Tom Meeusen won his first cross race with the professionals at the Nacht van Woerden on Tuesday. The young Belgian beat the Rabobank cracks Bart Aernouts and Gerben de Knegt. After a dominating 2009-2010 season in the U23 category, his first year with the professionals was an awakening.
But Meeusen has gotten back his confidence. "In Woerden I was even jumping over obstacles as high as 40 centimeters," he said after the race. Top riders like Zdenek Stybar, Niels Albert, or Sven Nys left out this mid-week's race, giving a chance to the second string to move up. But Aernouts and De Knegt, who can well mix it up with the top guys, must have been disappointed to miss out on victory for their Rabobank team.
Meeusen was coping better under the artificial lights in Woerden. "It wasn't going bad", said Aernouts. "But Tom was a little stronger today. He negotiated the course better and I died on his wheel."
Meeusen accelerated from the front goup hafway through the race, finshing with a solo win.
The women's race was won by Daphny van den Brand, who beat Sanne van Paassen.
Results men
1 Tom Meeusen Telenet-Fidea
2 Bart Aernouts Rabobank
3 Gerben de Knegt Rabobank
4 Christoph Pfingsten van Vliet EBH Elshof
5 Tom Van den Bosch AA Drink
6 Ian Field Hargroves Cycles
7 Patrick van Leeuwen Hilvarenbeek
8 Dieter Vanthourenhout BKCP - Powerplus
9 Eddy van IJzendoorn AA Drink
10 Mitchell Huenders AA Drink