Mourey Solos to Men’s Victory and Compton Takes Another Win, Antonneau in Seventh at Namur World Cup – Full Report/Results

French National Champion Mourey took a commanding win in front of all the favorites in Namur. © Cyclocross Magazine

NAMUR, BELGUIM – The first World Cup of Christmas week took place today in Namur, with Francis Mourey (FDJ.fr) soloing to the win, raising him into sixth place in the overall standings.

From the beginning, Mourey asserted himself, taking the holeshot and leading the race into the middle of the second lap, followed closely by Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Powerplus).

After having crashed yesterday in Essen, World Champion Sven Nys (Crelan-KDL Cycling) had a slow start, likely assessing his condition in the early stages of the race, dropping to 36th place at one point.

World Cup series leader Lars van der Haar (Rabobank Development Team), who was in seventh position at the time, took a serious tumble in the middle of the second lap, going over the handlebars on a steep and slippery descent. Although van der Haar continued on immediately, the spill cost him valuable positioning.

It was a slippery, treacherous day at the 2013 World Cup in Namur. © Cyclocross Magazine

By lap three, the top riders had begun to sort themselves out with Switzerland’s Julien Tramarcaz (BMC Mountain Bike Racing) moving into the lead position.  Following right behind was Walsleben, Mourey, Thijs van Amerongen (AA Drink) and Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napoleon Games), followed close behind by Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus).

Mourey once gain took to the front, and by lap six had begun to gain an advantage over the other lead riders. Meanwhile, a recovered Van der Haar moved into seventh position just behind Albert, with Nys closing in.

In the penultimate lap, after having come back from the tail end of the race, Nys chose to run the last part of a long, off-camber section moving up into second position in the process.

The gap to Mourey had increased to 26 seconds by the beginning of the last lap with Nys, Albert and Vantornout forming the chase. With Nys heading the group and gaining an advantage, a mistake threw him off balance, rolling into the barrier on the same spot he had used to move up a lap earlier. The World Champ’s low line choice was surprising, given the trouble everyone else had with that line when Nys stayed high and passed everyone on foot.

With that, Vantornout took over second position, holding it through the finish. Albert finished third followed by Nys and Van der Haar, who managed to claw his way into fifth position to retain his overall series lead.

In the men’s race on the North American front, Jonathan Page (Fuji-Spy-Competitive Cyclist) took home 20th place, while fellow statesman Jeremy Durrin (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) took 53rd. Aaron Schooler (48th) and Mike Garrigan (51st) represented the Canadian contingent.

Compton was in command on the muddy, technical Namur World Cup course. © Cyclocross Magazine

On the women’s side, Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) took another win, while Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Giant) made her return to racing and took 2nd, 40 seconds behind Compton. Nikki Harris rounded out the podium in third.

Italian Cyclocross Champion Eva Lechtner (Team Colnago Sudtirol) took to the front early, followed closely by Vos and Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team). Within the first few minutes, however the cards had shuffled as a series of mistakes by Wyman, including a crash of one of the descents, set her back, noticabley stunned from the tumble.

By the third lap Vos had gained the advantage, leading by 15 seconds over Compton with Harris close behind. But just as fast as Vos had gained ground, she began to go into the red, allowing Compton to catch and pass her on a steep run up. “I was really surprised, I caught her on one of the run ups and just kept things consistent,” said Compton. “I just rode smart and didn’t make any mistakes.”

Although Vos began to up her pace later in the race, she was unable to bridge back to Compton, finishing second, seven seconds ahead of Harris.

The win should be a good boost to Compton’s confidence leading into the World Championships, but as history has shown, Vos typically builds from her return to cyclocross to peak form at Worlds.

2013 Namur World Cup: Vos, Compton and Harris. © Cyclocross Magazine

The truly noteworthy factor of the day—apart from the return of Vos—was the American women’s results, including an amazing seventh place for the young Kaitie Antonneau. And she wasn’t alone. A whole host of American women were in the results, compared to a mere two US men in the Elite Men’s field. Meredith Miller took 12th, Crystal Anthony, 14th, Elle Anderson 20th, right behind Caroline Mani, Mo Bruno Roy in 23rd, Nicole Duke in 30th, and Courtenay McFadden in 42nd in the 50-woman deep field.

For US Junior and U23 results, check out the results (along with full men’s and women’s results) after the gallery.

2013 World Cup at Namur Photo Gallery:

Namur World Cup 2013 Elite Men Results

Namur World Cup 2013 Elite Women Results

Namur World Cup 2013 Junior Results

Namur World Cup 2013 U23 Results