BOOM, Belgium—World Champion Wout van Aert and Jolien Verschueren took important wins on Saturday at the Niels Albert CX UCI C1 race. The race was a key tune-up event f0r Sunday’s Telenet UCI Valkenburg World Cup.
In the men’s race, van Aert won another duel with rival Mathieu van der Poel, but it wasn’t quite the nail-biter we saw last weekend at the Superprestige Zonhoven.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BL33mGshWRX/?tagged=nielsalbertcx
Van Aert made a late push to take the win by a comfortable 23 seconds, while Van der Poel had to fight hard to keep his second place, as teammate Wiets Bosmans was just seconds behind in third.
One can’t help but wonder how much today’s racers saved themselves for Sunday’s World Cup.
In the women’s race, Verschueren took advantage of both Sanne Cant and Thalita De Jong skipping the event, and rode to a dominant win with a minute gap over Ellen Van Loy. Behind, Rebecca Fahringer claimed her first European podium with a strong UCI C1 third place.
The Niels Albert CX event also hosted a U23 race, narrowly won by Great Britain’s Ben Turner ahead of Arne Vrachten and Florian Vermeersch. Full results below the notes.
2016 Niels Albert CX Race Notes:
- There were more U23 Men racing than Elite Men or Women.
- Fahringer rode IRC Serac tubeless clinchers on her NoTubes wheels. We’ll have to confirm, but this could be the first European UCI podium for a tubeless racer.
- Niels Albert was a two-time World Champion, last winning in 2012 dominant fashion in Koksijde before ending his stellar career prematurely due to heart problems. See our feature on Albert and his new life as bike shop owner in Issue 28 in print or digital.
- In order to make the Valenburg World Cup with minimal stress and maximum recovery time, Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and his brother David all took a helicopter to Valkenburg:
That is one talent-laden helicopter. Hopefully there’s some brotherly love among the three of them, otherwise it’d be one long ride.
2016 Niels Albert CX UCI Results - U23 Men
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben TURNER | GBR | 18 | 41:43:00 | 10 |
| 2 | Arne VRACHTEN | BEL | 18 | 41:48:00 | 6 |
| 3 | Florian VERMEERSCH | BEL | 18 | 41:59:00 | 4 |
| 4 | Niels VANDEPUTTE | BEL | 17 | 42:43:00 | 2 |
| 5 | Arno DEBEIR | BEL | 18 | 42:45:00 | 1 |
| 6 | Jarne DE MEYER | BEL | 18 | 42:45:00 | |
| 7 | Arno VAN DEN BROECK | BEL | 17 | 42:54:00 | |
| 8 | Brent BRAES | BEL | 18 | 43:08:00 | |
| 9 | Len DEJONGHE | BEL | 17 | 43:14:00 | |
| 10 | Gerben KUYPERS | BEL | 17 | 43:23:00 | |
| 11 | Harry YATES | GBR | 18 | 43:25:00 | |
| 12 | Julian SIEMONS | BEL | 18 | 43:28:00 | |
| 13 | Vince VAN DEN EYNDE | BEL | 17 | 43:30:00 | |
| 14 | Aron ARKESTEYN | BEL | 18 | 43:33:00 | |
| 15 | Dolf PEMEN | BEL | 17 | 43:36:00 | |
| 16 | Niels VANDERMEULEN | BEL | 18 | 43:36:00 | |
| 17 | Joren THYS | BEL | 17 | 43:39:00 | |
| 18 | Thomas MEIN | GBR | 18 | 44:05:00 | |
| 19 | Maxim VAN GILS | BEL | 18 | 44:19:00 | |
| 20 | Jarno JORDENS | BEL | 17 | 44:28:00 | |
| 21 | Ward DESCHEPPER | BEL | 18 | 44:35:00 | |
