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Superprestige # 8 - Vlaamse Trofee der Kempen - C1
Vorselaar, Belgium, February 22, 2003
2002 Results Results Past winners
Bart Wellens at home
Nijs takes SP title
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World Champion Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) turned the tables again on rival Sven Nijs, who beat him last week in the World Cup. In front of thousands of cheering hometown fans, Wellens took the final Superprestige race in Vorselaar, thus securing his overall second place in the Superprestige series. For his part, Nijs had to be satisfied with second place today and the overall win, thus he will have to wait until next year to try and pass the 21 Superprestige win record of Roland Liboton.
Today Wellens opted to attack right from the start, and such was his pace that no-one could follow him. Erwin Vervecken and Sven Nijs tried, but they could never make up the advantage, and Wellens rode the whole race by himself, in front. Vervecken soon fell back, to be joined by Ben Berden, Mario De Clercq, and Arne Daelmans, and they finished in that order behind Wellens and Nijs.
"It was pre-planned," said Wellens afterwards. "In front of your own fans you always try a little bit harder," "Call it a calculated risk, but I have in the course of the season taken similar risks. So I chose for a super quick start. Whoever had the strength could follow me. There was no-one. Vervecken and Nijs tried, but they shot too short."
"It's logical," said Nijs. "I've had a hard training week with a view to the road season. The pedaling for 'cross wasn't there any more. And what's even more important: the freshness was also not there any more. Not in the legs, not in the head."
"I have worked hard in Spain in the last few days. Two days of 200 kilometres and the pleasure that I had on other occasions wasn't there. Maybe the road season won't happen. I'll go to the team doctor on Monday to talk about it. I think I'll be resting a lot in the coming days. Recharge the batteries again. Then I'll start on Sunday in Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and try to go right through until Paris-Roubaix. But maybe it will go differently. I don't know myself yet. But no one at Rabobank should find that bad, because I got them enough publicity in winter."
There was also some bad luck during the race for Björn Rondelez, who collided just before the finish with a spectator, falling and hitting his head against a tree. He was first looked after by the Red Cross, then was taken to hospital for further examination.
In the Superprestige standings, Mario De Clercq finished in third place behind Nijs and Wellens, with Erwin Vervecken, Richard Groenendaal, Peter Van Santvliet and Tom Vannoppen following.
The U23 race was a hard fought affair between Radomir Simunek (Cze), Martin Bina (Cze), Thijs Verhagen (Ned) and Bart Aernouts (Bel), after Geert Wellens had led for the first half of the race. It finished in a four man sprint, with Radomir Simunek beating Bina and Verhagen.
In the juniors race, Eddy van IJzendoorn (Ned) beat Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) and final series winner Lars Boom (Ned).
Photos
Images by Luc Claessen/www.actiefotos.be
- Belgian champion Sven Nys (Rabobank) a pleasure to watch on the bike
- Multiple world champion Mario De Clercq (Palmans-Collstrop) appears to be doing it easy
- Recently crowned world champion Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) pounds the gears
- Sven Nys (Rabobank) on his way to second place
- Mario De Clercq (Palmans-Collstrop) hops off before a tricky section of the course
- Mario De Clercq (Palmans-Collstrop) age belies his agility on the bike
- Bart Wellens (Spaar Select) defied his critics once again, winning the race with pure power
- Sven Nys (Rabobank) is definitely the cat of 'cross
- Gerben De Knegt (Rabobank) rides a solid race to place seventh
- Dutch champion Richard Groenendaal (Rabobank) in his element
- Ben Berden (Vlaanderen-T Interim) was pipped at the line for 3rd place by Erwin Vervecken (Spaar Select)
- Sven Nys (Rabobank) comes in 26 seconds down on winner Bart Wellens (Spaar Select)
