GP de Holland
Zeddam, World Cup Round 5, Cat CDM

Netherlands, January 3, 1999

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

Race Report

Zeddam is in the province of Gelderland, in the central-east of the Netherlands bordering with Germany, and adjoining Brabant to the southwest and Limburg to the south. The weather forecast was for rain clearing in the evening with temperatures ranging from 5 to 13. The forecasters were right and the rain poured down and the parcours was very heavy. The temperatures were at the lower end of the forecast and the so the riders started their 20 kilometre journey in cold and wet conditions.

With only two points separating Nijs and De Clercq at the top of the World Cup points table the fifth round was certain to provide some fireworks. The in-form Italian Daniele Pontoni, also 2 points from leader Nijs on the standings was looking to take points from the young Belgian.

At the gun, the two leading Swiss riders, Thomas Frischknecht and Beat Wabel were unusually prominent and were accompanied by the usual leading riders Sven Nijs and World Champion Mario De Clercq. Belgian Marc Janssens was also in the top group. The order through the first lap was Frischknecht, Nijs then De Clercq with a small gap to Wabel and the three leading Dutch riders Adri Van Der Poel, Wim De Vos and Richard Groenendaal.

Groenendaal was coming back after missing the Super Prestige race at Surhuisterveen on December 30 because he has been carrying a low-level virus, which has seen his form plummet this season.

The second lap saw the same riders in the same positions. It was clear that the Swiss Frischknecht was in good form though and it looked as though Nijs was struggling somewhat to hold the pace. Marc Janssens was also with them and Nijs was falling off.

At the half-way mark, on lap three, Frischknecht attacked and started to build a lead. Neither Janssens nor De Clercq reacted to the move, perhaps thinking that the Swiss rider would not be able to maintain the pressure. Nijs clearly couldn't react. In retrospect, it was obvious that both De Clercq and Janssens were unable to go with the flying Frischknecht.

Behind him, compatriat Beat Wabel was riding strongly and took the lead of the pursuing bunch. His move was designed to break up the tempo of the chasing riders and it worked beautifully. The result was that Frischknecht increased his lead and was soon at 45 seconds.

The gap remained intact and the interest then focused on De Clercq. He knew that he now had the chance to become the World Cup leader if he could secure the second place in the race. He attacked the chasing bunch and it split into a number of smaller bunches with De Clercq and Janssens at the front followed by Wabel, now fading and De Vos. Behind them were Czech Radomir Simunek, Dutchman Maarten Nijland and veteran Adri Van Der Poel.

Nijs, the leader of the rankings, was having a very bad day. He fought all day but was unable to stay with any of these leading groups. Eventually he was only able to come in 9th some at 2.32.

Over the next 2 laps, the two Belgians narrowed the gap to Frischknecht steadily. First it was down to 40, then 35 but on the last lap the Swiss rider accelerated to hold their challenge at bay. He finished the race in 59.17 with an average speed of 20.36.

In the sprint for second-place, it was the more motivated Mario De Clercq who took the honours at 39 seconds to the winner. Janssens was a second further back. Wabel came in alone at 4th.

De Clercq took over the World Cup leadership from Nijs and now has a 21 point lead. Pontoni never figured in the race and finished at 3.03. He remains in third place on the World Cup standings 27 points behind De Clercq.

The final race in the World Cup is the GP de France, which will be held in France at Nonmay on January 17.

Round 5, Zeddam, 20.11 kms:

 1. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) 		       59.17 (avs 20.36)
 2. Mario de Clercq (Bel)			0.39
 3. Marc Janssens (Bel)				0.40
 4. Beat Wabel (Swi)				0.57
 5. Wim de Vos (Ned)				1.06
 6. Adri Van Der Poel (Ned)			1.34
 7. Radomir Simunek  (Cze)			1.46
 8. Maarten Nijland (Ned)			2.03
 9. Sven Nijs (Bel)				2.32
10. Gerben de Knegt (Ned)			2.42
11. Richard Groenendaal (Ned)			2.42
12. Erwin Vervecken (Ned)			2.55
13. Daniele Pontoni (Ita)			3.03
14. Jiri Pospisil  (Cze)			3.08
15. Peter van Santvliet (Bel)			3.28
16. Bram Schmitz (Ned)
17. Petr Dlask  (Cze)
18. Roland Schätti (Swi)
19. Camiel van den Bergh (Ned)
20. Vaclav Jezek (Cze)
21. Malte Urban (Ger)
22. Johan van de Ven (Ned)
23. Beat Blum (Swi)
24. Kamil Ausbuher (Cze)
25. Jens Schwedler (Ger)
26. Damian Kaufka (Pol)
27. Robert Glajza (Svk)
28. Jan Ramsauer (Swi)
29. Roger Hammond (GB)
30. Grzegorz Bodnar (Pol)
31. Wilfried Veldkamp (Ned)

Started: 51

World Cup Standings after Round 5: