GP de Luxembourg
Leudelange, World Cup Round 3, Cat CDM

Luxembourg, December 6, 1998

The World Cup 1999-99 Races

                                                          
Round 1, GP de Suisse - Eschenbach, Switzerland, November 8, 1998
Round 2, GP de Czech Republic - Tabor, Czech Republic, November 21, 1998
Round 3, GP de Luxembourg - Leudelange, Luxembourg, December 6, 1998
Round 4, GP de Belgique - Koksijde, Belgium, December 20, 1998
Round 5, GP de Netherlands - Zeddam, Netherlands, January 3, 1999
Round 6, GP de France - Nonmay, France, January 17, 1999

Report

The third round of the Cyclocross World Cup was held in the Luxembourg town of Leudelange over a distance of 22.355 kms. The riders had to complete 8 laps of a 2.7 kms circuit in cold conditions. It was zero degrees celsius when they set out and there was 5 cms of snow lying over the ground. The sun was shining but more snow fell during the race. A crowd of 3,000 braved the freezing conditions to see the 49 starters begin a journey which would take just over an hour to complete.

Even with the cold weather and snowstorms that had closed in on the Benelux region, the 1996 World Champion, Italian Daniele Pontoni seemed to revel in the conditions and powered to a decisive victory. He is now in second place overall in the World Cup rankings behind Belgian sensation Sven Nijs, who took third in this race.

This was the first time the World Cup had come to Luxembourg and the parcours and weather provided a very tough test indeed. The 2.7 km course contained two wooded sections (one flat and the other hilly) and a 10 metre stair climb over a small hill.

It was difficult for Belgian fans to travel east because the major roads through the Ardennes were blocked.

The parcours was covered in snow and it was hard and slippery. Each of the riders knew that the only way to minimise the danger posed by the condiitons was to get away alone early. When the gun went off the major players in the race tried to do just that. Belgians Sven Nijs, and Mario De Clercq, Adrie van der Poel (Ned) and Italian Daniele Pontoni set out at an incredible pace. The first ramp onto the major parcours was a 600 metre sealed track and the four of them broke the race on that first hill.

By the second lap, reigning World Champion Mario De Clercq laid down the gauntlet and only the Italian could keep his measure. But the other two chased hard and eventually regained contact with the leading two riders.

The top Czech Republic rider, Radomir Simunek also was able to bridge the gap and rode in the top company for a number of laps along with Belgian Marc Janssens.

The World Cup champion from last year, Dutchman Richard Groenendaal continued his miserable form by being checked badly at the start and was languishing in 25th place after the first lap.

The race was really at the front though with only a few riders having any real chance of victory. The veteran Dutchman, 39-year old Adri Van der Poel riding his Rabobank Colnago cross bike, was driving affairs and keeping Daniele Pontoni in check during lap 3. The tactic seemed to be maintian a high yet steady pace.

On lap 4, 32-year old Pontoni rebelled and reeled off a number of blistering attacks to break up the leading bunch. Each time he attacked the gap opened and the others had to react. The tempo set down over lap 3 by Van der Poel was now gone.

On lap 6, it was Pontoni, clearly the strongest rider on the track, who put down the hammer for the final time. Only Marc Janssens was able to hold his wheel for a time. By the start of lap 7, he too was 5 seconds down and Pontoni did not look to be slowing.

The snow really began to fall heavily at this stage of the race. The chasers were scattered like brown's cows with Janssens losing time to Pontoni, De Clercq pursuing Janssens but not closing, and Sven Nijs and Van der Poel riding tempo at 15 seconds to De Clercq.

This is how the field remained. Groenendaal came storming through the field to take 9th and gain World Cup points.

Pontoni told the press: "I had planned that my main goal would be the world championships, but now I find myself second overall I will try to do something in the world cup."

Round 3, Leudelange, Luxembourg, 8 laps for 22.455 kms:

 1. Daniele Pontoni (Ita)      			     1.00.35 (avs 22.24)
 2. Marc Janssens (Bel)					0.13
 3. Mario de Clercq (Bel)				0.22
 4. Sven Nijs (Bel)					0.44
 5. Adri van der Poel (Ned)				0.44
 6. Erwin Vervecken (Bel)				1.25
 7. Radomir Simunek (Cze)				1.30
 8. Wim de Vos (Ned)					1.44
 9. Richard Groenendaal (Ned)				2.08
10. Peter van Sandvliet (Bel)				2.18
11. Petr Dlask (Cze)					2.23
12. Beat Wabel (Swi)					2.58
13. Maarten Nijland (Ned)				3.09
14. Jiri Pospisil (Cze)					3.41
15. Gerben de Knegt (Ned)				4.02
16. Roland Schztti (Swi)				4.16
17. Vaclav Jezek (Cze)					4.36
18. Dominique Arnauld (Fra)				4.42
19. Christophe Morel (Fra)				4.52
20. Patick Blum (Swi)					5.04
21. Luca Bramati (Ita)
22. Igor Tavella (Ita)
23. Pavel Prosek (Cze)
24. Beat Blum (Swi)
25. Tadeusz Korzeniewski(Pol)
26. Jorg Arenz (Ger)
27. David Derepas (Fra)
28. Malte Urban (Ger)
29. Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger)
30. Robert Glajza (Svk)
31. Pascal Perrin (Fra)
32. Christophe Mengin (Fra)
33. Josef Nazarej (Svk)
34. Allen Carlsen (Den)
35. Fabrizio Dall'Oste (Ita)			   at 1 lap
36. Radoslaw Czapla (Pol)			   at 1 lap
37. Richard Thackray (Gbr)			   at 1 lap
38. James Norfolk (Gbr)				   at 1 lap
39. Dariusz Gil (Pol)				   at 1 lap

Abandoned.

Toffoletti (Ita)
Blunt (Gbr)
Ellis (Gbr)
Barnechow (Den)
Nielsen (Den)
Liptak (Svk)
Krajci (Svk)
Medved (Svk)
Kaufka (Pol)
Chmiel (Pol)

World Cup Standings after Round 3: