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Superprestige #6 - Vlaamse Aardbeiencross - C1
Hoogstraten, Belgium, January 25, 2004
2003 Results Results Past winners
Vervecken wins World's tune up
Wellens ready for rainbow repeat
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The Belgian domination continues, but today it was Erwin Vervecken who won the sixth round of the Superprestige series in Hoogstraten, Belgium. One week before the World Championships in Pontchâteau, France, all of the favourites were present and showing good form, and it was Vervecken who showed his own steadily improving condition to outsprint compatriot Tom Vannoppen for the victory. Series leader, Belgian champion, and outgoing world champion Bart Wellens completed the podium five seconds later, while arch-rival Sven Nys came home for fourth place.
"After a difficult start to the season I've been getting better and better," Vervecken said after his win. "Third in Diegem, third in Koksijde... I was just missing a victory."
Wellens set the early tempo, and only Vannoppen was able to hold his wheel. As a chase group formed, including the likes of Vervecken, Nys, Richard Groenendaal, and Sven Vanthourenhout, Wellens and Vannoppen had already pulled 15" clear. A fall in one of the turns took Wellens down, and as he struggled to untangle his bike from the fence Vannoppen sped off alone. However Vannoppen couldn't prevent the mighty Wellens from coming back, and it was in Wellens' return that Vervecken also made his move to distance the rest of the chasers.
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With three men away in the final lap the podium was secured. Vervecken proved his strength by riding the most difficult section of the course, which forced many to dismount, in the crucial last lap. Noting that he "didn't make a single mistake" in the finale, Vervecken took the sprint ahead of Vannoppen, while Wellens settled for third, knowing his form is just right for next week's rainbow jersey defense. Vervecken is also confident for Pontchâteau, but knows defending champion Wellens is still the man to beat.
"I'm hoping for a podium place in Pontchâteau," Vervecken said. "It's feasible. Maybe Wellens will have some bad luck, you never know. But without any setbacks, Wellens won't be beaten.
Photography
Images by Luc Claessen/Cyclingnews/www.actiefotos.be
- Christian Heule rode a nice race, but fell back in the second half
- Sven Nys is still searching for his 2002 level, finishing 4th today
- Dutch rider Camiel Van den Bergh finished in 14th place
- Another rider ready for the World's: Dutch champ Richard Groenendaal
- American Champion Jonathan Page finished 18th in Hoogstraten
- Belgian rider Davy Commeyne
- Mathew Ellis (GBr) has had better days: 37th place
- Swiss rider David Rusch ended 28th
- Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) in his new combined World/Belgian champion's outfit
- Czech rider Peter Dlask finished 17th
- Tom Van Noppen took revenge for his non-selection for the World's
- Bart Wellens had a fall and mechanical problems in this Superprestige race
- Van Noppen takes the lead
- Dariusz Gil from Poland
- The leading trio climbing
- Saeco rider Beat Wabel
