm to retake the front position, steadily wearing down De Clercq and crossing the line victorious by a modest 10". The fight for the final step of the podium was still on, as defending champion Nys got the better of Arne Daelmans, Sven Vanthourenhout and Peter Van Santvliet, all of whom finished within 25" of each other but over a minute behind race winner Wellens, who appears headed to next month's world championships in fine form.
Photography
Images by Luc Claessen/Cyclingnews/www.actiefotos.be
- Mario Lammens (Maldegem) on his way to winning the Masters' B race.
- A delighted Mario Lammens crosses the line triumphant.
- The masters B podium - (L to R) Dirk Mertens (2nd), Mario Lammens (Maldegem, 1st) and Erik Teck (3rd).
- Tom Meeusen's face a picture of determination in the novice championship race.
- Second placed novice rider Dries Govaerts shows his face of suffering, and what a good one it is.
- Tom Meeusen's got his victory salute sorted as he crosses the line a winner in the novice category.
- The novice podium - (L to R) Dries Govaerts (2nd), Tom Meeusen (Essen, 1st) and Ben Arnouts (3rd).
- European champion Niels Albert (Tremelo) puts his head down on the way to victory in the junior men's championship race.
- Bart Verschueren fights with his bike in a tricky section of sand.
- Davy De Scheemaeker goes for a run on his way to third place in the junior category.
- The junior podium - (L to R) Bart Verschueren (2nd), Niels Albert (Tremelo, 1st) and Davy De Scheemaeker (3rd).
- Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) comes home a winner in the elite men's race.
- World champion Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) steadily wore down his closest rival Mario De Clercqa to win by a slim margin of 10 seconds.
- Bart Wellens and winning have gone hand in hand this year, with today being no exception.
- The under 23 men's podium - (L to R) Bart Aernouts Wesley Van der Linden (Brakel, 1st) and Geert Wellens (3rd).
- The elite men's podium - (L to R) Mario De Clercq (Palmans-Collstrop, 2nd), Bart Wellens (Spaar Select, 1st) and Sven Nys (Rabobank, 3rd).
- Wellens leading, De Clercq follows
- Wellens with a smile when commencing the last lap
- Mario DC goes for silver medal
- Sven Nys took third place
- Peter Van Santvliet
- Berden made a fall in the first lap. And never came back on the lead-group
- David Willemsen. Belgian Champion Elite without contract
- Wim Jacobs took 12th place
- Jan Verstraeten having a rough time
- Belgian rider Bjorn Rondelez
- Teammates Vervecken and Van Santvliet
- Wellens goes into the sand
- Very tough race for this Belgian rider
- Wellens looking confidant
- Arne Daelmans suffering in one of the toughest passages in Lille
- Davy Commeyne finished 9th
- Mario De Clerq trying to catch Wellens again
- Sven Nys must leave the Belgian Jersey to Wellens
- Sven Van Tourenhout at the finish line
- Peter Van Santvliet's finish
- Homerider Erwin Vervecken was disappointed with 7th place
Results
Day 2 - January 11: Elite/U23 Men, Elite Women
