Lars Boom came, saw and conquered his first World Cup race of the season, in snowy Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Boom came in solo, 13 seconds ahead of Niels Albert, who confirmed his World Cup lead. Bart Wellens was third on the day, already 1'14 back. Gerben de Knegt and Sven Nys were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Boom dropped his closest rival, Niels Albert, with more than two laps to go. Albert made a strong comeback in the final lap, closing in to a few seconds. But Boom continued strongly and won decisively in the end. Boom had mostly problems with the bicycle. "On one of the uphills I dropped my chain of my first bike," he said to Belgian TV after the race. He dropped it twice more. "Then I changed my bike and it was OK." Despite his strong ride he had a short and clear answer if he would ride the World Championships: "No."
The snow was soft at places, thanks to the above freezing temperatures over the day. "It was a beautiful race," Boom said. He had quite a yoyoing with Albert, but eventually proved to be the strongest. Even a small car accident before the race couldn't stop him. "I had some extra adrenaline today," he said with a smile.
Albert tried very hard in the end to win and was sad it didn't work out. He was still sitting with Boom three laps from the finish. "Then I had half a lap where I made lots of mistakes and he [Boom] quickly gained 12, 13 seconds." Albert never gave up. "I tried to close the gap," he explained his final lap, where he took out all stops and came to within a few seconds. But another mistake meant that Boom was gone for good.
Wellens was quite happy with his podium appearance. "The start was important here, but I had a bad one. I had to come from far back," he said. "It was enough to get third. I am tremendously content." Wellens gained position by position, then passed Nys and Simunek. "When I caught Sven I told myself this was a lap to go hard." His bike handling abilities helped him to get away. "I was confident on the ice and snow," he said. Simunek had more problems and crashed out of the race, with a suspected collarbone fracture.
Fun in the snow
The spectators enjoyed the snowy conditions, with snowballs flying everywhere ahead of the race. Once it started, the spectators concentrated on the racers, with Steve Chainel the quickest out of the start area.
But he was soon passed by Boom and Pauwels, once the riders hit the snow section. Boom showed that he is well trained and took off solo. He had a good dozen seconds after one lap over Albert and Pauwels. Nys was 23 seconds behind.
In lap two, Albert closed the gap to Boom, while Pauwels dropped back. Nys and Radomir Simunek were 25 seconds back after two laps. Albert took over the front, with Boom close behind - until he dropped his chain in a running section. Boom was quickly back, but dropped his chain again before the lap's end.
Albert had problems at the same snowy section than in the lap before, but was still 13 seconds ahead of Boom after three laps. Nys, Simunek and Gerben de Knegt came through half a minute behind Albert.
Boom was resilient and was about to catch up at the section where Albert had made two crucial mistakes in the previous two laps. This time, Albert had no problem with Boom needing to dismount.
But Boom, a Paris-Nice prologue winner, was faster on the asphalt sections. He trailed by only five seconds at the halfway point and shortly thereafter was back with Albert. De Knegt was at 40 seconds, with Simunek and Nys at 44 seconds.
Simunek then crashed hard, his bike slipping to the right and getting caught on the foot of a barrier. The Czech rider made a somersault and abandoned, with his collarbone likely fractured.
Bart Wellens caught up with De Knegt and they were 54 seconds behind Boom and Albert after five laps. Nys was already at 1'04.
Boom accelerated in the middle of the lap and came to the start finish area (with two laps to go) 13 seconds ahead of Albert. Wellens was 50 seconds behind. Nys was still at 1'03, but had passed De Knegt.
Albert took all the risks in the last lap, came to within a couple of seconds but had to surrender to the outstanding Dutchman.
Compton takes women's race
In the women's race, Katherine Compton was the quickest, taking a dominating win in the snow. She was almost a minute ahead of Marianne Vos and a minute and a half ahead of Sanne van Paassen.
There are two more World Cup races left, on January 16 in Pont-Château, France, and a week later in Hoogerheide, Netherlands.
Men's results WC Heusden-Zolder
1 Lars Boom 1h08'29
2. Niels Albert 0'13
3. Bart Wellens 1'14
4. Gerben de Knegt 1'45
5. Sven Nys 1'55
6 Bart Aernouts 2'24
7 Kevin Pauwels 2'34
8 Dieter Vanthourenhout 2'34
9 Christian Heule
Women's results
1 COMPTON Katherine 0:39:58
2 VOS Marianne NEDERLAND BLOEIT +00:54
3 VAN PAASSEN Sanne +01:29
4 VAN DEN BRAND Daphny +02:10
5 HAVLIKOVA Pavla +02:11
World Cup Overall Standings men
1 ALBERT Niels BKCP - POWERPLUS 420
2 NYS Sven LANDBOUWKREDIET 354
3 PAUWELS Kevin TELENET - FIDEA 349
4 WELLENS Bart TELENET - FIDEA 294
5 AERNOUTS Bart RABOBANK-GIANT OFFROAD TEAM 293
World Cup Overall Standings women
1 COMPTON Katherine 240
2 VAN PAASSEN Sanne 230
3 VAN DEN BRAND Daphny 190
4 HAVLIKOVA Pavla 148
5 CANT Sanne 147