Kannibaal van Baal is master of his hometown yet again; Daphny van den Brand takes women’s race in the absence of Marianne Vos
Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) took his eleventh victory in the thirteen editions of the New Year’s Day race that is named in his honour, the GP Sven Nys, in his hometown of Baal in vintage fashion. The Kannibaal van Baal looked reminiscent of himself in his peak, in the middle of the last decade, as he took the front early and rode away from the field to take the adulation of his home crowd once more.
Second place in the race – which was the sixth race in the Gazet van Antwerpen (GvA) Trofee series – went to series leader Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor), ahead of Nys’ old rival, and former two-time World champion Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea), as both riders recovered from poor starts. Neither was any match for Nys in his home race though, and were almost a minute behind the old master at the finish.
With the mud well and truly arrived in Belgium, after staying away for much of the early season, the Baal course was to be its usual sticky, slippery self. With the new year, many riders would be on new bikes, and there were to be plenty of changes throughout the race as the Flanders mud adhered itself to important moving parts.
World champion Zdenek Stybar was obviously still wearing the rainbow jersey, but looked slightly different in the new livery of Omega Pharma-Quick Step. His bike had also changed overnight, from the ‘Stybar’ labelled frame of before to a Specialized, painted in pink in honour of the company’s first ever mountainbike in 1984.
Nys himself looked very different, with the Landbouwkrediet kit changing to a much paler all-over green; Belgian champion Niels Albert looked much the same as he had the week before, although he – like Nys – was now sitting astride a Colnago Prestige.
Once the race was under way though, the crowd was to be treated to an exhibition of the power, but especially the technique, that has made Sven Nys the number one rider in cyclocross since the Millenium.
The World champion is away quickly but Nys is to the fore straight away
Stybar hit the front first, followed by Nys, and the two of them managed to open a little gap in the first few turns and bumps of the opening lap. Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor) managed to fight his way up to the two leaders before too long though, and the three began to move clear.
With the mud thick and heavy, almost the entire field – with the notable exception of Vantornout – changed bikes in the pits as they hit the second part of the lap. This was the signal for Nys to accelerate and, with Vantornout clinging to his wheel, the Kannibaal left Stybar behind.
Albert too was recovering from his poorly seeded start position and was working his way up towards Stybar. On the line at the end of lap one though, the World champion was eight seconds behind the two leaders, with Albert at fifteen.
Nys immediately upped his pace and, bunny hopping over the two log hurdles, gapped Vantornout straight away. Back in the field, behind Telenet-Fidea pair Robe Peeters and Bart Wellens, GvA Trofee leader Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) appeared to be suffering in the conditions; they made their way up to Albert though, who was in turn closing on Vantornout and Stybar.
Up ahead, Nys was doing justice to the fact that the race was named and organised in his honour, grinding out his usual smooth metronomic pace through the Flanders mud. By the end of the second lap the Kannibaal was almost 30 seconds ahead of Vantornout, while Stybar, Albert, Peeters, Wellens and Pauwels – who’d been caught by Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant) – were 35 seconds behind.
Pauwels recovers from his poor start but it already looks too little, too late
Finally Pauwels seemed to have come to terms with the conditions and began to lead Albert towards the back wheel of teammate Vantornout; just before they closed the gap, the two chasers were joined by Wellens and, once he had his captain safely on his wheel, Vantornout accelerated in an attempt to close the gap to Nys.
Pauwels was now the strongest in the group though, and it was him that took to the front of the group; by the end of the lap the four chasers were 42 seconds behind though.
A slip from Albert on a twisty section saw Pauwels open a gap in front of the other three chasers; the Belgian champion doggedly pulled him back though in the course of the next half lap. As they approached the pits and the steps in the middle of the lap, the four of them began to look at one another, and Nys’ lead began to open further and further.
Across the line once more – with three laps to go signalled – Nys’ lead had widened to 55 seconds.