- Ben Berden (John Saey-Deschacht) finished 7th
- A strong race again for Arne Daelmans: 6th place
- Wellens in front going into the last lap
- French rider Maxim Lefebvre finished a great 5th place again
- The final sprint - Wellens enjoys the victory of his teammate Vervecken
- Erwin Vervecken (Spaar Select) demonstrated that he is ready for Pont Chateau
- The podium Tom Van Noppen (2nd), Erwin Vervecken (1st) and World Champion Bart Wellens (3rd)
Images by AFP/Peter De Voecht-STR
- Erwin Vervecken (Spaar Select) wins the sprint ahead of Tom Van Noppen
Images by Delphine Page/www.cycling-photos.net
- Christian Heule warming up
- Maxime Lefebvre (Fra) dancing in the dirt on lap one
- Roger hammond in British national champ colours
- Björn Rondelez onthe first lap
- Tom Van Oppen enjoying the first-lap sunshine
- Roger Hammond on the way to 19th place
- Sven Nys on the way to fourth place
- Bart Wellens grits his teeth for four more laps
- Richard Groenendaal leads a pack mid-race
- Erwin Vervecken looking strong on lap three
- Sven Vanthourenhout in lap five
- Sven Vanthourenhout on his last lap
- Bart Wellens leads Tom Vannoppen and Erwin Vervecken into the finish
- Bart Wellens powers to the line
- Sven Vanthourenhout outsprints Richard Groenendaal for ninth place
Results
Elite Men 1 Erwin Vervecken (Spaar Select) 1.00.38 2 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) 3 Bart Wellens (Bel) 0.05 4 Sven Nys (Bel) 0.51 5 Maxime Lefebvre (Fra) 0.54 6 Arne Daelmans (Bel) 1.07 7 Ben Berden (Bel) 1.28 8 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) 1.29 9 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) 1.42 10 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 11 Davy Commeyne (Bel) 1.59 12 Wim Jacobs (Bel) 13 Maarten Nijland (Ned) 2.11 14 Camiel van den Bergh (Ned) 2.12 15 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) 2.19 16 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 2.37 17 Petr Dlask (Cze) 3.03 18 Jonathan Page (USA) 3.05 19 Roger Hammond (GBr) 4.09 20 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) 4.15 21 Dariusz Gil (Pol) 4.22 22 Christian Heule (Swi) 4.26 23 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) 4.54 24 Jean-Pierre Leijten (Ned) 4.56 25 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) 4.58 26 Tim Pauwels (Bel) 5.16 27 Björn Rondelez (Bel) 5.45 28 David Rusch (Swi) 6.29 29 Roel van Houtum (Ned) 6.35 30 Eddy Van Bouwel (Bel) 6.49 31 Bert Vervecken (Bel) 7.18 32 David Laenen (Bel) 7.39 33 Tsujura Keiichi (Jap) 7.42 34 Gusty Bausch (Lux) 7.48 35 Joachim Parbo (Den) 8.02 36 Kevin Bossaerts (Bel) 1 lap 37 Matthew Ellis (GBr) 38 Beat Wabel (Swi) 39 Jackson Stewart (USA) 40 Kris Smits (Bel) U23 Men 1 Wesley Van der Linden (Brakel) 51.00 2 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 0.11 3 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 0.19 4 Bart Aernouts (Bel) 0.32 5 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) 0.48 6 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 7 Simon Zahner (Swi) 0.53 8 Krzysztof Kuzniak (Pol) 1.02 9 Geert Wellens (Bel) 1.14 10 Eddy van IJzendoorn (Ned) 1.21 11 Sebastiaan Langeveld (Ned) 1.25 12 Bart Dirckx (Ned) 1.27 13 Jorn Van der Veken (Bel) 1.56 14 Lars Boom (Ned) 2.01 15 