GP Hoogstraten, Super Prestige Trophy, Round 7Belgium, December 23, 1998 |
Report
Results
Standings
The 1998-99 Super Prestige CupRound 1, Ruddervoorde, Belgium, October 24, 1998 Round 2, Asper, Belgium, November 15, 1998 Round 3, St. Michielsgestel, Netherlands, November 22, 1998 Round 4, Gieten, Netherlands, November 29, 1998 Round 5, Silvelle, Italy, December 8, 1998 Round 6, Overijse, Belgium, December 13, 1998 Round 7, Hoogstraten, Belgium, December 23, 1998 Round 8, Diegem, Belgium, December 27, 1998 Round 9, Surhuisterveen, Netherlands, December 30, 1998 Round 10, Wetzikon, Switzerland, January 24, 1998 Round 11, Harnes, France, February, 7, 1998 Race Report20-year old Belgian Bart Wellens won the 7th Round of the Superprestige Trophy cyclocross held in wet conditions in the Belgian town of Hoogstraten. Hoogstraten is in the north of Belgium, within a few kilometres of the Dutch border (north-east of Antwerp). The aggressive Wellens who has been runner-up to compatriat Sven Nijs in the World Under-23 Championships for the last two years, countered the attack by Nijs and Pontoni at the start.He is the youngest winner of a Superprestige round. For Wellens, the victory was inevitable. In Overijse, he came third and then last Sunday, in the World Cup event at Koksijde he was second. Yesterday it was striking the gold. It was not, however, his first victory at Hoogstraten. On the same parcours he has won two national espoirs championships. The victory in this race though capped off some bad luck over the last 10 days. At Overijse, he was the best rider by far but bad luck constrained him. At Koksijde he was the most aggressive but finally tired and succumbed to the final onslaught of World Champion Mario De Clercq. Wellens said after the race: "While it did not work on Sunday, I decided to continue with the same tactic. At the start, I matched the enormous attack from Pontoni and Nijs, then I took off with the other two in my track. I always like to do this if I feel strong - straight ahead and don't look back. By the half way mark, there was no doubt that his hammering tactics were working. Wellens had clearly a large gap and enough to win. But in the final round he relaxed and maintained a respectable distance between himself and the pursuing riders. Only Nijs could really follow but even he cracked. Groenendaal, Nijs and Pontoni tried to regroup but each time they attacked out of the chasing bunch the others (Daelmans, Van der Poel and Vervecken) reacted. On the final lap, as Wellens slowed a little, Nijs, Pontoni and Vervecken made a break and sprinted for second. "This was a good win. But I would have liked to have won in Koksijde or Overijse. They are the classic races whereas the Superprestige races are less of an honour. Perhaps on Sunday in Diegem I can add a top race to my palmares. The parcours there suits me too." While Wellens blitzed the field, Sven Nijs kept the pressure on him for two laps. Nijs maintained his leadership of the overall points after 7 races but has two riders breathing down his neck. The young rider from Baal rode like an arrow at the start in a blistering attack accompanied by the Italian Daniele Pontoni. They didn't expect Wellens to follow so closely. Nijs told the press afterwards: "It was more an appearance of strength. Bart though was faster than I was. He was the best today. I was happy that Mario De Clercq, who was closest to me in the Superprestige Trophy points, did not score many points. I tried really hard to win the sprint for second to maximise the points from the race. But I am still 18 points ahead of Bart that that is not so bad." Round 7, Hoogstraten1. Bart Wellens (Bel) 1.04.17 2. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 0.27 3. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 0.27 4. Sven Nijs (Bel) 0.27 5. Adri van der Poel 0.39 6. Arne Daelmans (Bel) 0.46 7. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 1.04 8. Radomir Simunek 1.14 9. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 1.15 10. Ben Berden (Bel) 1.15 11. Wim de Vos (Ned) 12. Marc Janssens (Bel) 2.00 13. Mario de Clercq (Bel) 2.29 14. Tom van Noppen (Bel) 15. David Willemsens (Bel) Super Prestige Trophy Standings after Round 7:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total
1. Sven Nijs (Bel) 15 14 15 15 15 10 12 96
2. Bart Wellens (Bel) 0 13 12 13 12 13 15 78
3. Adri van der Poel (Ned) 12 10 1 11 13 11 11 69
4. Mario de Clercq (Bel) 13 15 14 0 10 14 3 69
5. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 11 7 8 4 9 15 14 68
6. Richard Groenendaal (Bel) 14 12 4 14 3 12 9 68
7. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 0 5 9 7 11 9 8 49
8. Ben Berden (Bel) 5 9 7 8 8 6 6 49
9. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 7 11 0 9 0 8 7 42
10. Marc Janssens (Bel) 9 8 3 12 0 5 4 41
11. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 8 0 0 5 14 0 13 40
12. Arne Daelmans (Bel) 0 0 5 6 0 7 10 28
13. Wim de Vos (Ned) 0 0 13 10 0 0 5 28
14. Peter Willemsens (Bel) 10 0 10 0 0 0 0 20
15. Maarten Nijland (Ned) 3 1 2 2 5 4 0 17
16. Tom van Noppen (Bel) 0 3 6 0 0 2 2 13
17. Gretinus Gommers (Ned) 0 0 11 1 0 0 0 12
18. Luca Bramati (Ita) 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 7
19. Gerben De Kneght (Ned) 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 6
20. David Bertoni (Ita) 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 6
21. Danny de Bie (Bel) 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 6
22. Peter van den Abeele (Bel) 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 6
23. Paul Herijgers (Bel) 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
24. David Willemsens (Bel) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 5
25. Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 4
26. Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4
27. Robert Glajza (Svk) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
28. Igor Tavella (Ita) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
|