Nys Crashes, Pauwels Pips Stybar in World Cup Heusden-Zolder UPDATED: Full report, Photo Gallery

In an exciting finale between the top three racers in the World Cup standings, what should have been a three-way sprint between Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), Zdenek Stybar (Quickstep) and Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) dropped to two when a well-positioned Nys slid out on the final corner. Stybar, who had been attacking hard in the final lap to distance his rivals, led the charge to the line. The svelte Pauwels, however, kept in Stybar’s slipstream until the last possible moment, launching around the World Champion and taking the win by barely a bike length. Crossing the line, Stybar, who seemed to have had Nys and Pauwels on the ropes, slammed his hand on his bars in disappointment. Nys rolled across the line a few seconds behind.

The racers lined up at Zolder on a chilly, wet and slippery Boxing Day. Klaas Vantournout took the holeshot on the muddy course, which saw Lars Boom taking the win last year. Vantournout was followed by teammate Pauwels, but Nys, aware of how close the World Cup standings are, took a risky dive for the inside corner and split the two riders up. He would stay glued to Pauwels for the remainder of the race. At the end of the first lap, it was Nys leading Pauwels, followed by Boom and a long string of riders. World Champion Zdenek Stybar launched himself across the line and instantly gained a considerable gap. The move was cut short, however, when he slid out on a muddy 180, allowing the chase to catch up to him.

Nys then took control of the race, pushing hard and immediately creating the separation that would remain for the remainder of the race. Pauwels was able to claw back to Nys’ wheel, but a bobble by Lars Boom gave the two leaders a gap. Stybar was not to be left out, however, as he took over the chase, Boom and Bart Wellens trying to stay on his wheel. Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), whose spectacular effort at SuperPrestige Diegem last week saw him with the win, didn’t seem to have the legs today, and was unable to respond to the accelerations of Stybar’s chase.

Stybar’s effort paid off, and a final push by Boom brought the lead group to five riders: Nys, Pauwels, Boom, Wellens and Stybar. Behind them, Albert drove a chase group, but would never reconnect with the leaders. At the front, Wellens was the first to crack, slipping back with six laps to go as Pauwels took over the charge at the front. A bobble by Nys gave Pauwels a gap that he did his best to take advantage of, and the subsequent chase by Nys, who unleashed an incredible burst of energy to re-connect with his rival, popped Boom from the leader’s group.

With four laps to go, the race was down to the three World Cup leaders, Nys in the white leader’s jersey, Stybar in the white World Champion jersey, and Kevin Pauwels in the red and white of Sunweb-Revor. Behind the trio, a large chase group led by Niels Albert, Lars Boom, and Klaas Vantornout struggled to regain contact with the leaders. They never would.

The slippery course gave each of the leaders trouble, particularly on the long off-camber, which Stybar managed best each lap but saw all the riders dismounting by the final lap. Over the next few laps, the three changed leads, attacked, and clawed back on, each failing to gain more than a few bike lengths on the others. Of the three, Stybar looked the most visibly exhausted, and with three laps to go looked ready to crack after Nys launched himself up the run-up. The World Champion shook his head, however, and found the reserves to get back onto Pauwels’ wheel, rest for a moment, and then launched an attack of his own.

Indeed, from then on it seemed to be Stybar’s race, as he led through the corners, slowing down to force Pauwels and Nys to brake and then accelerating hard out of the turns, at one point gaining nearly four bike lengths and leaving Pauwels dangling dangerously off the back. With half a lap to go, Stybar was still punching aggressively, doing his best to shake off the other two.

As the riders neared the final corner, however, the odds of victory swung into Nys’ favor, as the Belgian, who has proven his sprint again and again, sat third wheel. Nys, knowing his record of out-sprinting Pauwels and aware that Stybar had burned a lot of matches trying to escape, must have felt confident for the win. However, as the camera trained its eye down the finishing corridor, Stybar shot around the tight corner, followed closely by Pauwels, and then a shocked Sven Nys sliding on his side, watching the other two riders sprint for victory.

Stybar threw everything he had left at the line, and for a moment it seemed that it would be enough, but Pauwels slid out of the slipstream and kicked hard, snatching the win from Stybar, who could only smack his handlebars in disappointment.

Pauwels’ win over Nys gave him enough points to take back the overall World Cup lead, and now has ten points over the Belgian. Stybar remains at third in the overall standings.

U23 Race – American Zach McDonald takes 3rd

In the U23 race, American Zach McDonald took his best World Cup placement, crossing the line, with a wheelie, in third place. McDonald came in behind Belgian Wietse Bosmans and Tim Merlier.

It’s a fantastic finish for McDonald, who is in Europe as part of the Euro Cross Camp, run by Geoff Proctor. Another worthy ride was Logan Owen and Andrew Dillman, who took fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Junior race.

