Kalmthout course profile
by Jamie Mack
Riders from around the globe will descend on Kalmthout, Belgium, this weekend for the fifth round of the UCI World Cup. Coming out of the previous round in Igorre, Spain, Niels Albert holds the overall lead, but with only a 59-point advantage the competition is still wide open. Consider that the other four riders in the overall top five, Kevin Pauwels, Zdenek Stybar, Francis Mourey and Sven Nys, are separated by less than 10 points, and the weekend will provide some definite excitement.
Nys has been having a strong season, taking a string of GvA Trofee and Superprestige wins. Mourey has been having a tremendous year, including early season domination in the US and a recent win in France, and the speedster is looking to take that extra step up the podium after snagging second behind Niels Albert in the last World Cup in Igorre, Spain. Pauwels and Albert are strong as well and will be looking to demonstrate that they are among the best in the world. Bart Wellens, Eddy Van Ijzendoorn, Joachim Parbo and a number of other riders are in the field and will be looking for a victory to bolster their seasons as well. And, while he’s been notably absent from ’cross courses this season, we can’t count out former world champ Lars Boom, who will also take the start in Kalmthout.
The World Cup and UCI rankings are likely to change coming out of the weekend, as the leader in the World Cup Standings, Zdenek Stybar, is nursing knee problems and is not on the start list in Kalmthout. This will create an opportunity for the other riders in the hunt to not only move themselves up the World Cup ladder, but also to move up in the UCI rankings as well. Stybar is currently the UCI World Leader, but only by 15 points over Nys and 35 points over Niels Albert.
Newly-recrowned national champ Katie Compton will lead the American charge in Kalmthout. She’ll be joined by Sue Butler, who had a great ride in Bend to claim fifth, Nationals bronze medalist Meredith Miller and CXM contributor and regular in the Euro cyclcross peloton Chrstine Vardaros. These women will go up against a stacked field, including reigning world champ Marianne Vos, who’s making her late season run at defending her rainbow stripes, and her Dutch countrywomen Daphny van den Brand and Sanne van Paassen, both of whom will vie for podium spots. Also sure to be in the mix is the Koppenberg queen Helen Wyman, German champ Hanka Kupfernagel, Belgian Sanne Cant and American favorite (but Czech born) Katerina Nash.
The US men will be well represented in Kalmthout with Jonathan Page, the highest ranked US rider in the World Cup standings, and Ryan Trebon, second at the National Championships in Bend, leading the charge for the Americans. Marko LaLonde, Sean Babcock, Ryan Iddings, Ryan Knapp and Brian Matter will also be taking the start in Kalmthout. Page has been having a hit and miss season and is still chasing the results that he knows he is capable of. Trebon has had a solid year, and with his result at Nationals, his fitness may be peaking at the right time heading into the Euro portion of his season. The rest of the US crew may hold some surprises with Babcock and Iddings showing signs of greatness this season.
Not to overlook our neighbors to the north, CXM columnist Craig Richey will lead a trio of Canucks. He’ll be joined by Shaun Adamson and Mike Garrigan.
A full eight-man American squad will line up in the Juniors race, and seven will compete in the U23s. U23 national champ Danny Summerhill will be joined by collegiate champ Zach McDonald, Jerome Tonwsend, Steve Fisher, Chris Hurst, Cody Kaiser and Joe Shmalz. Junior national champ Jeff Bahnson will race alongside Bjorn Fox, Cypress Gory, Zane Godby, Andrew Dillman, Gunnar Bergey, Jeremiah Dyer and Kolben Preble. This is the future of American cyclocross, and it’s great to see full teams making the trip to Europe. Stay tuned to CXM to see how they stack up against the world’s best!
With Worlds soon approaching, UCI rankings becomes more important as riders fight for prime starting spots. The US riders will be looking to move up a few spots against some of Europe’s best, including current UCI Leader Zdenek Stybar. The top two ranked Americans, Jeremy Powers in eighth and Tim Johnson in ninth, are not on the start list in Kalmthout, but will be making their way back to Europe soon. While the US season may be dwindling to a close, the European season is just heating up as we prepare for the second half of the 2010-2011 World Cup series.