- The bunch gallop for the minor placings
Results
Elite 1 Bart Wellens (Bel) Spaar Select 59.28 2 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 0.26 3 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Spaar Select 0.32 4 Ben Berden (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 5 Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 0.34 6 Arne Daelmans (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 0.35 7 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 1.02 8 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank 1.06 9 Dariusz Gil (Pol) 1.07 10 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) Spaar Select 1.26 11 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 1.30 12 David Seco (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.32 13 Wim Jacobs (Bel) 1.50 14 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 1.57 15 Petr Dlask (Cze) Author Praha 2.05 16 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) WG Beveren 2000 2.16 17 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) Author Praha 2.28 18 Jonathan Page (USA) Richard Sachs 2.30 19 Christian Heule (Swi) Team Cologne 2.31 20 Camiel Van Den Bergh 2.32 21 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 2.34 22 Marek Chicosz (Pol) 2.35 23 Maxime Lefebvre (Fra) CV Liévin 2.36 24 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) 3.06 25 Radoslaw Czapla (Pol) 4.15 26 Nico Hendrickx (Bel) 4.48 27 Bert Vervecken (Bel) 4.56 28 Sven Van Eyndt (Bel) 5.20 29 Kevin Bossaerts (Bel) 1 lap 30 Tim Goris (Bel) 31 Peter Janssens (Bel) 34 starters U23 1 Radomir Simunek (Cze) 48.20 2 Martin Bina (Cze) 3 Thijs Verhagen (Ned) 4 Bart Aernouts (Bel) 5 Geert Wellens (Bel) 0.24 6 Wesley Van der Linden (Bel) 0.45 7 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 0.55 8 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 1.10 9 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) 10 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 1.27 11 Nick Sels (Bel) 2.00 12 Josef Soukup (Cze) 2.14 13 Jan Geerts (Bel) 3.24 14 Jorn Van der Veken (Bel) 2.35 15 Stijn Penne (Bel) 2.48 16 Dirk Bertels (Bel) 17 Steven Sluyts (Bel) 18 Guy Bertels (Bel) 19 Bart Thielemans (Bel) 20 Stig Geerts (Bel) 21 Sébastien Durieu (Bel) 23 starters Juniors 1 Eddy van Ijzendoorn (Ned) 37.04 2 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 0.20 3 Lars Boom (Ned) 0.43 4 Niels Albert (Bel) 0.57 5 Maxim Debusschere (Bel) 1.02 6 Sebastiaan Langeveld (Ned) 1.05 7 Rob Peeters (Bel) 8 Jeroen Dingemans (Bel) 1.08 9 Slawomir Pituch (Pol) 1.15 10 Egon van Kessel (Bel) 1.52 11 Finn Heitmann (Dui) 2.13 12 Harm Vandekerckhove (Bel) 2.18 13 Jonas Coopmans (Bel) 2.42 14 Joeri Kouwenhoven (Ned) 3.37 15 Kenny Geluykens (Bel) 3.25 16 Rik Senders (Ned) 3.53 17 Koen Bertels (Bel) 5.22 18 Steffen Vanderhoydonck (Bel) 6.41 18 starters Novices 1 Jan Verhaegh (Ned) 33.28 2 Bart Senders (Ned) 0.35 3 Jan Arnouts (Bel) 0.36 4 Patrick Vliegen (Ned) 0.37 5 Rik van IJzendoorn (Ned) 0.46 6 Willem Schwaner (Ned) 0.48 7 Tom Meeusen (Bel) 0.55 8 Wim Leemans (Bel) 0.56 9 Steven Wong (Bel) 0.57 10 Dennis Verhoeven (Bel) 1.31 11 Ben Arnouts (Bel) 12 Dries Pauwels (Bel) 13 Tom Lambrechts (Bel) 14 Maarten Verherstraeten (Bel) 15 Matthias Onghena (Bel) 16 Jeffrey Maes (Bel) 17 Bart Wouters (Bel) 18 Loes Sels (Bel) 19 Stef Steurs (Bel) 21 starters
Final Superprestige Standings
Elite 1 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 218 pts 2 Bart Wellens (Bel) Spaar Select 163 3 Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 136 4 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Spaar Select 134 5 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 123 6 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) Spaar Select 123 7 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 120 8 Ben Berden (Bel) Vlaanderen-T Interim 119 9 Arne Daelmans (Bel) Vlaanderen - T Interim 104 10 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 91 11 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank 85 12 Petr Dlask (Cze) Author Praha 66 13 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) Author Praha 47 14 Wim Jacobs (Bel) 38 15 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) WG Beveren 2000 38 16 