Photo Gallery by Bart Hazen:

Results:

Elite Men:

2011 UCI Cyclocross World Cup Zolder Elite Men Results

Rank	Name	Nat.	Result
1	Kevin PAUWELS	BEL	1:03:44
2	Zdenek STYBAR	CZE	1:03:44
3	Sven NYS	BEL	1:04:04
4	Klaas VANTORNOUT	BEL	1:04:16
5	Tom MEEUSEN	BEL	1:04:19
6	Bart WELLENS	BEL	1:04:22
7	Lars BOOM	NED	1:04:32
8	Niels ALBERT	BEL	1:04:40
9	Steve CHAINEL	FRA	1:04:43
10	Radomir SIMUNEK	CZE	1:04:44
11	Bart AERNOUTS	BEL	1:04:48
12	Marcel WILDHABER	SUI	1:04:50
13	Simon ZAHNER	SUI	1:04:52
14	Aurelien DUVAL	FRA	1:04:59
15	Thijs VAN AMERONGEN	NED	1:05:05
16	Julien TARAMARCAZ	SUI	1:05:07
17	Christoph PFINGSTEN	GER	1:05:07
18	Gerben DE KNEGT	NED	1:05:08
19	Mariusz GIL	POL	1:05:08
20	Dieter VANTHOURENHOUT	BEL	1:05:10
21	Thijs AL	NED	1:05:10
22	Matthieu BOULO	FRA	1:05:11
23	Marcel MEISEN	GER	1:05:12
24	Martin ZLAMALIK	CZE	1:05:34
25	Jonathan PAGE	USA	1:05:41
26	Twan VAN DEN BRAND	NED	1:05:49
27	Philipp WALSLEBEN	GER	1:05:50
28	Niels WUBBEN	NED	1:06:07
29	Christian HEULE	SUI	1:06:11
30	Enrico FRANZOI	ITA	1:06:14
31	Marco BIANCO	ITA	1:06:21
32	Tijmen EISING	NED	1:06:34
33	Elia SILVESTRI	ITA	1:06:36
34	Karel HNIK	CZE	1:06:38
35	Cristian COMINELLI	ITA	1:06:42
36	Jiri POLNICKY	CZE	1:06:53
37	Timothy JOHNSON	USA	1:06:59
38	Vladimir KYZIVAT	CZE	1:07:18
39	Mitchell HUENDERS	NED	1:07:41
40	Ian FIELD	GBR	1:07:50

U23:

2011 UCI Cyclocross World Cup Zolder U23 Results

Rank	Name	Nat.	Result
1	Wietse BOSMANS	BEL	50:21:00
2	Tim MERLIER	BEL	50:39:00
3	Zach MCDONALD	USA	51:10:00
4	Laurens SWEECK	BEL	51:14:00
5	Jens ADAMS	BEL	51:15:00
6	Kenneth HANSEN	DEN	51:16:00
7	David VAN DER POEL	NED	52:12:00
8	Emiel DOLFSMA	NED	52:15:00
9	Michael VANTHOURENHOUT	BEL	52:42:00
10	Bart DE VOCHT	BEL	52:58:00
11	Ingmar UYTDEWILLIGEN	BEL	53:00:00
12	Alexis CARESMEL	FRA	53:05:00
13	Maxim PANIS	BEL	53:22:00
14	Yannick ECKMANN	GER	53:25:00
15	Hendrik SWEECK	BEL	53:30:00
16	Dylan PAGE	SUI	54:20:00
17	Raf RISBOURG	BEL	54:21:00
18	Jeffrey MELLEMANS	BEL	54:41:00
19	Lorenzo PEPERMANS	BEL	55:13:00
20	Jelle CANT	BEL	55:21:00
21	Felix COTƒ BOUVETTE	CAN	56:32:00
22	Andrew HARGROVES	GBR	56:56:00
23	John DE SCHUTTER	BEL	57:44:00
24	Kenny MAES	BEL
25	Daniel GEROW	USA
26	Kolben PREBLE	USA
27	Kiernan ORANGE	CAN
28	Niels VERDIJCK	BEL
29	Birger VANDAEL	BEL

Junior Men:

2011 UCI Cyclocross World Cup Zolder Junior Results

Rank	Name	Nat.	Result
1	Mathieu VAN DER POEL	NED	43:57:00
2	Quentin JAUREGUI	FRA	44:44:00
3	Daan HOEYBERGHS	BEL	45:00:00
4	STAN WIJKEL	NED	45:03:00
5	Logan OWEN	USA	45:04:00
6	Andrew DILLMAN	USA	45:31:00
7	Erik KRAMER	NED	45:41:00
8	Nicolas CLEPPE	BEL	45:47:00
9	Michal PALUTA	POL	46:06:00
10	Martijn BUDDING	NED	46:30:00
11	Curtis WHITE	USA	46:33:00
12	Ben BOETS	BEL	46:34:00
13	Jan BREZNA	CZE	47:07:00
14	Jelto VEROFT	BEL	47:14:00
15	Tobin ORTENBLAD	USA	47:42:00
16	Sam O'KEEFE	USA	47:58:00
17	Jelle VAN DEN DRIES	BEL	48:02:00
18	Richard Cypress GORRY	USA	48:42:00
19	Hugo ROBINSON	GBR	49:44:00
20	Zane GODBY	USA	50:24:00
21	Luke HALEY	USA
22	Jorne KOCKAERTS	BEL
23	Lander JESPERS	BEL