Czech Republic Cyclo-cross Championships - CN

Mlada Boleslav, January 9, 2005

2004 Results Results Past winners

Stybar surprises favourites

By Sam Alison

Unseasonably warm weather and sunny conditions took the place of the usual snow and ice at the Czech National Cyclocross Championships on January 9. Czech 'cross legend Radomir Simunek commented before the race he couldn't recall the event ever having been run in such warm conditions. Nine degrees celcius and sunny skies greeted the elite and under 23 combined field of 30 riders when they lined up for 10 laps of the 2.45km circuit in Mlada Boleslav, home of the Skoda car factory. 19 year-old Zdenek Štybar surprised the favourite riders and won the Championships in front of Martin Bína and Radomír Šimenek, all U23 riders.

How it unfolded

Ex-National Champion and World Championships silver medallist, the giant 200cm Petr Dlask drove the pace of the field in the opening laps, quickly stringing out the bunch. It was clear from the outset it wasn't to be the day for some of the stars, with Jiri Pospisil forced to withdraw early, and winner of the opening round of the World Cup Zdenek Mlynar encountering mechanical problems. The field was gradually whittled down, and mid-way through the race U23 rider Martin Bina jumped away to what looked like a handy lead of close to 30 seconds. This was steadily eaten away however by a concerted chase by Kamil Ausbuher, Radomir Simunek Jr., Zdenek Stybar and Dlask.

Ultimately, Simunek and Stybar jumped across to Bina to form a leading trio of only Under 23 riders, with Dlask and Ausbuher not far behind. Simunek tried to dig deep on the final climb but couldn't make it stick. Through a tight and winding last few hundred metres Dlask galliantly tried to catch the youngsters, but couldn't quite get there. Bina and Simunek, being in the same team, should have had the advantage in the finale, but Stybar preempted that and hit out hard from the final corner. No one looked like coming around the 19 year-old as he took an unprecedented win over the Elite field.

Photos

Images by Milan Sames/www.sames.cz

Petr Dlask (Author Praha), leads the field into the race
Last year's Czech champion Kamil Ausbuher (Budvar Tabor) - today 5th
Czech cyclo-cross star Jiri Pospisil (Stevens Jeantex) didn't ride well today and gave up
Radomir Simunek jnr, placed today 3rd
A very strong Author Praha team flies over the bridge, but it was not enough for victory today
In race action - Ausbuher (5th), Simunek (3rd), Stybar (1st)
Martin Bina (Author Praha) lead solo in the middle of the race - it was not enough for victory
Zdenek Stybar (Mercedes Benz Selle Italia) was the best today despite his young age (19)
Final lap - two Czech former champions Dlask and Ausbuher try to catch leading trio of youngsters - they were not successfully, placing 4th and 5th
Petr Dlask (Author Praha) rides towards the finish and 4th place
Jezek, Zlamalik, Lukes good performance today, but not enough for a podium finish

Images by Petr Resl

Zdenek Stybar wins the Czech Republic Cyclo-cross Championships
Zdenek Stybar just moments after his amazing win
Podium place-getters Bina, Stybar and Simunek

Results

Elite/U23 Men


1 Zdenek Štybar (G.S.Mercedes-Benz Selle Italia)                   1:01:17
2 Martin Bína (Author Praha)                                             1
3 Radomír Šimenek (Author Praha)                                         2
4 Petr Dlask (Author Praha)                                              5
5 Kamil Ausbuher (Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor)                              17
6 Martin Zlámalík (Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor)                             26
7 Ondrej Lukeš (Johnson Controls Aš Mb)                                 26
8 Václav Ježek (Author Praha)                                           26
9 Emil Hekele (Zekof Team)                                              26
10 Josef Soukup (Ed System - Zvvz)                                      56
11 Vladimír Kyzivát (Johnson Controls Aš Mb)                          1:00
12 Jan Chrobák (Johnson Controls Aš Mb)                               1:37
13 František Kloucek (Author Praha)                                   2:22
14 Zdenek Mlynár (Ac Sparta Praha)                                    3:27
15 Tomáš Trunschka (G.S.Mercedes-Benz Selle Italia)                   4:48
16 Tomáš Hrubý (Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor)                              6:16
17 Stanislav Bambula (Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor)                        7:19
18 Filip Eberl (Scania - Vella - Apache Kolín)                  1 lap down
19 Petr Vacek (Scania - Vella - Apache Kolín)
20 Pavel Valeš (Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor)
21 Jan Mateju (Scania - Vella - Apache Kolín)
22 Tomáš Podrazil (Tj Sokol Holé Vrchy)
23 Pavel Nejedlý (Johnson Controls Aš Mb)                      2 laps down
24 Karel Drchal (Programcycle Sugoi)
25 Michal Benda (Scania - Vella - Apache Kolín)
26 Zbynek Vašinka (Scania - Vella - Apache Kolín)

Past winners

Men

2004 Kamil Ausbuher (Cyklo Team Budvar Tábor)
2003 Petr Dlask (Author Praha)
2002 Jiri Pospisil (Author)
2001 Petr Dlask
2000 Petr Dlask

U23 Men

2004 Martin Zlámalík
2003 Martin Bína (Author Praha)
2002 Martin Bína (Budvar Tábor)

Past winners by Mario Stiehl, www.world-of-cycling.com