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 2.05 16 Stijn Penne (Bel) 2.06 17 Jan Soetens (Bel) 2.11 18 Pirmin Lang (Swi) 2.17 19 Frantisek Kloucek (Cze) 3.09 20 Koen de Kort (Ned) 3.55 21 Rob Peeters (Bel) 22 Daan de Jonge (Ned) 23 Jeroen Thielemans (Bel) 24 Alan Obye (USA) 25 Martin Bina (Cze) 26 Jesse Anthony (USA) 27 Lorenzo Van Damme (Bel) 28 Joeri Kouwenhoven (Ned) 29 Stig Geerts (Bel) 30 Matthew White (USA) 31 Guy Bertels (Bel) 32 Coen Sevens (Ned) 33 Michael Cody (USA) 34 Bart Thielemans (Bel) 35 Andy Catteceur (Bel) 36 Roland Stenekes (Ned) Juniors 1 Niels Albert (Bel) 39.01 2 Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) 1.07 3 Jempy Drucker (Lux) 1.27 4 Bart Verschueren (Bel) 1.38 5 Jeroen Dingemans (Bel) 1.45 6 René Lang (Swi) 1.53 7 Rikke Dijkxhoorn (Ned) 2.15 8 Wim Leemans (Bel) 2.24 9 Jan Arnouts (Bel) 2.34 10 Bart Senders (Bel) 2.58 11 Enrico Liebe (Ned) 12 Ricardo van der Velde (Ned) 13 Maxime Debusschere (Bel) 14 Kenny Geluykens (Bel) 15 Dennis Verhoeven (Bel) 16 Ian Bibby (GBr) 17 Rik van IJzendoorn (Ned) 18 Patrick Vliegen (Ned) 19 Jan Mikkers (Ned) 20 Gianni Denolf (Bel) 21 Jan Verhaegh (Bel) 22 James Driscoll (USA) 23 Thomas Tucker (USA) 24 Quentin Bertholet 25 Mark Broks (Ned) 26 Dieter Schol (Bel) 27 Steven Schol (Bel) 28 Przemyslaw Taciak (Pol) 29 Koen Bertels (Bel) 30 Alison Dunlap (USA) 31 Davy Gorissen (Ned) 32 Jeroen Bosmans (Bel) 33 Gina Hall (USA) 34 Jeffrey Maes (Bel) 35 Mattijn Motshagen (Ned) 36 Andy Brooks (USA) 37 Nico Ceunen (Bel) 1 lap 38 Thomas Boeckx (Bel) 39 Tom Lambrechts (Bel) 40 Wendy Simms (Can) 41 Carmen D'Alusio (Bel) 42 Freek van Gurp (Ned) Novices 1 Ben Arnouts (Bel) 34.54 2 Tom Meeusen (Bel) 3 Dries Pauwels (Bel) 0.43 4 Dries Govaerts (Bel) 1.10 5 Jim Aernouts (Bel) 1.27 6 Joeri Adams (Bel) 7 Kevin Cant (Bel) 8 Christopher Janssens (Bel) 9 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) 10 Johim Ariesen (Ned) 11 Dave De Cleyn (Bel) 12 Joeri Lambrechts (Bel) 13 Bart Hermans (Bel) 14 Raf Pluym (Bel) 15 Sven Nooytens (Bel) 16 Tom Oerlemans (Bel) 17 Tom Last (GBr) 18 Yannick Wydooghe (Bel) 19 Wim Thijs (Bel) 20 Gert Dockx (Bel) 21 Rob van der Velde (Ned) 22 Vincent Bastiaens (Bel) 23 Katrien Pauwels (Bel) 24 Pieter Van der Velde (Bel) 1 lap 25 Jens Gys (Bel) 26 Kasper Oppenneer (Ned) 27 Steven Stenekes (Bel) Superprestige standings after 6th round Elite Men 1 Bart Wellens (Bel) 166 Pts 2 Sven Nys (Bel) 133 3 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 106 4 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) 105 5 Ben Berden (Bel) 97 6 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) 92 7 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) 75 8 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 70 Arne Daelmans (Bel) 10 Davy Commeyne (Bel) 57 11 Maxime Lefebvre (Fra) 53 12 Dariusz Gil (Pol) 48 Petr Dlask (Cze) 14 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 37 15 Camiel van den Bergh (Ned) 30 16 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) 29 17 Mario De Clercq (Bel) 25 18 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) 23 19 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) 22 20 Wim Jacobs (Bel) 20 21 Maarten Nijland (Ned) 17 22 Christian Heule (Swi) 15 23 Björn Rondelez (Bel) 