Elite Men 1 Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) 1.01.22 2 Mario De Clercq 0.10 3 Sven Nys 1.07 4 Arne Daelmans 1.17 5 Sven Vanthourenhout 1.28 6 Peter Van Santvliet 1.44 7 Erwin Vervecken 2.55 8 Ben Berden 3.22 9 Davy Commeyne 3.43 10 Tom Vannoppen 4.23 11 David Willemsens 4.55 12 Wim Jacobs 5.36 13 Tim Van Nuffel 5.53 14 Rudi Van de Sompel 6.20 15 Tim Pauwels 6.39 16 Jan Verstraeten 6.39 17 Eddy Van Bouwel 1 lap 18 Bert Vervecken 19 Tom De Kort 20 David Laenen 21 Jaak Eeckhout 22 Pedro Baelen 23 Steve Gruwier 24 Stefan Uytterhaegen 25 Jan Goris 26 Thomas Onghena 27 Geert Vandaele 28 Sten Raeymakers 29 Patrick Bassez Elite Women 1 Anja Nobus (Hertsberge) 36.32 2 Loes Sels 0.39 3 Kathleen Vermeiren 1.08 4 Hilde Quintens 1.48 5 Veerle Ingels 2.25 6 Nancy Bollansee 2.27 7 Liesbeth De Vocht 3.54 8 Katrien Pauwels 4.58 9 Sofie Goor 5.07 10 Katien Aerts 5.56 11 Veronique Staes 6.51 12 Ilse Geldhof 7.17 13 Monica Van Nassauw 7.22 14 Greetje De Vos 7.26 15 Anne Arnouts 7.54 16 Kelly Greefs 8.10 17 Ann Van Rechem 8.40 18 Maaike Weytens 8.44 19 Lien Beyen 9.20 20 Gertie Willems 9.23 21 Nele D’Haene 9.47 22 Ine Beyen 9.56 23 Ilse Temmerman 10.12 24 Natasja Nobels 10.36 25 Lindsay Sticker 1 lap 26 Sandie Verriest Espoirs 1 Wesley Van der Linden (Brakel) 52.14 2 Bart Aernouts 0.50 3 Geert Wellens 1.37 4 Jorn Van der Veken 1.50 5 Klaas Vantornout 2.21 6 Nick Sels 2.23 7 Jan Soetens 2.38 8 Dieter Vanthourenhout 3.20 9 Pieter Ghyllebert 4.04 10 Jef De Boeck 4.15 11 Rob Peeters 4.32 12 Nic Ingels 4.48 13 Stijn Penne 5.10 14 Mike Thielemans 6.21 15 Christophe Vandevivere 6.24 16 Steven Sluyts 7.35 17 Frederik Herpol 7.53 18 Alois Lievens 7.53 19 Sven Mombaerts 1 lap 20 Jonas Coopman 21 Bart Thielemans 22 Pieter Van Loocke 23 Jeroen Thielemans 24 Robby De Baene Amateurs/Masters A 1 Peter Willemsens 38.51 2 Ronny Housen 0.40 3 Ronny Couliez 1.15 4 Sven Raeymakers 2.13 5 Benny Van Staeyen 2.21 6 Bart Versmissen 2.41 7 Tom Wilmsen 3.21 8 Geert Swinnen 3.37 9 Nico Schroyen 3.38 10 Kurt De Backer 3.49 11 Axel Naessens 12 Johnny Van Tichelt 13 Friedrich Sels 14 Rik Geers 15 Timmy Maes 16 Tim Goris 17 Eddy Bokken 18 Kristof Braekevelt 19 Kris Maes 20 Nic Van de Moer 21 Koen Vandewalle 22 Chris Mariën 23 Steven Geurs 24 Steven Wuyts 25 Pierre Hustin 26 Michael Vivier 27 Mario Baesens 28 Kris Roegiers 29 Marc Dirks 30 Carlo Allbaert 31 Dirk Veldeman 32 Michael Naessens
Day 1
Novices 1 Tom Meeusen (Essen) 29.21 2 Dries Govaerts 0.52 3 Ben Arnouts 1.06 4 Jo Pirotte 1.25 5 Kenneth Van Compernolle 1.54 6 Dries Pauwels 2.04 7 Maarten Verherstraeten 8 Laurens De Vreese 9 Kristof Zegers 2.16 10 Kevin Cant 2.27 11 Dries Ingels 12 Bjorn De Decker 13 Joeri Lambrechts 14 Jim Aernouts 15 Joeri Adams 16 Bart Hermans 17 Yannick Wydooghe 18 Tom Oerlemans 19 Nivard Van Acker 20 Dave De Cleyn 21 Jan Van Zeebroeck 22 Kenny Verstrepen 23 Thomas Chamon 24 Matthias Maeyaert 25 Niels Beelen 26 Wim Thijs 27 Olivier Labie 28 Bart Bruyndonckx 29 Jelle Schepers 30 Stijn Mortelmans 31 Bart Wouters 32 Kenneth Bultynck 33 Koen Heremans 34 Michael Vanstaeyen 35 Kim Goethals 36 Dimitri Stevens 37 Sam Solia 38 Sven Verboven 39 Dieter Poelvoorde 40 Jan Van Aert 41 Tim Debusschere 42 Lorenzo Zauters 43 