Albert took to the front after a slow start. © Bart Hazen
Cyclocross Superprestige #2 – Hoogstraten
HOOGSTRATEN, Belgium. World Champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) won the second race of the Superprestige in Hoogstraten, his eighth victory of the season. In a race pummeled by heavy rain, the prince of Belgian cyclocross beat Czech champion Zdenek Stybar (Fidea) and Belgian champion Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago). Kevin Pauwels (Telnet-Fidea) and Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Projob) finished in fourth and fifth places.
Czech Martin Zlamalik (Auto Hasse) took the holeshot, with Albert giving chase from fifteenth place after missing his start. In the second lap, Albert bridged up to the break, only to go down again.
Up front, Albert’s teammate Radomir Simunek took the lead from Zlamalik. As the rain turned the course into a mudslide, both Nys and Pauwels crashed and had to fight back from outside the top 20.
Niels Albert takes a SuperPrestige win in Hoogstraten. ©Bart Hazen
Albert would rejoin the break and the World Champion didn’t wait for the chasing Nys and immediately attacked with Stybar following.
Albert dropped Stybar on the hilly course, holding a ten second lead Despite a gap of 40 seconds behind Albert, Nys moved from the back to battle for third place with Vantornout, Pauwels, Simunek, Gerben de Knegt (Rabobank) and Erwin Vervecken (Fidea).
Going into the penultimate lap, Albert held his ten second lead on Stybar and put in a flawless finish. Nys proved to be the strongest of the rest and dropped his companions for third place.
With this win, Albert took the overall Superprestige lead from Nys, with Stybar following in third. Albert’s position is tenuous, as Nys is behind by one point and Stybar by two.
The next Superprestige race will be on November 15 in Asper-Gavere, Belgium.
Photo gallery:
Full Results:
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | PaR | |
| 1 | Niels ALBERT | BEL | 24 | 1:03:36 | 60 | |
| 2 | Zdenek STYBAR | CZE | 25 | 1:03:52 | 40 | |
| 3 | Sven NYS | BEL | 34 | 1:04:48 | 30 | |
| 4 | Kevin PAUWELS | BEL | 26 | 1:05:04 | 25 | |
| 5 | Klaas VANTORNOUT | BEL | 28 | 1:05:24 | 20 | |
| 6 | Gerben DE KNEGT | NED | 35 | 1:05:34 | 18 | |
| 7 | Radomir SIMUNEK | CZE | 27 | 1:05:58 | 16 | |
| 8 | Erwin VERVECKEN | BEL | 38 | 1:06:08 | 14 | |
| 9 | Bart AERNOUTS | BEL | 28 | 1:06:09 | 12 | |
| 10 | Dieter VANTHOURENHOUT | BEL | 25 | 1:06:09 | 10 | |
| 11 | Rob PEETERS | BEL | 25 | 1:06:22 | 8 | |
| 12 | Jan VERSTRAETEN | BEL | 32 | 1:06:42 | 6 | |
| 13 | Wilant VAN GILS | NED | 31 | 1:06:49 | 4 | |
| 14 | Thijs VAN AMERONGEN | NED | 24 | 1:06:49 | 2 | |
| 15 | Martin ZLAMALIK | CZE | 28 | 1:06:59 | 1 | |
| 16 | Philipp WALSLEBEN | GER | 23 | 1:07:42 | ||
| 17 | Ben BERDEN | BEL | 35 | 1:08:10 | ||
| 18 | Ian FIELD | GBR | 24 | 1:08:27 | ||
| 19 | Tom VAN DEN BOSCH | BEL | 25 | 1:08:27 | ||
| 20 | Quentin BERTHOLET | BEL | 23 | 1:08:37 | ||
| 21 | Jody CRAWFORTH | GBR | 30 | 1:08:44 | ||
| 22 | Marco BIANCO | ITA | 28 | 1:08:53 | ||
| 23 | Tim VAN NUFFEL | BEL | 29 | 1:09:25 | ||
| 24 | Gusty BAUSCH | LUX | 30 | |||
| 25 | Marek CICHOSZ | POL | 31 | |||
| 26 | Zoltan TISZA | HUN | 43 |
