Kevin Pauwels surprisingly off the pace; Katie Compton makes victory look even easier in women’s race
Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) cruised to a third victory in the Fidea Scheldecross, on the banks of the river Schelde, just across from the city of Antwerp, Belgium. The Kannibaal van Baal crossed the line in familiar solo fashion, a comfortable margin ahead of Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea), whom he had dropped with a little under two laps to go.
Dieter Vanthourenhout (BKCP-Powerplus) managed to overhaul Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) in the final lap to win the battle for the final place on the podium; Kevin Pauwels finished in an uncharacteristically disappointing fifth place, having barely featured in the race and being brought down in a crash halfway through.
"I've had a really good feeling in the races of the last month," Nys said to Sporza after taking his fourth win in five races. "This race is not part of a classification, but the people here go to great lengths to to make a nice race of it; I can't just turn up and ride; I feel it's my duty to perform here.
"All is now well with me," he added. "With a little rain and bad weather we will see some beautiful races. Hopefully I'll be able to win one now and again."
The conditions could barely have been different from those of a year ago, when the course was under the deep snow that dominated much of the last European winter. The rain has still refused to arrive in Belgium, but the sand dunes on the banks of the Flanders’ major river – though not as tough as those at Koksijde on the north coast – were enough to make things difficult.
2010 winner Radomir Simunek (BKCP-Powerplus) was away first, and led the pack into the first corner. Halfway back a crash from Marco Bianco (Arcobaleno) slowed a number of riders down, but none of the big names were affected. Vincent Baestaens (Landbouwkrediet) took over as the race approached the off-camber sandy section and began to pull away.
Meanwhile, Nys and Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) – the two top riders of the season so far – were marking one another a dozen or so riders back, as Gerben de Knegt (Rabobank-Giant) led the chase.
Simunek managed to get back up to Baestaens and the two of them began to consolidate their first lap lead. They had built a three second lead over the first group of chasers at the end of lap one, with Nys leading the big favourites over fifteen seconds back.
Shortly into lap two though the front group became seven as the de Knegt group - which included his teammate, and World under-23 champion Lars van der Haar, Wieste Bosmans (BKCP-Powerplus), Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor) and Meeusen – joined up with the two leaders.
De Knegt pushed on, then Vantornout, who accelerated and got away alone.
The chase was now led by Meeusen with de Knegt and Bosmans behind him; with his Sunweb-Revor teammate up ahead, Pauwels was not looking comfortable and had dropped back to a small group, a few seconds behind the race favourites.
Meeusen made it up to Vantornout as he crossed the line, with de Knegt and Bosmans not far behind. The main group, with Nys but not Pauwels, was less than half a minute back; Pauwels was fighting back though, and midway through the lap he had his rival in sight.
Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) jumped clear of the chasing pack and set off in pursuit of the leaders; he was less than ten seconds behind at the end of lap three, with Nys’ group another ten seconds behind him.
On the heavy sand Nys began to display his skill on the surface and started to close on the leaders; Peeters caught up with the two out front, just as teammate Meeusen was appearing to tire. He immediately took up position at the front, then pulled clear, just as Nys was about to make contact.
Peeters was now clear of what was a three-man chase group; crossing the line at the end of lap four almost ten seconds ahead. On the soft sandy section though, Nys left the others behind and made his way across to his former teammate.
Meeusen joined soon afterwards, but Nys was not hanging around to wait. Despite repeated attempts though, the Kannibaal was unable to shake the two Telenet-Fidea riders, who began to try to work him over in the following lap.
Across the line with two laps to go, the three of them led Pauwels, Vantornout and Dieter Vanthourenhout by 16 seconds.
Once again, Nys began to turn the screw on the soft sandy section, and managed to open a small gap. Meeusen too left Peeters behind as he gave chase, but could make no impression as Nys accelerated away.
At the bell Nys was six seconds clear of Meeusen, with Peeters a further seven seconds behind his teammate. As Meeusen struggled a little on the sand – having to briefly dismount where Nys had ridden – the gap began to open further, and, by the time he hit the grassy banks of the Schelde once more, the former Belgian champion had opened it up to 13 seconds.
Nys took no chances on the stairs for the final time, climbing them one at a time, then descended towards the finishing complex. Vanthourenhout had caught Peeters by now, and they were both gaining on Meeusen, but Nys was well clear by now.
The Kannibaal went safety-first over the two hurdles – choosing to dismount rather than bunny-hop – and cruised over the line to take a dominant victory. Meeusen followed close behind, looking pleased with his second place, with Vanthourenhout taking third ahead of Peeters.
Having endured a disappointing day, Pauwels drifted over in fifth; the worst result since early October for the current World number one.
Katie Compton takes women’s race from the front
Despite an early technical problem that saw her forced to run to the pits, Katie Compton (Rabobank-Giant) took a simple victory in the women’s race, ahead of Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Boxx). The victory is the US champion’s first in Europe since taking the Plzen round of the World Cup in mid-October, and bodes well for the third round of the competition in a little over a week’s time.
“It seemed like I took this win pretty easily, but it was a difficult race,” Compton told Sport.be afterwards.
"I was delayed by bad luck and had to walk for a long way until I could get myself a new bike. Gradually it went better so that I was able to get away; I quickly opened a large gap and managed to keep the rest of the field behind me.”
Result Scheldecross Elite Men
1. Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
2. Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet-Fidea
3. Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus
4. Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet-Fidea
5. Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Revor
6. Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
7. Lars van der Haar (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team
8. Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team
9. Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Revor
10. Vincent Baestaens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
Result Scheldecross Elite Women
1. Katie Compton (USA) Rabobank-Giant Offroad team
2. Sanne Cant (Bel) Boxx Veldritacademie
3. Sophie de Boer (Ned) Telenet-Fidea
4. Nikki Harris (GBr) Telenet-Fidea
5. Gabriella Day (GBr) The Chainstay
6. Joyce Vanderbeken (Bel) Cycling Team Vermeeren
7. Arenda Grimberg (Ned)
8. Hilde Quintens (Bel) Van Goethem Cycling Team
9. Linda van Rijen (Ned) Skil-Koga
10. Ellen Van Looy (Bel) Kriekel Cycling Team