As Pauwels began to put the pressure on, in pursuit of Nys, it was Albert who began to struggle, and the Belgian champion was quickly distanced by the other three. Wellens suddenly thrust his hand in the air as they traversed a tarmac section; he had suffered a puncture, but luckily was not too far from the pits, and so there was not too much of a gap between him and the two Sunweb-Revor riders as he took his replacement bike.
Nys turns his own race into a cyclocross exhibition
With two to go Nys was 54 in front of Pauwels and Vantornout, with Wellens a few seconds further back; Albert was now 1’20” behind, with the podium now surely out of reach. Now was the time for Pauwels to make his own move and try to close the gap to the lone Nys; he soon gapped Vantornout a little, but surely he’d left it too late to try for the victory.
At the bell Nys looked to be home and clear, even though Pauwels had managed to cut his advantage slightly to 48 seconds. The Kannibaal was now cruising, roared on by his home crowd, while Pauwels and the others were making the slippery course look much harder.
One final bike change for Nys, on the foot of the stairs, would see him finish the race on a relatively clean machine; his brand new skinsuit though – worn for the first time today – was caked in his local mud. His sponsors’ logos were almost illegible as he punched the air, and waved and blew kisses to his fans, as he cruised over the line to take his eleventh victory in the race that absolutely belongs to him.
Pauwels crossed the line 45 seconds later, to take second place, with Bart Wellens taking third at 1’10”. Vantornout, having cracked in the last lap, and stumbled and hit his knee on the stairs, was way back in the field by now, as Stybar took fourth place.
Pauwels, having recovered from his disastrous sixth place in Loenhout, reopened his lead in the overall GvA Trofee standings over Stybar to 16 points, with just the Lille and Oostmalle rounds remaining.
Daphny van den Brand extends her lead in the women’s competition
With World champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank) racing (and winning!) in Pétange, Luxembourg, the way was finally open for another rider to take a race in Belgium. With Daphny van den Brand (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) the only one to beat Vos this season – and to compete with the World champion in recent weeks – it was no surprise that it was the European champion that took victory in the women’s race in Baal.
While van den Brand led for most of the race, her lead was cut by a technical problem in the second lap, and she finished just 17 seconds clear of Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Boxx), who was herself just a few seconds ahead of Nikki Harris (Telenet-Fidea).
“That was super fun,” said van den Brand with a massive smile at the finish. “If you don’t like that then you shouldn’t be a ‘cross rider. You needed power to get through the thick mud and mush today.
“In the second lap I managed to open a gap, but lost a lot when my saddle slipped… the rest came back but I put everything into the final lap.”
The Dutchwoman now leads Harris by six points in the overall GvA Trofee standings, and Cant by eight. She feels far from safe though, especially with the Belgian defending champion so close.
“Lille and Oostmalle are both courses that I like,” she said, “but I think especially Sanne Cant can threaten me because she likes the sand.”
Result GP Sven Nys Elite Men
1. Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
2. Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Revor
3. Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea
4. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
5. Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet-Fidea
6. Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus
7. Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Landbouwkrediet
8. Bart Aernouts (Bel) Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team
9. Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Revor
10. Jonathan Page (USA) Planet Bike
Result GP Sven Nys Elite Women
1. Daphny van den Brand (Ned) AA Drink-Leontien.nl
2. Sanne Cant (Bel) Boxx Veldritacademie @ 17s
3. Nikki Harris (GBr) Telenet-Fidea @ 25s
4. Sanne van Paassen (Ned) Brainwash Wielerploeg @ 54s
5. Sophie de Boer (Ned) Telenet-Fidea @ 1’04”
6. Gabby Day (GBr) The Chainstay @ 1’36”
7. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra) Rabobank @ 2’23”
8. Pavla Havlikova (Cze) @ Telenet-Fidea @ 2’27”
9. Hilde Quintens (Bel) @ 3’08”
10. Reza Hormes-Ravenstijn (Ned) “4’07”