Race ReportAt Heerlen on Sunday, in the south of the Netherlands, Richard Groenendaal won the 6th round of the World Cup Cyclo Cross in decisive fashion. It was his third individual victory in the World Cup series this season.His victory in the the 6th and last World Cup race, has sealed his overall superiority in the competition for the 1997/98 season. Van der Poel, who won the World Cup last season, was second in this race and also in the Overall World Cup classification. Mario De Clercq was third and last year's Heerlen winner, Belgian Marc Janssens was fourth, finishing strongly after a poor start. After heavy rain, the circuit was in poor condition - heavy and not helped by the strong wind. The rain continued to fall throughout the day. Four riders cleared out from the peloton from the start - the Dutch supremos Groenendaal and van der Poel, Italian Daniele Pontoni and Belgian Mario De Clercq. By the end of the first lap, Pontoni was dropped and the 3 leaders continued to put the hammer down over the next lap. By the end of lap 2, it was clear that the race was only between these riders. They had a huge gap on the peloton. Richard Groenendaal attacked but his fellow leaders, van der Poel and De Clercq maintained contact with him after closing down a small gap. It was difficult for any single rider to make an impression because of the rain and driving wind. With 2 laps to go, Groenendaal surged again and only van der Poel could respond and he could only maintain a constant distance behind (about 10 seconds). Mario De Clercq was gone and he lost a lot of time to Groenendaal. The positions were maintained over the last lap and Groenendaal took the race easily.
1. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 55.29 2. Adri van der Poel (Ned) Rabobank 0.30 3. Mario de Clercq (Bel) Palmans 0.50 4. Marc Janssens (Bel) 2.37 5. Christophe Mengin (Fra) 2.38 6. Beat Wabel (Swi) 2.38 7. Emmanuelle Magnien (Fra) 8. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 9. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 10. Dieter Runkel (Swi) 11. R. Schätti (Swi) 12. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 13. Martin Nijland (Ned) 14. Ben Berden (Bel) 15. Jan Pospisil (Cze) 16. J. Chiotti (Fra) 17. K. Ausbuher (Cze) 18. P. Dlask (Cze) 19. B. Schmitz (Ned) 20. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 21. Erik Boezewinkel (Ned) 22. Thomas Steiger (Swi) 23. J. Arenz (Ger) 24. K. Nielsen (Den) 25. Patrick Blum (Swi) 26. R. Korzeniewski (Pol) 27. M. Urban (Ger) 28. T. Cabla (Cze) 29. R. Lubberman (Ned) 30. W. Veldkamp (Ned) 31. Daniele Bertoni (Ita) 32. D. Kaufka (Pol) 33. F. Dall'Oste (Ita) and at 1 lap: 34. P. Stevenson (GB) 35. B. Clarke (GB) 36. I. Tavella (Ita) 37. M. Jörgensen (Den) 38. P. v. Bussel (Ned) 39. W. van Gils (Ned) Final World Cup Standings after Race 61. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 50 30 40 50 40 50 260 2. Adri van der Poel (Ned) 40 40 22 40 30 40 212 3. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) -- 18 50 26 50 17 161 4. Marc Janssens (Bel) 14 15 30 30 22 26 137 5. Dieter Runkel (Swi) 18 50 20 10 15 16 129 6. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 26 14 9 20 26 14 109 7. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 19 20 16 18 17 18 108 8. Mario de Clercq (Bel) 20 22 -- 12 16 30 100 9. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 15 26 19 22 10 6 98 10. Jiri Pospisil (Cze) 16 19 17 9 20 11 92 11. Beat Wabel (Swi) 30 -- 7 -- 19 20 76 12. Wim de Vos (Ned) 10 16 18 17 14 -- 75 13. Roland Schätti (Swi) 17 17 13 -- -- 15 62 14. Jerome Chiotti (Fra) -- -- 15 15 11 10 51 15. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) -- 12 26 -- 12 -- 50 16. Lucio Bramati (Ita) 22 7 10 -- -- -- 39 16. Henrik Djernis (Den) -- 6 11 13 9 -- 39 18. Emmanuel Magnien (Fra) -- -- -- -- 18 19 37 19. Ben Berden (Bel) -- -- 12 11 -- 12 35 20. Christophe Morel (Fra) -- 13 14 -- 7 -- 34 21. Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) -- 11 -- -- 8 9 28 22. Dominique Arnould (Fra) 9 -- -- -- 13 -- 24 23. Christophe Mengin (Fra) -- -- -- -- -- 22 22 24. D. Pagnier (Fra) 13 -- 6 -- -- -- 19 24. Sven Nijs (Bel) -- -- -- 19 -- -- 19 26. P. Blum (Swi) 7 10 -- -- -- -- 17 26. O. Lukes (Cze) -- 9 8 -- -- -- 17 28. Bart Wellens (Bel) -- -- -- 16 -- -- 16 29. Arne Daelmans (Bel) -- -- -- 14 -- -- 14 30. Erik Boezewinkel (Ned) 6 -- -- 7 -- -- 13 30. Maartin Nijland (Ned) -- -- -- -- -- 13 13 32. A. Büsser (Swi) 12 -- -- -- -- -- 12 33. C. Duval (Fra) 11 -- -- -- -- -- 11 34. D. Süssemilch (Swi) 8 -- -- -- -- -- 8 34. M. Martinez (Fra) -- -- -- 8 -- -- 8 34. F.J. Nieberding (Ger) -- 8 -- -- -- -- 8 34. P. Dlask (Cze) -- -- -- -- -- 8 8 38. B. Schmitz Ned) -- -- -- -- -- 7 7 39. Gretinus Gommers (Ned) -- -- -- 6 -- -- 6 39. Paul Herijgers (Bel) -- -- -- -- 6 -- 6 Rankings by Country1. Netherlands 69 points 2. Belgium 56 3. Switzerland 46 |