12 Jonathan Page (USA) 25 David Seco (Spa) 5 26 Thijs Verhagen (Ned) 2 Matthew Ellis (GBr) Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) Roger Hammond (GBr) 30 Michael Baumgartner (Swi) 1 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) U23 1 Wesley Van der Linden (Bel) 148 Pts 2 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) 115 3 Bart Aernouts (Bel) 109 4 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 108 5 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 94 6 Geert Wellens (Bel) 93 7 Martin Bina (Cze) 66 8 Jan Soetens (Bel) 57 9 Radomir Simunek (Cze) 56 Jorn Van der Veken (Bel) 11 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 51 12 Simon Zahner (Swi) 39 13 Lars Boom (Ned) 37 14 Eddy van IJzendoorn (Ned) 34 15 Vladimir Kyzivat (Cze) 31 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Stijn Penne (Bel) 18 Krzsyztof Kuzniak (Pol) 28 19 Tom Van den Bosch (Bel) 26 20 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 23 21 Nick Sels (Bel) 21 22 Sébastien Minard (Fra) 19 23 Sebastiaan Langeveld (Ned) 17 24 Guus Magielse (Ned) 16 Bart Dirkx (Ned) 26 David Kasek (Cze) 8 Frederik Herpol (Bel) Koen de KLort (Ned) Pirmin Lang (Swi) 30 Gerben de Vries (Ned) 7 31 Dries Devenyns (Bel) 6 32 Kevin Van Lierde (Bel) 4 Rob Peeters (Bel) 34 Adrien Delautre (Fra) 2 Frantisek Kloucek (Cze) 36 Mike Thielemans (Bel) 1 Juniors 1 Niels Albert (Bel) 145 Pts 2 Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) 110 3 Bart Verschueren (Bel) 109 4 Jempi Drucker (Lux) 102 5 Maxime Debusschere (Bel) 95 6 Jeroen Dingemans (Bel) 92 7 Enrico Liebe (Ned) 79 8 Rikke Dijkxhoorn (Ned) 64 9 Bart Senders (Ned) 46 10 Patrick Vliegen (Ned) 45 Ricardo van der Velde (Ned) 12 Kenny Geluykens (Bel) 42 13 Clément L'Hotellerie (Fra) 30 14 René Lang (Swi) 29 15 Jan Arnouts (Bel) 23 16 Jan Verhaegh (Bel) 20 17 Gianni Denolf and Wim Leemans (Bel) 18 19 Koen Boelens (Bel) 17 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) 21 Rik van IJzendoorn (Ned) 14 22 Quincy Vens, Ales Broz (Cze) 13 Willem Schwaner (Ned) 25 Ivar Hartogs (Ned) 12 Krzysztof Wieczorek (Pol) 27 Stijn Joseph (Bel) 11 28 Valentijn Ponseele (Bel) 10 Jan Skarnitzl (Cze) Davy De Scheemaeker (Bel) 31 Nick Rafael (Swi) 9 32 Dieter Buyens 8 Petr Novotny (Cze) Djuri van Rijbroek (Ned) 35 Karol Sroka (Pol) 7 Steven Van Vooren (Bel) 37 Kristof Luyten (Bel) 6 Dennis Verhoeven (Bel) 39 Davy Gorissen (Bel) 5 Jan Mikkers (Bel) Ian Bibby (GBr) 42 Bart Van Erdegem (Bel) 4 Rik Jonkheijm (Ned) Dries Dewit (Bel) Pawel Cieslik (Cze) 46 Harm Vandekerckhove (Bel) 3 Koen van Grootel (Ned) Stijn Hebben (Bel) Jerry Kallenfels (Ned) Paul Timmer (Ned) Froimens Fricher (USA) 52 Davy Depaepe (Bel) 1 Tom Broekhuysen
Past winners
Men 2004 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 2003 Sven Nijs (Bel) 2001 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 2000 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 1999 Sven Nijs (Bel) 1998 Bart Wellens (Bel) 1997 Peter Willemsens (Bel) 1995 Paul Herijgers (Bel) 1994 Peter Willemsens (Bel) 1993 Paul Herijgers (Bel) 1992 Gustaaf Van Bouwel (Bel) 1991 Dirk Pauwels (Bel) 1990 Wim Lambrechts (Bel) 1989 Kurt De Roose (Bel) Women 2000 Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned)
