Albert, Compton Victorious at Scheldecross: Van der Poel Finishes Second in Elite Debut

The Elite Men’s podium (L-R):Mathieu Van der Poel (Enertherm-BKCP), 2nd; Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), 1st; Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Powerplus), 3rd. © Bart Hazen

ANTWERP, BELGIUM – Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) won the 2013 edition of Soudal Scheldecross Saturday, making it the second time in his career that he has won the event.

It was a good day overall for BKCP sponsored teams as Junior Cyclocross World Champion Mathieu Van der Poel (Enertherm-BKCP), rode into second place in his first ever Elite race. Also on the podium Saturday was Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Powerplus), with Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) and Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) finishing out the top five spots.

Albert took an early lead but dropped to the back of the large lead group until mid-race. Walsleben took to the front during the second lap but bobbled at the top a run-up, falling to the back of the chain of riders. The head of the race continued to shuffle with Peeters, Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) and Sven Nys (Crelan-KDL) all taking their turns. Van der Poel, meanwhile, steadily moved up among the lead group.

Spectators relying on the live feed to watch the race were in for a disappointment as the broadcast signal went dead during lap four. What they didn’t see was Van der Poel moving into the lead position, in front of Nys for the second half of the lap.

Walsleben made his move soon after, attacking early in lap five, followed by Peeters and Albert to create a gap over the rest of the field. But it was Albert who proved the strongest, riding away from Walsleben and Peeters to cross the line solo.

Not far behind, Van der Poel closed the gap to the two chasers, eventually passing them in pursuit of Albert. The young Dutchman was unable to catch Albert, however, finishing just ten seconds down on the Belgian. Regardless, Van der Poel smiled as he crossed the line as Albert saluted both him and the crowd on the finishing stretch.

“I attacked three laps before the end. During the acceleration I made a small mistake and rode into the pits and had to change bike. If I didn’t I would have been DQ’d,” said Albert. “Once I made it back to the front group I attacked again and with success. In the final lap I saw Mathieu coming closer and I have thought about it to wait but I couldn’t do that. Not towards the organizers and not towards my other teammates, because than I had to wait lots of times. But I am happy with the win and with the full BKCP podium. That’s something unique.”

In the Elite Women’s event Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) took the victory over Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP), with Britain’s Nikki Harris (Telenet-Fidea) finishing third.

Ellen Van Loy (DNCS-Pro 2012) led the race for the first lap with Cant taking over on the sandy section of the course. Cant soon distanced herself from the field but Compton, Van Loy and Harris weren’t far behind.

By lap three Compton had moved to the head of the race, but struggles in the technical sand section allowed Cant to come around briefly regaining the lead. Compton came back to take over the front of the race, opening up a gap on Cant. At one point, however, a lapped rider unwilling to yield her line slowed up the American champion, but it wasn’t enough to matter in the end.

“I knew where I had to attack Sanne on the fast parts of the course, because she always had problems there. In the beginning I had a slow start and had to bridge up to the front but that was going quite easy. Afterwards I had a little recuperation before I launched my attack on the fast section after the sand,” said Compton.

Van Loy finished fourth with Loes Sels (DNCS-Pro 2012) finishing off the top five.

2013 Soudal Scheldecross Antwerp Elite Men's Results

2013 Soudal Scheldecross Antwerp Elite Women's Results