Sep Vanmarcke 44 Kevin De Schrijver 45 Ruben Depoortere 46 Dieter Van Lancker 47 Jordy Billast 48 Timothy Dejonghe 49 Jens Gys 50 Rory Quartier 51 Kenny Van Heck 1 lap 52 Atze De Vis 53 Jens Raes 54 Michel Vandersande 55 Julien Vermote Juniors 1 Niels Albert (Tremelo) 42.07 2 Bart Verschueren 1.41 3 Davy De Scheemaeker 1.45 4 Quincy Vens 1.47 5 Jeroen Dingemans 2.18 6 Maxime Debusschere 2.33 7 Kenny Geluykens 2.46 8 Harm Vandekerckhove 3.08 9 Wim Leemans 3.11 10 Jan Van Dael 3.17 11 Stijn Joseph 12 Koen Boelens 13 Valentijn Ponseele 14 Gianni Denolf 15 Philip Pauwels 16 Kristof Luyten 17 Matthias Onghena 18 Tom Broekhuysen 19 Bart Van Erdeghem 20 Steven Van Bael 21 Dieter Buyens 22 Stijn Hebben 23 Quentin Bertholet 24 Wim Detobel 25 Glenn Sluyts 26 Thomas Boeckx 27 Koen Bertels 28 Dieter Schol 29 Steven Schol 30 Dirk Smets 1 lap 31 Lorenzo Van Slycke 32 Carlo Kempeneers 33 Tom Lambrechts 34 Jeffrey Maes 35 Nico Ceunen 36 Jonas Oeyen 37 Pascal Van Renterghem 38 Jeroen Minnekeer 39 Jo Van Rechem 40 Kevin Ryckaert 41 Davy Vanderstukken Masters B 1 Mario Lammens (Maldegem) 43.33 2 Dirk Mertens 0.07 3 Erik Teck 0.28 4 Dirk Pauwels 5 Carlo Van der Mast 0.55 6 Jef Verbraeken 1.11 7 Marc Druyts 1.17 8 Danny Verherstraeten 1.20 9 Dirk De Keulelaere 1.30 10 Patrick Sluyts 1.35 11 Frans Ceulemans 12 Marc Verloo 13 René Swinnen 14 Alex Van Acker 15 Christiaan Wuyts 16 Ronny Lambrechts 17 Willem Van den Bergh 18 Dirk Gebruers 19 Mark Meys 20 Rik Moeyaert 21 Alain De Plucker 22 Luc Peeters 23 Patrick Neufcourt 24 Hugo Donckers 25 Patrick Wynants 26 Johan Meeus 1 lap 27 Wim Vermeiren 28 Rik Versschemoet 29 Marc De Cleyn Masters C 1 Franky Van Tongelen (Walem) 29.15 2 Walter Marijnissen 1.43 3 Rudy Bloemmen 2.31 4 Daniël Van Oosterwijck 2.50 5 Pierrot Potargent 3.08 6 Freddy De Meester 7 Ronald De Scheemaeker 8 Chris Geerts 3.46 9 José De Clercq 3.55 10 Ivan Coopman 11 Herman Linden 12 Jan-Guido Geuens 13 Dominique De Groote 14 Dirk Van Sinay 15 Ghislain Van Bruaene 16 Eddy Wandels 17 Luc Ruys 18 Michel Wynsberghe 19 Willy Minnen 20 Rik Ponseele 21 Jean-Pierre Hustin 22 Guido Vaes 23 Guy Ceuppens 24 Patrick Ceulemans 25 Luc Van Rokeghem 26 Hendrik Borremans 27 Adriën De Cnuydt 28 Freddy Bosteels 1 lap 29 Carlos Temmerman 30 Michel Leblicq Masters D 1 François Mertens (Heusden-Zolder) 33.08 2 Jos Sas 0.53 3 Romaan Boelens 1.15 4 Leo De Busser 1.30 5 Robert De Vos 6 Remi Beirinckx 1.47 7 Jozef Helsen 1.55 8 Florent Van Eyken 3.09 9 Edward Lievens 4.35 10 Gaston Sannen 1 lap 11 Eric Dhondt 12 Wilfried Buysse 13 Roland Hurtecant 14 Wilfried Maes
Past winners
Men 2003 Sven Nys (Rabobank) 2002 Mario De Clercq (Domo-Farm Frites) 2001 Mario De Clercq (Domo-Farm Frites) 2000 Sven Nys Espoirs/U23 2003 Wesley Van der Linden (Brakel) 2002 Wim Jacobs 2001 Sven Vanthourenhout Women 2003 Hilde Quintens (Lummen) 2002 Anja Nobus 2001 Kathleen Vermeiren Juniors 2003 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Wingene) 2002 Kevin Pauwels 2001 Geert Wellens Novices 2003 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Ruiselede) 2002 Niels Albert Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com
