by Bart Hazen of Daily Peloton
The fourth race of the Superprestige series in Hamme-Zogge turned out in an very epic race with very snowy weather conditions. The winner in the “Bollekes cross” was no less than Sven Nys. Klaas Vantornout finished in second and Bart Wellens, yesterday the winner in Hasselt, was third. American Jonathan Page finished in twelfth. Due to his win, Nys increases his lead in the overall ranking of the Superprestige.
Dutch Thijs Al had the best started but quickly in the first lap, Sven Nys took over together with Klaas Vantornout.
After one lap, both riders already had a gap of seven seconds on the first chasers led by Sven Vanthourenhout. In the third lap Nys took the initiative with Vantornout staying with him. In the meantime the gap was up to over 20 seconds on a group with Wellens, Peeters, Vanthourenhout and Vervecken.
Halfway the race it became clear that the winner of today’s race was one of the two in front. In the penultimate lap Nys accelerated several times and Vantornout couldn’t keep pace. Behind Vantornout, Vervecken, Vanthourenhout and Wellens were battling for the remaining podium spot.
Going into the final lap Nys had a comfortable lead on his competitors and he didn’t make any mistakes on the way to adding this race to his account. Vantornout finished as second and Wellens who got rid of his compatriots finished as third. In what could be great preparation for the U.S. National Championships, Jonathan Page finished as twelfth at 1:49 behind the Belgian Champion.
The U23 race was won by German rising star Philipp Walsleben. Walsleben who won in Hasselt as well a day ago won by 53 seconds ahead of Van Compernolle and 1:12 on Huenders.
The Junior category was once again dominated by Dutch rider Tijmen Eising. Eising is undefeated in every race he has participated in, won with a slight advantage on Wietse Bosmans and Lars van der Haar.
Next week the World Cup will continue in Koksijde, a sand dune ‘cross course near the Belgian coast.
Result Elite Men
1 Sven Nys (Bel) 59.49
2 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) 0.11
3 Bart Wellens (Bel) 0.24
4 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 0.50
5 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) 1.03
6 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) 1.11
7 Petr Dlask (Cze) 1.12
8 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) 1.31
9 Thijs Al (Ned) 1.38
10 Bart Aernouts (Bel) 1.44
11 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) 1.47
12 Jonathan Page (USA)
13 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) 2.20
14 Rob Peeters (Bel) 2.22
15 Wilant van Gils (Ned) 2.53
16 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) 3.21
17 Ben Berden (Bel) 3.31
18 Tim Van Nuffel (Bel) 3.43
19 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 4.00
20 Radomír Šimunek (Cze) 4.06
21 Thijs Van Amerongen (Ned) 4.07
22 Tom Van den Bosch (Bel) 4.21
23 Marco Bianco (Ita) 4.34
24 Jempy Drucker (Lux) 5.16
25 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) 6.45
26 Martin Zlámalík (Cze) 8.00
27 Kendric Van Grembergen 8.59
28 Geert Wellens (Bel) + 1 lap
29 Steven De Schoesitter (Bel)
30 Mark Cotton (GBr) + 4 laps
31 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel)
32 Bert Scheirlinckx (Bel)
33 Dries Cauwelier (Bel) + 5 laps
34 Freddy De Meester (Bel)
35 René Mertens (Bel)
Result U23 Men (top 20)
1 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) 52.11
2 Kenneth Van Compernolle (Bel) 0.53
3 Mitchell Huenders (Ned) 1.12
4 Vincent Baestaens (Bel) 1.25
5 Joeri Adams (Bel) 1.41
6 Jim Aernouts (Bel) 1.47
7 Tom Meeusen (Bel) Fidea 1.56
8 Lukáš Kloucek (Cze)
9 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) 2.05
10 Lubomír Petruš (Cze) 2.19
11 Twan van den Brand (Ned) 2.30
12 Stef Boden (Bel) 2.37
13 Sascha Weber (Ger) 2.39
14 Marek Konwa (Pol) 3.16
15 Micki van Empel (Ned) 3.28
16 Ivar Hartogs (Ned) 3.38
17 Jan Denuwelaere (Bel) 3.49
18 Kevin Eeckhout (Bel) 4.02
19 Sven Verboven (Bel) 4.08
20 Kristof Cop (Bel) 4.16
Result Juniors (top 20)
1 Tijmen Eising (Ned) 38.35
2 Wietse Bosmans (Bel) 0.05
3 Lars van der Haar (Ned) 0.16
4 David van der Poel (Ned) 1.02
5 Michiel van der Heijden (Ned) 1.06
6 Mike Teunisse (Ned) 1.19
7 Matthias Bossuyt (Bel) 1.36
8 Jelle Lugten (Ned) 1.38
9 Ruben Scheire (Bel) 2.06
10 Valentijn Van de Velde (Bel) 2.12
11 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) 2.27
12 Frederik Geerts (Bel) 2.28
13 Jesper Baelen (Bel) 2.38
14 Niels Wytinck (Bel) 2.40
15 Gert-Jan Bosman (Bel) 2.41
16 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) 2.54
17 Daan Meijers (Ned) 3.05
18 Niels Koyen (Bel) 3.14
19 Jens Adams (Bel) 3.20
20 Kenzie Boutté (Bel) 3.31
