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Superprestige #5 - Hamme-Zogge - C1
Bollekescross, Hamme Zogge, Belgium, December 10, 2006
Results Superprestige standings
Nys claims five on five in Superprestige
UCI-leader overcomes illness and bad luck to clinch another big victory
By Brecht Decaluwé
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The big names in European cyclo-cross are ill: Sven Nys (Rabobank) and Bart Wellens (Fidea) didn’t touch their bikes yesterday and were uncertain about their participation in a drenched Hamme-Zogge. World champion Erwin Vervecken (Fidea) was ill last week and performed badly in the World Cup races Igorre and Milano (11th and 15th).
Still, they proved to be the strongest riders in the field. Sven Nys had the worst start of all but managed to come back from last position to first within twenty minutes. He easily distanced Wellens at the end of the second lap to claim his fifth Superprestige win of the season. "Nobody will believe that I was ill yesterday," Nys said after the race. "Actually I hesitated to participate in today’s race and if this wouldn’t have been a Superprestige race, I would have stayed in bed," the Belgian champion explained. After the first kilometre, it seemed impossible that Nys would continue his winning streak in the Superprestige Series.
"I don’t get it myself!" Nys honestly said. "I almost crashed at the start due to some gearing problems, then I just continued in my own pace without thinking about the victory; at the end of the first lap I was already in third position," the winner said. The Belgian started the chase on Bart Wellens and the surprisingly well-off Jan Soetens (Jartazi - Promo Fashion); two laps further Nys was riding alone in front and bagged another nice victory.
Wellens was happy with his second place behind Nys. "I knew that I wouldn’t be super strong after Milano; I got ill and stayed in bed yesterday," he said. "My first two laps were very good but I had some breathing problems. My energy was fading and luckily the big gap from my good start was enough to claim that second place. I never focused on Nys as I wanted to ride my own race. Now I will stay in bed for a few days as I’m feeling quite bad," Wellens explained on Sporza TV.
Behind the two big names there was a interesting battle between four riders for third place. Gerben De Knegt and Sven Vanthourenhout (Rabobank) were paired with world champion Erwin Vervecken and Klaas Vantornout (Fidea). Dutchman De Knegt was the strongest halfway through the race, but in the end Vervecken steamed through to the podium. "My previous races weren’t very good but now I hung on as long as possible. Reaching the end of the race, I noticed the others were suffering as well; that gave me wings," Vervecken said. "This course fits me very well and if I would have good legs I would’ve been able to battle for victory," the world champion claimed.
American Ryan Trebon (Kona) finished tenth after enjoying a good start but eventually got dropped from the group that fought for third place halfway the race.
More at the back of the pack, the return of Tom Vannoppen (Palmans) was a success. The 28 year-old Belgian claimed his best result of the season with a 16th place; after being set back with a major depression. "I’ve been through hard times but every day I’m improving. I enjoyed the support of the crowds and during the last lap - shivers went down my spine. Still I’m only at 60 percent and I hope to get better through the rest of the season," Vannoppen explained. In contrast with the comeback from Vannoppen, he’s young teammate Radomir Simunek Jr had a bad day. With two laps to go, the winner of the world cup event in Tabor abandoned the race.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- A familiar sight : Nys wins yet another Superprestige race.