Dariusz Gil (Pol) 32 17 Davy Commeyne (Bel) Palmans-Collstrop 28 18 Christian Heule (Swi) Team Cologne 27 19 Maarten Nijland (Ned) Heijdens-Ten Tusscher 21 20 David Seco (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 18 21 Camiel van den Bergh (Ned) 16 22 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 14 23 John Gadret (Fra) VC Roubaix 14 24 Wim De Vos (Ned) Spaar Select 13 25 Maxime Lefebvre (Fra) CV Liévin 8 26 Matthew Ellis (GBr) 7 26 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) 7 26 Roger Hammond (GBr) Palmans-Collstrop 7 29 Robert Glajza (Svk) 4 30 Pedro Baelen (Bel) 3 30 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) Cycle Poitevin 3 30 Jonathan Page (USA) Richard Sachs 3 33 Geoffrey Clochez (Fra) Julie Nature 2 34 Eddy Van Bouwel (Bel) 1 34 Nico Hendrickx (Bel) 1 34 Pawel Cierpikowski (Pol) 1 34 Dominique Arnould (Fra) 1 U23 1 Thijs Verhagen (Ned) 188 pts 2 Bart Aernouts (Bel) 160 3 Wesley Van der Linden (Bel) 146 4 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) 140 5 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 138 6 Martin Bina (Cze) 131 7 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 88 8 Radomir Simunek (Cze) 82 9 Tim Pauwels (Bel) 78 10 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 76 11 Geert Wellens (Bel) 66 12 Stijn Penne (Bel) 50 13 Martin Zlamanik (Cze) 46 14 Jorn Vanderveken (Bel) 41 15 David Kasek (Cze) 37 16 Jan Soetens (Bel) 36 17 Josef Soukup (Cze) 27 18 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) 25 19 Nicky David (Bel) 21 19 Nick Sels (Bel) 21 21 Gerben de Vries (Ned) 20 22 Tommy Nielsen (Den) 19 23 Krzysztof Kuzniak (Pol) 17 24 Mike Thielemans (Bel) 16 24 Simon Zahner (Swi) 16 26 Jan Geerts (Bel) 15 27 Theo Eltink (Ned) 14 28 Shaun Snodden (GBr) 13 28 Pieter Weening (Ned) 13 28 Michael Muller (Swi) 13 31 Jefferson Soisson s (Fra) 11 32 Koen De Kort (Bel) 10 33 Adrien Delautre (Fra) 9 33 Bart Dirkx (Ned) 9 35 Kenny van Hummel (Ned) 8 36 Anders Klinkby (Den) 7 37 Gaetan Benoit (Fra) 5 37 Dirk Bertels (Bel) 5 39 Steven Sluyts (Bel) 4 40 Guus Magielse (Ned) 3 40 Guy Bertels (Bel) 3 42 Ries van der Sanden (Ned) 2 42 Bart Thielemans (Bel) 2 44 Eric Verrijt (Ned) 1 44 Jérôme Boussekey (Fra) 1 44 Lukas Mudyn (Pol) 1 44 Steven Roach (GBr) 1 44 Gregory Himeur (Fra) 1 44 Stig Geerts (Bel) 1 Juniors 1 Lars Boom (Ned) 210 pts 2 Eddy van Ijzendoorn (Ned) 173 3 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 162 4 Sebastiaan Langeveld (Ned) 124 5 Maxim Debusschere (Bel) 92 6 Slawomir Pituch (Pol) 92 7 Kevin Van Lierde (Bel) 89 8 Egon van Kessel (Ned) 83 9 Finn Heitmann (Dui) 70 10 Tom Van den Bosch (Bel) 69 11 Gerald Uytersprot (Bel) 45 12 Bart Verschueren (Bel) 41 13 Jempi Drucker (Lux) 34 14 Rob Peeters (Bel) 33 15 Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) 32 16 Bram Wind (Ned) 30 17 Frantisek Kloucek (Cze) 29 17 Jeroen Dingemans (Bel) 29 19 Daan Dejonghe (Ned) 28 19 Niels Albert (Bel) 28 21 Bart Veyt (Bel) 24 22 Rikkie Dijkxhoorn (Ned) 18 22 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) 18 22 Joris Wijnen (Bel) 18 25 Jeroen Thielemans (Bel) 17 26 Toon Devenijns (Bel) 16 27 Roman Kreuzer (Cze) 14 27 Alois Lievens (Bel) 14 27 Quincy Vens (Bel) 14 27 Kay Vandenbrande (Bel) 14 31 Harm Vandekerckhove (Bel) 12 32 Ladislav Sulc (Cze) 11 32 Michal Werstack (Pol) 11 32 Joeri Kouwenhoven (Ned) 11 35 Koen Boelens (Bel) 9 35 Peter Van Dijk (Ned) 9 35 Daniël Janiszewski (Fra) 9 38 Paul Timmer (Ned) 8 38 Ward Demets (Bel) 8 38 Ambroise Touboulic (Fra) 8 38 Kenny Geluykens (Bel) 8 38 Jonas Coopmans (Bel) 8 43 Alexandre Baillet (Fra) 7 44 Niels Bogaars (Ned) 6 44 Dylan Esmans (Fra) 6 46 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) 5 46 Rik Senders (Ned) 5 48 Nils Ferlin (Bel) 4 48 Nard van der Sanden (Ned) 4 48 Maarten de Jonge (Ned) 4 48 Jonathan Parsy (Fra) 4 48 Koen Bertels (Bel) 4 53 S Kleinligtebed (Ned) 3 53 Wesley Roos (Bel) 3 53 Enrico Liebe (Ned) 3 53 Tijs Senders (Ned) 3 53 Alain van der Velde (Ned) 3 53 Steffen Vanderhoydonck (Bel) 3 59 Rik Jonkheym (Ned) 2 59 Pieter Van Loo (Bel) 2 61 Steven Van Vooren (Bel) 1 61 Peter Heremans (Bel) 1 61 Adam Bycka (Pol) 1
Past winners
Men 2002 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank
