Dutchman Richard Groenendaal has won the final race in the World Cup series held in Heerlen, the Netherlands. The former World Champion beat experienced Belgian Mario De Clercq, after a tough battle. In third place was Bart Wellens, while World Cup leader Sven Nijs finished sixth. Nijs' placing was enough to ensure the overall World Cup victory, which he has won twice now.
Groenendaal showed his form early on in the race, getting off to a good start on the muddy parcours and forcing the Belgians to chase. De Clercq, Wellens and Tom Vannoppen were all prominent, with Erwin Vervecken and Sven Nijs a little further behind. By halfway, Groenendaal still had a 15 second lead over De Clercq, who refused to give in. Nijs was still at one minute, and there he stayed.
Groenendaal eventually took the win in front of plenty of Dutch supporters. It was his biggest win this season and puts him up with the favourites for the World Championships next weekend. 25 year old Nijs rolled across for sixth, earning enough points to hold off De Clercq in the World Cup standings. Nijs has won three out of six World Cup races this season, and will also go into the World's as a top favourite.
Men 1 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 1.00.27 2 Mario De Clercq (Bel) 0.16 3 Bart Wellens (Bel) 0.28 4 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) 0.57 5 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 6 Sven Nijs (Bel) 7 Wim De Vos (Ned) 8 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) 9 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) 10 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) 11 Maarten Nijland (Ned) 12 John Gadret (Fra) 13 Camiel Van Den Bergh (Ned) 14 Beat Wabel (Swi) 15 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) 16 Christian Heule (Swi) 17 Marc Gullikson (USA) 18 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) 19 Geoffrey Clochez (Fra) 20 Ales Mudroch (Cze) 21 Jan Ramsauer (Swi) 22 Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 23 Mike Muller (Ger) 24 David Derepas (Fra) 25 Christiaan Wasmer (Ger) 26 Todd Wells (USA) 27 Vaclaf Metlicka (Svk) 28 Tim Johnson (USA) 29 Thijs Verhagen (Ned) 30 Luca Bramati (Ita) 31 Jens Schwedler (Ger) 32 Radoslaw Czapla (Pol) 33 Mariusz Gil (Pol) 34 Robert Glajza (Svk) 35 Wilant Van Gils (Ned) 1 lap 36 Radec Tichy (Cze) 37 Thomas Christian Bonne (Den) 38 Igor Tavella (Ita) 39 Guido Mutsaars (Ned) 40 Pawel Cierpikowski (Pol) 41 David Rusch (Swi) 42 Valeriano Vandelli (Ita) 43 Jonathan Page (USA) 44 Koen De Kort (Ned) 45 Daniel Olszewski (Ger) 46 Kenny Van Hummel (Ned) 47 Jens Reuker (Ger) 2 laps 48 Bart Dirkx (Ned) 49 Gusty Bausch (Lux) 50 Phillip Dixon (Gbr) 51 Kim Petersen (Den) 52 Yukinaga Kodaira (Jpn) 53 Tommy Nielsen (Den) Women 1 Alison Dunlap (USA) 29.44 2 Debby Mansveld (Ned) 0.21 3 Daphny Van den Brand (Ned) 0.51 4 Corine Dorland (Ned) 1.08 5 Carmen D'Aluisio (USA) 1.31 6 Birgit Hollman (Ger) 1.42 7 Reza Horme-Ravenstijn (Ned) 8 Anja Nobus (Bel) 1.49 9 Ann Grande (USA) 10 Christine Vardaros (USA) 11 Nicolle Leyten (Ned) 2.02 12 Gina Hall (USA) 2.45 13 Bernardine Boog-Rauwerda (Ned) 3.18 14 Hilde Quintens (Bel) 3.23 17 Marianne Vos (Ned) 4.33 19 Elly Van Boxmeer (Ned) 8.48 20 Marieke De Kort (Ned)
1 Sven Nijs (Bel) 282 pts 2 Mario De Clercq (Bel) 270 3 Bart Wellens (Bel) 241 4 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 238 5 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 225 6 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) 150 7 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) 147 8 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) 143 9 Wim De Vos (Ned) 143 10 Maarten Nijland (Ned) 117 11 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) 112 12 Jan Ramsauer (Swi) 78 13 Arnaud Labbe (Fra) 72 14 David Derepas (Fra) 72 15 Beat Wabel (Swi) 68 16 Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 58 17 John Gadret (Fra) 55 18 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) 50 19 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) 46 20 Marc Gullikson (USA) 46 21 Ben Berden (Bel) 45 22 Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 45 23 Dominique Arnould (Fra) 45 24 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) 43 25 Camiel Van Den Bergh (Ned) 43 26 Christian Heule (Swi) 42 27 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) 35 28 David Seco Amundarain (Spa) 29 29 Tim Johnson (USA) 29 30 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) 28 31 Vaclaf Metlicka (Svk) 26 32 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) 24 33 Radec Tichy (Cze) 24 34 Arne Daelmans (Bel) 22 35 Tomas Trunschka (Cze) 22 36 Geoffrey Clochez (Fra) 21 37 Valeriano Vandelli (Ita) 17 38 Thijs Verhagen (Ned) 17 39 David Rusch (Swi) 16 40 Jonathan Page (USA) 16 41 Ales Mudroch (Cze) 16 42 Michael Baumgartner (Swi) 14 43 Igor Tavella (Ita) 14 44 Francis Mourey (Fra) 13 45 Ondrej Lukes (Cze) 12 46 Roger Hammond (GBr) 12 47 Mike Müller (Ger) 11 48 Stefano Toffoletti (Ita) 10 49 Robert Glajza (Svk) 10 50 Matthew Ellis (GBr) 9 51 Martino Fruet (Ita) 7 52 Christiaan Wasmer (Ger) 6 53 Tobias Nestle (Ger) 5 54 David Kasek (Cze) 5 55 Todd Wells (USA) 5 56 Martin Bina (Cze) 4 57 Marc Muller (Swi) 3 58 Pawel Cierpikowski (Pol) 3 59 Piotr Wysmyk (Pol) 2 60 David Collins (GBr) 1 61 Luca Bramati (Ita) 1 Nations 1 Belgium 72 pts 2 Netherlands 53 3 Czech Republic 46