Results
Elite Men 1 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank 57.46 2 Bart Wellens (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 0.53 3 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 1.37 4 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 1.40 5 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Rabobank Continental Team 1.42 6 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank Continental Team 2.22 7 Jan Soetens (Bel) Jartazi - Promo Fashion 3.04 8 Maxime Lefebvre (Fra) Josan 3.40 9 Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans - Collstrop 4.00 10 Ryan Trebon (USA) Kona Factory Cyclocross Team 4.18 11 Wilant Van Gils (Ned) ZZPR.nl 4.22 12 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 5.05 13 Thijs Al (Ned) Bejan-Rings 5.15 14 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) SD Worx 5.23 15 Arne Daelmans (Bel) Palmans - Collstrop 5.42 16 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans - Collstrop 6.32 17 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 18 Stijn Penne (Bel) 19 Ronald Mutsaars (Ned) ZZPR.nl 20 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 21 Radomir Jr Simunek (Cze) Palmans - Collstrop 22 Wim Jacobs (Bel) Van Der Vorst 23 Geert Wellens (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 24 Steven Decaluwe (Bel) 25 Wim Maes (Bel) 26 Daniel Hufnagel (Aut) 27 Steven De Schoeisitter (Bel) 28 Nqobizitha Tshabalala (Zim) 29 René Mertens (Bel) Juniors 1 Vincent Baestiaens 38.10 2 Kevin Eeckhout 0.15 3 Ramon Sinkeldam 0.34 4 Twan Van den Brand 0.43 5 Yannick Wydooghe 0.55 6 Kristof Scheirs 1.03 7 Kristof Cop 1.38 8 Jonathan Mcevoy 1.44 9 Kevin Smit 1.53 10 Bart Hermans 2.17 11 Geert Van der Horst 2.30 12 Bart Barkhuis 2.48 13 Kenneth Bultynck 3.13 14 Michiel Dielemans 3.23 15 Kevin Van Synghel 3.49 16 Kenneth Marien 4.01 17 Dries Ingels 4.35 18 Dimitri Stevens 4.45 19 Kaell Pizzy 5.09 20 Jeffrey Depuydt 6.55 21 Hendrik Van den Bossche 6.57 22 Matthias Moeyaert 7.27 23 Lorenzo Messine 8.10 24 Jonas De Boey 9.20 25 Vincent Van Hooste 9.30 One lap down 26 Sven De Boey 27 Elien Vercamer 28 Sam Van Under 23 1 Niels Albert 52.17 2 Zdenek Stybar 1.00 3 Rob Peeters 2.10 4 Tom Van den Bosch 2.41 5 Jan Van Dael 3.09 6 Stijn Huys 3.27 7 Maxim Debusschere 3.43 8 Kenneth VanCompernolle 4.04 9 Quentin Bertholet 4.27 10 Dennis Vanendert 4.56 11 Dave De Cleyn 5.09 12 Dries Dewit 5.32 13 Eddy van IJzendoorn 5.48 14 Jempy Drucker 6.00 15 Hans Becking 6.11 16 Boy van Poppel 6.34 17 Thomas Vernaeckt 6.42 18 Jan Van Zeebroeck 7.25 19 Gianni Denolf 20 Matthias Onghena 7.54 21 Dieter Vanthourenhout 8.01 22 Zengeni Brian 8.20 23 Kevin Cant 8.29 24 Dennis Verhoeven 8.36 25 Dries Pauwels 8.48 26 Harm Vandekerckhove 9.37 27 Gregory Franckaert 10.24 One lap down 28 Hans Van den Bogaert 29 Thomas Boeckx 30 Martin Gordon 31 Wim Thijs 32 Thomas Desmet 33 Elmer Walraedt 34 Mathias Holvoet 35 Stefan Ott 36 Tom Decock 37 Kristof Dhollander