| 22 | Toby BARNES | GBR | 17 | 44:45:00 | |
| 23 | Andres VERDONCK | BEL | 17 | 44:52:00 | |
| 24 | Jens CLYNHENS | BEL | 17 | 45:14:00 | |
| 25 | Wannes LEMBRECHTS | BEL | 18 | 45:18:00 | |
| 26 | Lander TIBACKX | BEL | 18 | 45:30:00 | |
| 27 | Wojciech CENIUCH | POL | 18 | 45:43:00 | |
| 28 | Sander DE VET | BEL | 17 | 46:03:00 | |
| 29 | Jarno BELLENS | BEL | 17 | 46:14:00 | |
| 30 | Bavo HOUSSIN | BEL | 17 | 46:17:00 | |
| 31 | Loeka VERDONCK | BEL | 18 | 46:26:00 | |
| 32 | Victor BROEX | NED | 17 | 47:38:00 | |
| 33 | Maxime COCKX | BEL | 17 | 47:56:00 | |
| 34 | Ruben VAN DER PIJL | NED | 17 | 48:59:00 | |
| 35 | Kyle PEETERS | BEL | 18 | ||
| 36 | Gill SEMPELS | BEL | 17 | ||
| 37 | Seppe AERTS | BEL | 17 | ||
| 38 | Lenn VERDIJCK | BEL | 18 | ||
| 39 | Guillermo COOREMAN | BEL | 18 |
2016 Niels Albert CX UCI C1 Results - Elite Women
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jolien VERSCHUEREN | BEL | 27 | 45:53:00 | 40 |
| 2 | Ellen VAN LOY | BEL | 37 | 46:52:00 | 30 |
| 3 | Rebecca FAHRINGER | USA | 28 | 47:15:00 | 20 |
| 4 | Githa MICHIELS | BEL | 34 | 47:54:00 | 15 |
| 5 | Geerte HOEKE | NED | 27 | 48:21:00 | 10 |
| 6 | Manon BAKKER | NED | 18 | 48:27:00 | 8 |
| 7 | Lindy VAN ANROOIJ | NED | 21 | 48:48:00 | 6 |
| 8 | Kim VAN DE STEENE | BEL | 31 | 49:11:00 | 4 |
| 9 | Asa Maria ERLANDSSON | SWE | 43 | 49:30:00 | 2 |
| 10 | Ffion JAMES | GBR | 20 | 49:43:00 | 1 |
| 11 | Fleur NAGENGAST | NED | 19 | 50:07:00 | |
| 12 | Shana MAES | BEL | 22 | 50:29:00 | |
| 13 | Esther VAN DER BURG | NED | 19 | 51:06:00 | |
| 14 | Axelle BELLAERT | BEL | 20 | 51:27:00 | |
| 15 | Mieke DEROO | BEL | 45 | 52:06:00 | |
| 16 | Yara KASTELIJN | NED | 20 | 52:42:00 | |
| 17 | Gertie WILLEMS | BEL | 40 | ||
| 18 | Marthe TRUYEN | BEL | 18 | ||
| 19 | Birgit MASSAGÉ | BEL | 27 | ||
| 20 | Tine ROMBOUTS | BEL | 17 | ||
| 21 | Jara NOËL | BEL | 18 | ||
| 22 | Anke VAN ROMPAY | BEL | 18 |
2016 Niels Albert CX UCI C1 Results - Elite Men
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wout VAN AERT | BEL | 23 | 58:40:00 | 40 |
| 2 | Mathieu VAN DER POEL | NED | 22 | 59:03:00 | 30 |
| 3 | Wietse BOSMANS | BEL | 26 | 59:11:00 | 20 |
| 4 | Tom MEEUSEN | BEL | 29 | 59:39:00 | 15 |
| 5 | David VAN DER POEL | NED | 25 | 59:52:00 | 10 |
| 6 | Joeri ADAMS | BEL | 28 | 59:58:00 | 8 |
| 7 | Marcel MEISEN | GER | 28 | 1:00:57 | 6 |
| 8 | Stijn HUYS | BEL | 31 | 1:01:09 | 4 |
| 9 | Philipp WALSLEBEN | GER | 30 | 1:01:49 | 2 |
| 10 | Jappe JASPERS | BEL | 19 | 1:01:56 | 1 |
| 11 | Thomas VAN DE VELDE | BEL | 21 | 1:01:57 | |
| 12 | Dario TIELEN | BEL | 23 | 1:02:05 | |
| 13 | Kenneth VAN COMPERNOLLE | BEL | 29 | 1:02:10 | |
| 14 | Pieter VAN ROOSBROECK | BEL | 21 | 1:02:19 | |
| 15 | Victor VANDEBOSCH | BEL | 19 | 1:02:34 | |
| 16 | Reno BAUTERS | BEL | 19 | 1:03:22 | |
| 17 | Senne De Meyer | BEL | 21 | 1:03:40 | |
| 18 | Radomir SIMUNEK | CZE | 34 | 1:03:48 | |
| 19 | Quincy VENS | BEL | 31 | 1:04:14 | |
| 20 | Kyle DE PROOST | BEL | 22 | ||
| 21 | Wouter GOOSEN | BEL | 31 | ||
| 22 | Niels VERBRUGGEN | NED | 19 | ||
| 23 | Lubos PELANEK | CZE | 36 | ||
| 24 | Marvin RUNHAAR | NED | 20 |
