Race ReportItalian Daniele Pontoni won the 5th rand of World Cup Cyclo Cross in the French village of Pont-Chateau after he reversed the domination of the two Dutch riders, Adri van der Poel and Richard Groenendaal.The 5th round was raced in very bad weather - wet with storms. The course at Pont-Chateau is renowned as being extremely difficult at the best of times. The driving rain made the track very heavy. From the start the Czech rider Jan Pospisil cleared out with Richard Groenendaal but this attack was short-lived with Pontoni coming to the fore before the end of the first lap. He was in front of Groenendaal by the first time around the circuit with Swiss Beat Wabel, the German Dieter Runkel, the Czech Radomir Simunek and Adri van der Poel forming a chasing group. For the next three laps the position remained like this. At that point, the Italian attacked hard and dropped the Dutchman who was soon caught by the surging van der Poel (who was entitled to be a little flat after winning 5 races over the previous 7 days). They seemed to work together to bring Pontoni back but were unsuccessful as Pontoni laid down continual surges and actually expanded the gap. Here was a rider on top of his form. In the final circuit, van der Poel attacked Groenendaal who could not respond. The veteran Dutchman's moment of triumph was shortlived though because his bike encountered mechanical problems which forced him to pick it up and run for the finish. Groenendaal passed him to take second place.
1. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 55.29 2. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 0.54 3. Adri van der Poel (Ned) 1.04 4. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 2.15 5. Marc Janssens (Bel) 2.17 6. Jan Pospisil (Cze) 2.32 7. Beat Wabel (Swi) 2.47 8. Emmanuelle Magnien (Fra) 2.53 9. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 3.04 10. Mario De Clercq (Bel) 3.17 11. Dieter Runkel (Swi) 3.26 12. Wim de Vos (Ned) 3.33 13. Dominic Arnould (Fra) 3.40 14. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) 4.03 15. J. Chiotti (Ita) 4.22 16. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 17. Henrik Djernis (Den) 18. K. Ausbuher (Cze) 19. C. Morel (Fra) 20. Paul Herijgers (Bel) 21. O. Lukes (Cze) 22. Christophe Mengin (Fra) 23. D. Pagnier (Fra) 24. R. Schätti (Swi) 25. Gretinus Gommers (Ned) 6.32 26. Thomas Steiger (Swi) 27. J. Arenz (Ger) 28. M. Urban (Ger) 29. C. Duval (Fra) 30. K. Nielsen (Den) 31. T. Nestle (Ger) 32. S. Kupfernagel (Ger) at 1 lap: 33. T. Cabla (Cze) 34. I. Tavella (Ita) 35. J. Almansa (Fra) 36. P. Wedge (Can) 37. S. Loizeau (Fra) 38. R. Glajza (Cze) 39. K. Westwood (GB) 40. R. Suzuki (Jap) World Cup Standings after Race 5Richard Groenendaal needs 13 points in the last race (equivalent to 13th place) to win the World Cup if Adri van der Poel wins.
1. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 50 30 40 50 40 -- 210 2. Adri van der Poel (Ned) 40 40 22 40 30 -- 172 3. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) -- 18 50 26 50 -- 144 4. Dieter Runkel (Swi) 18 50 20 10 15 -- 113 5. Marc Janssens (Bel) 14 15 30 30 22 -- 111 6. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 26 14 9 20 26 -- 95 7. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 15 26 19 22 10 -- 92 8. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 19 20 16 18 17 -- 90 9. J. Pospisil (Cze) 16 19 17 9 20 -- 81 10. Wim de Vos (Ned) 10 16 18 17 14 -- 75 11. Mario de Clercq (Bel) 20 22 -- 12 16 -- 70 12. Beat Wabel (Swi) 30 -- 7 -- 19 -- 56 13. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) -- 12 26 -- 12 -- 50 14. R. Schätti (Swi) 17 17 13 -- -- -- 47 15. J. Chiotti (Fra) -- -- 15 15 11 -- 41 16. Lucio Bramati (Ita) 22 7 10 -- -- -- 39 16. Henrik Djernis (Den) -- 6 11 13 9 -- 39 18. C. Morel (Fra) -- 13 14 -- 7 -- 34 19. Dominic Arnould (Fra) 9 -- -- -- 13 -- 24 20. Ben Berden (Bel) -- -- 12 11 -- -- 23 21. D. Pagnier (Fra) 13 -- 6 -- -- -- 19 21. Sven Nijs (Bel) -- -- -- 19 -- -- 19 21. K. Ausbuher (Cze) -- 11 -- -- 8 -- 19 24. Emmanuelle Magnien (Fra) -- -- -- -- 18 -- 18 25. P. Blum (Swi) 7 10 -- -- -- -- 17 25. O. Lukes (Cze) -- 9 8 -- -- -- 17 27. Bart Wellens (Bel) -- -- -- 16 -- -- 16 28. Arne Daelmans (Bel) -- -- -- 14 -- -- 14 29. Erik Boezewinkel (Ned) 6 -- -- 7 -- -- 13 30. A. Büsser (Swi) 12 -- -- -- -- -- 12 31. C. Duval (Fra) 11 -- -- -- -- -- 11 32. D. Süssemilch (Swi) 8 -- -- -- -- -- 8 32. M. Martinez (Fra) -- -- -- 8 -- -- 8 32. F.J. Nieberding (Ger) -- 8 -- -- -- -- 8 35. Gretinus Gommers (Ned) -- -- -- 6 -- -- 6 35. Paul Herijgers (Bel) -- -- -- -- 6 -- 6 |