Rivalry intensifies between the current top two ‘cross riders but Pauwels insists there are no hard feelings
The rivalry between Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) and Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) is intensifying in the Belgian media, ahead of Sunday’s World Cup race in Igorre, Spain. The last race in the series, in Koksijde, Belgium, last weekend saw the two of them go head to head in the final sprint, with Nys appearing to close the door on Pauwels as they approached the line.
Despite an appeal from Pauwels’ team, the result was left to stand. Nys repeated the result the following day in the Superprestige in Gieten, Netherlands – without the controversy this time – and things have changed a little between the two rivals.
“Our relationship soured after last weekend,” Nys admitted to Sporza.
The easy-going Pauwels denied that there is any animosity after the incident, however. In a sport where the rivals will go mano a mano twice a week, the big riders can’t afford to make enemies of each other. The 27-year-old also knows his place against the legend that has dominated cyclocross since he was at school.
“Our relationship has not soured,” he said. “Who am I to be difficult with Nys?
“What’s past is past, and Sunday I’ll do everything to reverse the roles.”
In an interview with Het Nieuwsblad, though, Pauwels admitted that the hostility towards Nys in some circles, which has developed since the incident, is working in his favour.
"Of course I heard boos for Sven on Saturday in Koksijde,” he said, “it could hardly be otherwise. I think sometimes that it’s to my advantage. The less popular Sven is, the more popular I am, right? Sven did go right, didn’t he?”
Although he sat up to protest about Nys’ line in Koksijde – and his team made an official appeal to the race commissaires – Pauwels maintained that he is keeping calm over the incident.
“I have also said that it didn’t really make me angry, that's not my nature,” he explained. “I may be wrong, but I’d rather not get involved. I'm just someone who would rather walk away from discussions or arguments, and I don’t say what I really think. I had a fight at school, but I can not even remember why.
In fact, the most vocal person in the Pauwels camp was his grandmother Fientje – his biggest fan, who has been referred to as ‘the woman behind Kevin Pauwels’.
“What my grandmother said, that she’d like to put a gun on Nys and tie him up, doesn’t really make things better, I think,” he chuckled. “All I could do was laugh about it."
Unsurprisingly, as a young cyclocross fan growing up in Belgium, Nys was once Pauwels' idol; the fact that he is racing against – and regularly beating – his former hero feels strange to the 27-year-old.
"Yeah, it’s weird," he said. "I used to hang posters of Sven Nys in my room. He was my idol and now he is my rival.
“He wants to keep winning, and if someone comes who wants to try to take his throne, he might be a little nervous. But I do not think I would be able to reign as long as he has.”
It’s hard to see any one rider coming through to dominate the sport as Nys has done for the past decade; what’s more likely is that two or three riders will dominate, with Pauwels at a similar level to riders like 2009 World champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) and emerging star Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea).
“I will have to share things with Niels, who’s even a few years younger than me,” Pauwels hypothesised. “That’s why it’s a shame that Niels is not here right now; then at least I could have looked to him too.”
Albert is currently recovering from a broken wrist, sustained after being hit by a car while out training last month. The 25-year-old will likely not be competitive until the New Year, meaning that Pauwels will probably have to take on the mighty Nys all on his own until then.