Kalmthout start list:
Men
Race Nr UCI Code NAME / First Name Team
2 CZE19830906 SIMUNEK Radomir BKCP – POWERPLUS
3 CZE19870725 BAMBULA Ondrej
4 CZE19820919 KASEK David
5 CZE19820322 KYZIVAT Vladimir
6 CZE19820419 ZLAMALIK Martin SUNWEB – REVOR
7 CZE19761020 DLASK Petr TELENET – FIDEA
8 BEL19760617 NYS Sven LANDBOUWKREDIET
9 BEL19860205 ALBERT Niels BKCP – POWERPLUS
10 BEL19840412 PAUWELS Kevin TELENET – FIDEA
11 BEL19820623 AERNOUTS Bart RABOBANK-GIANT OFFROAD TEAM
12 BEL19820519 VANTORNOUT Klaas SUNWEB – REVOR
13 BEL19780810 WELLENS Bart TELENET – FIDEA
14 BEL19850620 VANTHOURENHOUT Dieter BKCP – POWERPLUS
15 BEL19881107 MEEUSEN Tom TELENET – FIDEA
16 BEL19850702 PEETERS Rob TELENET – FIDEA
17 X BEL19810114 VANTHOURENHOUT Sven SUNWEB – REVOR
18 X BEL19850506 VAN DEN BOSCH Tom
19 FRA19801208 MOUREY Francis FDJ
20 FRA19830609 BAZIN Nicolas
21 FRA19830906 CHAINEL Steve BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM
22 FRA19790422 GADRET John AG2R LA MONDIALE
23 FRA19850427 VILLA Romain
24 FRA19781113 COLOMBATTO Laurent
25 FRA19850527 LE CORRE Florian
26 FRA19870411 PERROT Guillaume
27 SUI19750402 HEULE Christian
28 SUI19850517 WILDHABER Marcel SCOTT-SWISSPOWER MTB-RACING
29 SUI19860408 LANG René
30 SUI19880504 WINTERBERG Lukas
31 SUI19830306 ZAHNER Simon BMC RACING TEAM
32 ITA19820808 FRANZOI Enrico BKCP – POWERPLUS
33 ITA19821211 BIANCO Marco
34 ITA19861107 URSI Fabio
35 ITA19870420 PONTA Marco
36 NED19751211 DE KNEGT Gerben RABOBANK-GIANT OFFROAD TEAM
37 NED19860718 VAN AMERONGEN Thijs
38 NED19850321 VAN IJZENDOORN Eddy
39 NED19850416 VAN LEEUWEN Patrick
40 NED19880712 HUENDERS Mitchell
41 NED19800616 AL Thijs
42 NED19790629 VAN GILS Wilant
43 NED19830401 VAN HEESWIJK Roy
44 X NED19851230 BOOM Lars RABOBANK
45 X NED19770423 SCHMITZ Bram VAN VLIET EBH ELSHOF
46 USA19810305 TREBON Ryan KONA
47 USA19760916 PAGE Jonathan
48 USA19780606 MATTER Brian
49 USA19840513 KNAPP Ryan
50 USA19820713 LALONDE Mark
51 USA19840428 IDDINGS Ryan
52 USA19830805 BABCOCK Sean
53 ESP19791102 RUIZ DE LARRINAGA IBANEZ Javier
54 ESP19830807 MURGOITIO REKALDE Egoitz
55 ESP19790729 SUAREZ FERNANDEZ Isaac
56 ESP19870119 CANDELAS CABALLERO Alberto
57 ESP19730723 SUAREZ FERNANDEZ Antonio
58 GBR19860618 FIELD Ian
59 SVK19880115 GAVENDA Robert TELENET – FIDEA
60 GER19871119 WALSLEBEN Philipp BKCP – POWERPLUS
