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zolder-u23walsleben_duvl.jpg by Bart Hazen of The Daily Peloton

German Philipp Walsleben continued his dominant year by winning the third race of the U23 World Cup in Zolder on the day after Christmas (December 26). The German was the best in a six-man sprint ahead of the surprising Italian Champion Cristian Cominelli and France’s Aurelien Duval. Kenneth van Compernolle, Arnaud Jouffroy and Ondrej Bambula were the others in the break.

The course on the circuit of Zolder was hilly and very fast due to the frozen underground. From the start the French riders Aurelien Duval and Arnaud Jouffroy took the lead with World Cup leader Walsleben in third place.

Walsleben decided to attack after a few laps and lap by lap his rivals dropped except of Aurelien Duval. The two stayed in front until the final lap when a chasing group with Cristian Cominelli, Kenneth Van Compernolle, Arnaud Jouffroy and Ondrej Bambula bridged up to the front. A second chasing group featured riders Christoph Pfingsten, Boy Van Poppel and Micki Van Empel was not far behind either but failed to close the gap.

In the sprint the German was the best and secured his lead in the World Cup. With the win Walsleben wraps up the World Cup competition as he has 180 points which is 61 points (the winner of a World Cup gains 60 point) more than France’s Aurelien Duval. Kenneth van Compernolle is third with 109 points.

The best American rider of five starters was Daniel Summerhill at 15th, a mere 46 seconds down on Walsleben. The others were Bjorn Selander (21st), William Dugan (40th), Jeremy Ferguson (43rd) and David Hackworthy (46th). Canada had two starters with Andrew Thomas and Brian Robinson but both riders were lapped. Photos and Full results below.

Photo Gallery:

Full Results:

Place Bib Rider Country Time Points
1 25 WALSLEBEN Philipp GER 0:50:39 60
2 13 COMINELLI Cristian ITA +00:00 50
3 10 DUVAL Aurelien FRA +00:00 45
4 2 VAN COMPERNOLLE Kenneth BEL +00:01 40
5 11 JOUFFROY Arnaud FRA +00:01 35
6 33 BAMBULA Ondrej CZE +00:02 30
7 22 VAN POPPEL Boy NED +00:19 28
8 26 PFINGSTEN Christoph GER +00:19 26
9 21 VAN EMPEL Micki NED +00:21 24
10 28 MEISEN Marcel GER +00:25 22
11 7 BERTHOLET Quentin BEL +00:25 20
12 18 SINKELDAM Ramon NED +00:38 19
13 4 BAESTAENS Vincent BEL +00:45 18
14 74 BENEY Romain SUI +00:46 17
15 47 SUMMERHILL Daniel USA +00:46 16
16 9 EECKHOUT Kevin BEL +00:46 15
17 6 AERNOUTS Jim BEL +00:47 14
18 29 WEBER Sascha GER +01:08 13
19 32 KLOUCEK Lukas CZE +01:12 12
20 5 ADAMS Joeri BEL +01:29 11
21 45 SELANDER Bjorn USA +01:38 10
22 41 TARAMARCAZ Julien SUI +01:40 9
23 15 SILVESTRI Elia ITA +01:41 8
24 8 VAN DAEL Jan BEL +01:46 7
25 17 HUENDERS Mitchell NED +01:57 6
26 66 BODEN Stef BEL +02:10 5
27 20 HARTOGS Ivar NED +02:13 4
28 56 FLETCHER David GBR +02:14 3
29 34 PETRUS Lubomir CZE +02:17 2
30 68 DENOLF Gianni BEL +02:24 1
31 67 CANT Kevin BEL +02:49
32 39 SCHERZ Valentin SUI +02:56
33 27 WALSLEBEN Max GER +02:58
34 16 CALDERAN Alessandro ITA +02:59
35 14 PONTA Marco ITA +03:09
36 30 QUAST Ole GER +03:11
37 55 MCEVOY Jonathan GBR +03:23
38 61 DIAS DOS SANTOS Vincent LUX +03:32
39 57 THWAITES Scott GBR +03:50
40 48 DUGAN William USA +03:55
41 58 THWAITES Mark GBR +04:35
42 62 SCHLECHTER Pit LUX +05:03
43 50 FERGUSON Jeremy USA +05:14
44 53 THOMAS Andrew CAN -1LAP
45 73 KOSAKA Hikaru JPN -1LAP
46 49 HACKWORTHY David USA -1LAP
47 54 ROBINSON Brian CAN -2LAP
65 DENUWELAERE Jan BEL DNF7
46 WEIGHALL Nicholas USA DNF5
19 VAN DEN BRAND Twan NED DNF4
12 LEJEUNE Romain FRA DNF4
60 BACHRATY Robert SVK DNF3
70 BEELEN Sven BEL DNF1