Nys, Van den Brand Wrap Up World Cup Season With Wins – Updated: Full Photo Gallery

Daphny Van den Brand and Sven Nys won the Elite Women’s and Elite Men’s races in Milan in hotly contested races, with each taking close victories over their biggest rivals. Full reports below by Bart Hazen of the Daily Peloton with photos from CXM star shutterbug Joe Sales. Also, for full details on how the races went down, see our blow-by-blow commentary here.

Women’s Race
The final Women’s World Cup of the season in Milan (Italy) was a battle between two giants: arch rivals Dutch Champion Daphny van den Brand and German and World Champion Hanka Kupfernagel. Van den Brand was the strongest on the fast course in Milan and demonstrated her strength by beating Hanka Kupfernagel by two seconds. French Champion Maryline Salvetat completed the podium and showed that she is ready for the World Championships in Hoogerheide as well next week. American Katherine Compton, winner of the Koksijde, Nommay and Roubaix World Cups didn’t take part in Italy, instead preparing at her European base for the Worlds.

The braided Daphny van den Brand immediately attacked from the start and created a sizable gap on her rivals. In the next laps World Champion Hanka Kupfernagel counter attacked and was able to bridge across to the front together with another former World Champion Maryline Salvetat.

In the final Salvetat struggled with the pace of the two giants, and finally got dropped and finished as third. In the final lap, Van den Brand took advantage of her superior technical ability on the course’s challenging obstacles and created a few lengths on Kupfernagel. The gap would prove to be enough to take her second World Cup win of the season. Her previous World Cup win was the first World Cup of the season in Kalmthout (Belgium).

American Rachel Lloyd had one of her best finishes, landing in fifth, 1:06 down on Van den Brand. Wendy Simms (14^th), Susan Butler (21^st), and Natash Eliott (24^th) were the other North Americans in the race.

Hanka Kupfernagel won the 2008/2009 World Cup with a total of 42 points. Daphny van den Brand and Katie Compton were second and third, respectively, with 365 and 270 points.

The scene will now head to Hoogerheide (The Netherlands) for the World Championships. The women’s race will take place on Sunday, February 1.

Elite Men

Sven Nys Sprints to Victory in Milan. Photo by Joe Sales

The final  World Cup of the season in Milano (Italy) was a battle between the usual suspects: World Champion Lars Boom, Belgian Champion Sven Nys, Czech Champion Zdenek Stybar, Niels Albert, Bart Wellens, and Sven Vanthourenhout. In the end Belgian Champion and World Cup winner Sven Nys outsprinted World Champion Boom for the victory with Zdenek Stybar in third.

As usual Thijs Al and Lars Boom took the hole shot on the fast course in Milano. All the stars were present, except for  the Americans, for a final test before the World Championships in Hoogerheide next week.

On a short course, the riders had to do twelve laps. Nobody could dominate the race and in the second half, still a dozen of riders could win the race. Sven Nys, Bart Wellens, Sven Vanthourenhout, Lars Boom, Klaas Vantornout, Niels Albert and even France’s Steve Chainel took all the initiative in the race but were unable to create a decent gap.

The big break stayed together until the final lap when World Champion Lars Boom attacked followed by Nys, Stybar and Albert. But despite the attacks of Boom and also Nys, it ended up in a sprint. Boom started the sprint but Nys surprisingly passed him to take the win in Milano. It was a very important victory for the World Cup Winner and Belgian champion, and good for his morale with an eye on the Worlds next week.

The 2008/2009 World Cup went as expected to Sven Nys. Nys, who secured his win last week in Roubaix, gathered a total of 620 points. Fidea riders Bart Wellens and Zdenek Stybar completed the podium with respectively 502 and 497 points.

The scene will now head to Hoogerheide (The Netherlands) for the World Championships. The women’s race will take place on Sunday, February 1.

Full results and photos below.

Photos:

Full Results:

Men:

Women:

Men – Final World Cup Standings:

1  NYS Sven  LANDBOUWKREDIET – COLNAGO  620
2  WELLENS Bart  FIDEA CYCLING TEAM  502
3  STYBAR Zdenek  FIDEA CYCLING TEAM  497
4  PAUWELS Kevin  FIDEA CYCLING TEAM  472
5  BOOM Lars  RABOBANK  426
6  AL Thijs  —  402
7  VERVECKEN Erwin  REVOR-JARTAZI CYCLINGTEAM  400
8  VANTHOURENHOUT Sven  SUNWEB PRO JOB CYCLING TEAM  386
9  ALBERT Niels  BKCP- POWERPLUS  375
10  VANTORNOUT Klaas  SUNWEB PRO JOB CYCLING TEAM  373
11  AERNOUTS Bart  —  353
12  DE KNEGT Gerben  —  350
13  GROENENDAAL Richard  —  341
14  SIMUNEK Radomir  BKCP- POWERPLUS  304
15  DLASK Petr  FIDEA CYCLING TEAM  280
16  MOUREY Francis  FRANÇAISE DES JEUX  272
17  HEULE Christian  —  260
18  BAZIN Nicolas  —  237
19  BINA Martin  —  236
20  ZAHNER Simon  —  232
21  VAN GILS Wilant  —  231
22  FONTANA Marco Aurelio  —  210
23  BIANCO Marco  —  210
24  CHAINEL Steve  BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM  206
25  ZLAMALIK Martin  —  206
26  LOPEZ Jonathan  —  197
27  FRANZOI Enrico  LIQUIGAS  194
28  VANTHOURENHOUT Dieter  BKCP- POWERPLUS  194
29  VAN IJZENDOORN Eddy  —  190
30  AUSBUHER Kamil  —  184

Women – Final World Cup Standings
1  KUPFERNAGEL Hanka  —  420
2  VAN DEN BRAND Daphny  —  365
3  COMPTON Katherine  —  270
4  SALVETAT Maryline  —  244
5  FERRIER-BRUNEAU Christel  —  235
6  HAVLIKOVA Pavla  —  229
7  WYMAN Helen  — 206
8  VAN PAASSEN Sanne  —  195
9  ELEMANS Saskia  —  180
10  TRIQUET-CLAUDE Nadia  —  163
11  VOS Marianne  —  158
12  CANT Sanne  —  152
13  MANI Caroline  —  145
14  SIMMS Wendy  —  144
15  LLOYD Rachel  —  117
16  VANDERBEKEN Joyce  —  112
17  INGELS Veerle  —  109
18  HORMES Reza  —  89
19  DAY Gabriella  —  88
20  MELCHERS-VAN POPPEL Mirjam  —  81
21  GRIMBERG Arenda  —  68
22  GOULD Georgia  —  67
23  LECHNER Eva  —  61
24  KYPTOVA Jana  —  50
25  NASH Katerina  —  45
26  FRANCISSEN Abke  —  43
27  ALESSIO Veronica  —  42
28  BUTLER Susan  —  41
29  HARRIS Nikki  —  34
30  VAN RIJEN Linda  —  32