Beginners 1 Angelo De Clercq 29.16 2 Vinnie Braet 0.10 3 Niels Wytinck 0.15 4 Milan Van den Ende 0.21 5 Zico Waeytens 0.36 6 Xandro Meurisse 1.44 7 Thomas Verbeeck 8 Wietse Bosmans 1.56 10 Robin Poelvoorde 2.07 10 Nield Koyen 2.14 11 Valentijn Van de Velde 2.18 12 Bart De Bondt 2.36 13 Andy Waegemans 2.44 14 Ritchie Denolf 2.52 15 Dylan Desruelle 3.01 16 Gert-Jan Opsomer 3.16 17 Frederik Geerts 3.33 18 Jens Adams 19 Karl Peeters 20 Hendrik Sweeck 21 Christophe Ysenbaardt 27 Simon Declercq 4.10 23 Jimmy Segers 4.37 24 Tijs Van Aert 5.00 25 Thomas Van Overbeke 26 Jordan Aerts 5.51 27 Jorne Carolus 28 Marijn Bal 29 Wim Allary 30 Clint Van Droogenbroeck 6.30 31 Jan Van Meirvenne 32 Tim Merlier 33 Dion Van Hommerig 8.05 34 Koen Van de Put 35 Ilse Vandekinderen 36 Kenny Goossens 37 Stijn Lapierre 38 Jens Saey 9.11 39 Martijn Lambrecht 9.25 40 Niels Van Gysegem 9.38 41 Kenny Bultiynck 9.53 42 Dylan Galens 10.48 43 Rutger La Haye 11.20 44 Kim Van Renterghem 12.02 45 Manuel Timmermans 14.56 46 Bart Van Dongen One lap down 47 Sam Can de Mieroop Superprestige Classification after #5 Elite Men 1 Sven Nys 90 pts 2 Bart Wellens 75 3 Sven Vanthourenhout 67 4 Erwin Vervecken 63 5 Gerben de Knegt 56 6 Klaas Vantornout 46 7 Richard Groenendaal 46 8 Kevinuwels 37 9 John Gadret 26 10 Thijs Al 24 11 Davy Commeyne 22 12 Jan Soetens 22 13 Francis Mourey 20 14 Kamil Ausbuher 17 15 Petr Dlask 16 16 Wilant Van Gils 16 17 Radomir Simunek 14 18 Maxime Lefebvre 14 19 Maarten Nijland 10 20 Jan Verstraeten 8 21 Bart Aernouts 6 22 Christian Heule 6 23 Ryan Trebon (VS 6 24 Peter Van Santvliet 4 25 Wim Jacobs 3 26 Tim Van Nuffel 3 27 Marco Bianco 3 28 Enrico Franzoi 2 29 Arne Daelmans 2 Junior 1 Vincent Baestiaens 83 pts 2 Ramon Sinkeldam 78 3 Joeri Adams 67 4 Kevin Eeckhout 53 5 Yannick Wydooghe 51 6 Sven Verboven 43 7 Kristof Cop 42 8 Bart Bruyndonckx 37 9 Jim Aernouts 30 10 Kristof Scheirs 30 11 Twan van den Brand 27 12 Geert Van der Horst 17 13 Frederick Catrysse 16 14 Dimitri Stevens 16 15 Marcel Meisen 14 16 Jordy Beuker 14 17 Bart Hermans 14 18 Marek Kondia 12 19 Paul Herman 10 20 Ole Quast 9 21 Jonathan McEvroy 8 22 Jasper Ockeloen 7 23 Kevin Smit 7 24 Kaellzzy 6 25 Julian van Dijk 6 26 Bart Barkhuis 6 27 Rob van der Velde 4 28 Jochen Torfs 4 29 Kevin Bultynck 3 30 Vincent Renaux 2 31 Michiel Dieleman 2 32 Jordy van Erp 1 33 Kenneth Marien 1 Under 23 1 Niels Albert 89 pts 2 Zdenek Stybar 85 3 Robeters 64 4 Jempy Drucker 48 5 Boy vanppel 47 6 Dieter Vanthourenhout 45 7 Tom Van den Bosch 40 8 Eddy van IJzerdoorn 39 9 Tom Meeusen 34 10 Thijs van Amerongen 33 11 Maximum Debusschere 30 12 Wim Leemans 30 13 Quentin Bertholet 25 14 Kenneth Van Compernolle 21 15 Stijn Huys 18 16 Ricardo van der Velde 14 17 Jan Van Dael 11 18 Maxim De Busschere 9 19 Mitchell Huenders 8 20 Kevin Cant 7 21 Denis Vanendert 6 22 Dave De Cleyn 5 23 Dries Dewit 4 24 Syzvester Janisewski 3 25 Finn Heitmann 2 26 Yvar Hertogs 1 27 Daan de Jonge 1 28 Hans Becking 1
