ReportThe 8th round of the SuperPrestige Trophy was fought out in Wetzikon, Switzerland on Sunday. Italian World Champion, 31-year old Daniele Pontoni, who is under a cloud after a second drug test confirmed the first findings of cocaine in his urine, started because the UCI nor the Italian Federation is yet to ban him. Whatever happened to two positives and your out? Seems the Italians have different ways of doing business. Find two positives then work out how you can avoid the suspension!!While he started he finished in the middle of the pack. He stated that he wanted to do a DNA test because he cannot believe that he had cocaine in his body. Anyway, as to the race, veteran Dutch rider Adri van der Poel won from Richard Groenendaal in a solo effort. Groenendaal and De Clercq were second and third. Adri van der Poel seemed to be hitting form at the right time given his goal is to win in Denmark next weekend in the World Championships. Conditions were terrible at Wetzikon with heavy snow making an already mud-laden track very tough going indeed. Adri van der Poel was powerful from the flag and only Groenendaal and Espoirs World Champion, Belgian Sven Nijs could keep up with him. Nijs kept with van der Poel for two laps and was dropped as they neared the end of the second lap. Groenendaal was unlucky on lap 3, falling and never being able to reestablish contact with van der Poel. Groenendaal finished around one minute behind Adri van der Poel with Belgian Mario de Clercq continuing his good form from Heerlen (World Cup race the weekend previous) and finished third. Belgian riders swamped the top 10 with 5 of them placing. With only one race left in the SuperPrestige competition, Adri van der Poel is now only 9 points adrift of leader Richard Groenendaal. Milan is next. Results1. Adri van der Poel (Ned) Rabobank 1.00.20 2. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 1.02 3. Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans 1.28 4. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 2.10 5. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 2.23 6. Sven Nijs (Bel) 2.42 7. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 2.51 8. Alex Moonen (Bel) 2.58 9. Roland Schätti (Swi) 3.24 10. Dieter Runkel (Swi) 11. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 4.25 12. Beat Wabel (Swi) 13. Jiri Pospisil (Cze) 14. Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 15. Patrick Blum (Swi) ... 22. Gretinus Gommers (Ned) 6.40 26. Erik Boezewinkel 7.40 Overall SuperPrestige Standings after Race 8:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
1. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 15 15 15 14 14 15 14 14 -- 116
2. Adri van der Poel (Ned 12 11 14 13 13 14 15 15 -- 107
3. Mario de Clercq (Bel) 9 14 7 9 15 5 9 13 -- 81
4. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 14 7 11 7 5 12 10 12 -- 78
5. Sven Nijs (Bel) -- 13 4 12 11 13 12 10 -- 75
6. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 5 10 -- 8 12 8 5 9 -- 57
7. Bart Wellens (Bel) 11 12 13 -- -- 9 11 -- -- 54
8. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 2 8 -- 15 10 -- 13 5 -- 53
9. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 6 -- 10 6 -- 9 4 11 -- 46
10. Ben Berden (Bel) 4 1 6 11 8 4 6 -- -- 40
11. Wim de Vos (Ned) -- -- 8 10 9 6 -- -- -- 33
12. Marc Janssens (Bel) 7 3 12 -- -- 10 -- -- -- 32
12. Danny de Bie (Bel) 13 -- -- -- -- 11 8 -- -- 32
14. Arne Daelmans (Bel) 8 9 9 -- -- 3 -- -- -- 29
15. Lucio Bramati (Ita) 10 4 1 5 -- 2 2 -- -- 24
16. Alex Moonen (Bel) -- -- 5 -- -- -- 7 8 -- 20
17. Gretinus Gommers (Ned) -- -- -- -- 7 -- 3 -- -- 10
18. Erik Boezewinkel (Ned) 1 5 3 -- -- -- -- -- -- 9
19. Roland Schätti (Swi) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7 -- 7
19. Dominic Arnould (Fra) -- -- -- -- 6 -- 1 -- -- 7
19. Jiri Pospisil (Cze) -- -- -- 4 -- -- -- 3 -- 7
22. K. de Roose (Bel) -- 6 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6
22. Dieter Runkel (Swi) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6 -- 6
24. F. Dall'Oste (Ita) -- -- -- -- 4 -- -- -- -- 4
24. Beat Wabel (Swi) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4 -- 4
24. Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) -- -- -- 2 -- -- -- 2 -- 4
27. G. Bramati (Ita) -- -- -- -- 3 -- -- -- -- 3
27. P. van den Abeele (Bel) 3 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3
27. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) -- -- -- 3 -- -- -- -- -- 3
27. M. Nijland (Ned) -- -- 2 -- -- 1 -- -- -- 3
31. Daniel Bertoni (Ita) -- -- -- -- 2 -- -- -- -- 2
31. R. Lubberman (Ned) -- 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2
33. O. Lukes (Cze) -- -- -- 1 -- -- -- -- -- 1
33. F. Scotti (Ita) -- -- -- -- 1 -- -- -- -- 1
33. Patrick Blum (Swi) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 -- 1
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