61 GER19871120 PFINGSTEN Christoph VAN VLIET EBH ELSHOF
62 GER19820318 SICKMUELLER Johannes
63 GER19880223 WEBER Sascha
64 GER19860326 VOSS Paul TEAM MILRAM
65 LUX19800225 BAUSCH Gusty
66 LUX19780112 FLAMMANG Tom
67 DEN19741118 PARBO Joachim
68 DEN19810331 NIELSEN Tommy
69 JPN19800104 TSUJIURA Keiichi
70 JPN19880901 TAKENOUCHI Yu
71 POL19830506 GIL Mariusz
72 POL19790609 CICHOSZ Marek LEGIA – FELT
73 CAN19840624 RICHEY Craig
74 CAN19811024 GARRIGAN Mike
75 CAN19860327 ADAMSON Shaun
76 SWE19820602 DARVELL Magnus
Women
1 NED19870513 VOS Marianne NEDERLAND BLOEIT
2 NED19780406 VAN DEN BRAND Daphny
3 NED19881027 VAN PAASSEN Sanne
4 NED19901212 DE BOER Sophie
5 NED19880615 VAN RIJEN Linda
6 NED19780310 GRIMBERG Arenda
7 NED19670206 HORMES Reza
8 NED19930708 STULTIENS Sabrina
9 NED19911230 VAN NIEUWPOORT Tessa
10 NED19920305 VERBERNE Lana
11 X NED19940224 VAN LEIJEN Helena
12 FRA19870118 MANI Caroline VIENNE FUTUROSCOPE
13 FRA19790708 FERRIER-BRUNEAU Christel VIENNE FUTUROSCOPE
14 FRA19781025 TRIQUET-CLAUDE Nadia VIENNE FUTUROSCOPE
15 FRA19920210 FERRAND PREVOT Pauline
16 FRA19930202 COLIN Eva
17 FRA19890901 MOREL PETITGIRARD Amélie
18 GER19740319 KUPFERNAGEL Hanka
19 GER19900508 SCHWEIZER Sabrina
20 GER19891212 ZWICK Martina
21 GER19851216 BRANDAU Elisabeth
22 GER19711227 SPITZ Sabine CENTRAL PRO TEAM
23 USA19781203 COMPTON Katherine
24 USA19710912 BUTLER Susan
25 USA19731226 MILLER Meredith TIBCO – TO THE TOP
26 USA19690719 VARDAROS Christine
27 GBR19810304 WYMAN Helen KONA
28 GBR19861230 HARRIS Nikki
29 GBR19841201 DAY Gabriella
30 CZE19771209 NASH Katerina LUNA PRO TEAM
31 CZE19830420 HAVLIKOVA Pavla
32 CZE19930813 MIKULASKOVA Martina
33 JPN19800810 TOYOOKA Ayako
34 BEL19901008 CANT Sanne
35 BEL19840826 VANDERBEKEN Joyce
36 BEL19751210 BOBER Nancy
37 BEL19800916 VAN LOY Ellen
38 BEL19751111 DE BIE – LEYTEN Nicole
39 BEL19770624 WILLEMS Gertie
40 BEL19930701 NIJNS Nathalie
41 BEL19891017 ARNOUTS Anne REDSUN CYCLING TEAM
42 ITA19820704 BRESCIANI Daniela
43 ITA19860721 BRESCIANI Nicoletta
44 SUI19890707 ACHERMANN Jasmin FISCHER-BMC
45 DEN19870404 HANSEN Nikoline
46 DEN19880118 KLOPPENBURG Margriet Helena HITEC PRODUCTS UCK
47 LUX19870225 MAJERUS Christine ESGL 93 – GSD GESTION
48 LUX19620720 GODART Suzie FENIXS – PETROGRADETS
49 AUT19710929 RIEDL Elke
50 NZL19800509 WHITSON Genevieve
