World Cup leader responds to recent criticism of his courage and bike handling on frozen courses
Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) may have won the last two rounds of the cyclocross World Cup, in Koksijde, Belgium and Igorre, Spain, but his performance in the Superprestige race in Gieten, Netherlands, the day after Koksijde brought him in for criticism in the Belgian media; after languishing near the back or much of the race, the 24-year-old decided to climb off his bike before the finish.
His most vocal critic was TV commentator and former world champion Paul Herijgers, who questioned Albert’s courage on the frozen course.
“If there is a slope or a threat of danger he [Albert] quickly squeezes the brakes,” Herijgers told Het Laatste Nieuws last week. “It’s understandable, after the physical misery he went through, you can feel pity for Albert the rider but it makes him human.”
In November 2008 Albert crashed hard in the warm up for the Superprestige race at Aspere-Gavere; he landed on his chest, rupturing his spleen, and was away from racing for six weeks. With his comments Herijgers implies that the incident has made Albert nervous in slippery conditions; something that the 2009 World champion is keen to disprove.
“A rider who is afraid wouldn’t dare to throw himself off a dune without braking,” he told Het Laatste Nieuws last week in response to Herijgers’ comments. “My abandoning [in Gieten] was the smart thing to do, because if you’re in 25th place it makes no sense to continue.
“Perhaps [Zdenek] Stybar might have thought that after his 17th place he might have spared his knee a bit more,” he added, referring to Telenet-Fidea’s World champion, who is now resting his injured knee until Christmas.
Rather than fear of slipping off on the frozen ground, Albert put his non-performance down to fatigue.
“Gieten was just not my day,” he explained. “After all the training efforts over the past few weeks, the tough course at Koksijde and the long journey to Gieten I was maybe not completely recovered.”
“If you win at Koksijde by 40 seconds then you’re good, but I’m still not the Albert of the beginning of last season,” he admited.
Since making those comments he has come out fighting once more; while still not admitting that his performance had anything to do with nerves, he admitted that his technique may have let him down.
“After my disappointing performance in Gieten I want to show that I can also perform under those circumstances,” he said to the Gazet van Antwerpen today. “I want to find the technique again. What I managed in Vorselaar last season [where he finished second to newly crowned World champion Stybar], I can’t have lost my touch. I would now like to prove it.
“Hopefully I can regain confidence in Essen and Overijse,” he concluded. “Then I’ll also be ready for the World Cup races on snow and ice, because the World Cup is now my priority.”
Albert currently leads the World Cup by 59 points over nearest rival Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea). If he hopes to win the overall competition though he will have to win, or at least place well, in the next two rounds in Kalmthout on December 19th and Heusden-Zolder on December 26th; both of those races are in Belgium, and at least the first of them is likely to be under the same frozen conditions as in Gieten.