Kevin Pauwels claims perhaps his most dramatic win of the season. Photo: Dan Seaton

ZOLDER, Belgium (VN) — Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) proved best of a three-man break on Monday, taking the victory at Monday’s UCI World Cup and regaining the series lead.

Series leader Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), world champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step) and Pauwels escaped the bunch with just over five laps to go in at Heusden-Zolder, then took turns trying to shed one another in the final few laps, without success.

With two laps remaining the trio had more than half a minute on a chase led by Lars Boom (Rabobank) and Belgian champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus).

Nys pitted for a fresh bike on the final go-round. Stybar took the front and pegged it, with Pauwels on his wheel. But Nys stayed with them, waiting for one or the other to make a mistake.

Stybar tried a few accelerations but couldn’t shed the others. Then he took the lead out of a corner with a muddy low line and a grassy high line and grabbed a small advantage going into the subsequent fast descent. In hot pursuit, Pauwels nearly laid it down, with Nys on his wheel, but the three were back together again at the course’s lone, steep run-up.

Stybar kept the pressure on, leading the trio on their final trip down a steep, technical drop-in ending in a left-hand corner, and all three hit the pavement together.

Unfortunately for Nys, he hit the pavement for real, sliding out in the final right-hand bend, leaving Stybar and Pauwels to fight it out for the win.

The world champ led out the sprint, but the persistent Pauwels slipped by at the line, leaving Stybar to pound one thigh in frustration.

Nys coasted across for third, in the process surrendering the World Cup lead to Pauwels. Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb) took fourth with Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) fifth.

Dare to win

Nys told a press conference that he knew that the he would have to take some risks to win, and simply hit the slippery pavement a bit too hard.

“To win here I knew I would need to be right on their wheel, in the big ring and with an 11 (tooth cog) in the back, just like in the start,” he said, adding that the endless finishing stretch set up an unusual finale today.

“I still had the power for the sprint, I wasn’t lost, and I had good sensations going into the end. I think it was possible to start the sprint in third position. But I just slipped out coming off the bridge.”

Nys, perhaps the best technical rider and tactician in cyclocross, seemed off his game for much of the day, and was hampered by mistakes and misjudgments more than once.

Still, he said, he felt like the dramatic conclusion was inevitable with both Stybar and Pauwels so clearly on top of their game.

“There was no way to avoid a sprint today, we could only get a gap of 15 meters, nothing more,” he said. “I was confident enough to let it be decided in a sprint. So I’m disappointed and frustrated, because I wanted to prove something. Before I was able to turn the pedals once I was on the ground.”

Stybar struggling

Stybar, for his part, said he executed his plan for the day well, but Pauwels was simply a bit stronger in the final moments.

“I’ve learned that I need to stay on the wheels to save some energy in these races,” said the world champion. “I succeeded until the sprint. I didn’t think during the race I could (stay in the lead group). In the sprint I thought I had a bigger gap, so I started a little too early. It was close, but he won. If it’s a meter or a centimeter, it doesn’t matter.”

Stybar, who has had a string of disappointing results going back to November, told reporters that he has struggled to figure out the best way to prepare for races. Finally, he said, he decided that he had to put his family first for the moment.

“After Friday’s race in Diegem I went home to the Czech Republic. It’s not ideal, but Christmas — and a day with my family — is more important than a World Cup.”

Pauwels, for whom the race was a return to his impressive early season form after several weeks of mixed results in difficult, muddy races, said he was pleased to beat a rider as strong as Stybar in conditions that didn’t completely favor him.

“I didn’t even know that Sven crashed because of the crowds,” said Pauwels, who will be back in the World Cup leader’s kit in Lieven, France, in three weeks time. “Stybar had a few meters, but not a lot and I quickly closed it.

“I’m well positioned in the classification, so I’m going to keep going for it. If the weather improves, that’s good for me; otherwise the following World Cups will be very difficult.”

Page, Johnson disappointed

American results, meanwhile, continued to be decidedly mixed. Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), who continues to show glimmers of good form after an uncharacteristically slow start to the season, led the contingent with a 25th-place finish.

The Belgian-based New Hampshire native, who rather expressively compared the slick, soupy course conditions to “riding through diarrhea,” spent much of the day caught in traffic in a group of riders that numbered close to 20 at times.

“I didn’t start bad,” he told VeloNews, “but the race is so fast, and things bunch up, and so I just kept getting into traffic. I always seemed to be the last guy in whatever group I was in. It didn’t really go my way today. The legs were okay — not great, but okay — I was just frustrated because it wasn’t really in my control.”

There was plenty of frustration to go around for the Americans. Tim Johnson (Cannoncalde-Cyclocrossworld.com), who spent most of his race trapped in the next group behind Page and ultimately finished 37th, said he was also disappointed with the day’s results — and the outcome of his whole European trip.

“It’s been a little bit of a mediocre trip. I was definitely looking for more than I got,” he said. “It was just a disaster at the start. I got stuck behind a couple little things in the first two corners, and then I was literally crashed into the pit the first time through.”

Johnson rebounded from the mess at the race’s start, but never quite managed to break through and get back into the race.

“I just didn’t have enough to make up for all that. You can make up time on a course like this by jumping group to group if you have good legs, but I just didn’t have the legs to do that today.

“But I’m still really optimistic about the next few weeks and nationals. I know what it takes for me to get going. This is a little bit of motivation for me as well.”

Behind the big American guns, Jeremy Durrin led a contingent of developing North American riders with a 52nd-place finish, just ahead of Canadian Craig Richey. Fellow Euro ’Cross Campers Ryan Knapp and Mitch Hoke took 54th and 56th.

Online editor at large Patrick O’Grady contributed to this report.

Zdenek Stybar gestures in frustration as Kevin Pauwels collects another win. Photo: Dan Seaton

Quick results

• 1. Kevin Pauwels (BEL) Sunweb-Revor, 1:03:44
• 2. Zdenek Stybar (CZE) Quickstep Cycling Team, same time
• 3. Sven Nys (BEL) Landbouwkrediet, at 0:20
• 4. Klaas Vantornout (BEL) Sunweb-Revor, at 0:32
• 5. Tom Meeusen (BEL) Telenet-Fidea, at 0:35

Complete results

Radomir Simunek with a broken bike after botching a bunny-hop during the GP Hasselt cyclocross. Photo Peter Deconinck | AFP

Defending champion Kevin Pauwels won a thriller on Saturday at the GVA Trofee Hasselt.

The Sunweb-Revor rider was off the front as part of a powerful foursome that included world champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step), Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) and Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea).

The four seemed evenly matched in the final laps, attacking, chasing and countering one another, but none could gain an indisputable advantage. They hit the paved finishing section in a bunch.

Stybar was first to make his move, but he couldn’t escape the others. As they rounded the final right-hand corner onto the finishing straight Pauwels gave it the gas, taking the slightest of gaps.

Stybar fought to close it, but fell just short thanks to Pauwels’ last-second bike throw at the line. Nys hung on for the final spot on the podium.

After losing to Stybar here in 2009, Pauwels said, “I knew I had to take the final turn first.”

As for Stybar, he said, “Losing the sprint is always unfortunate, but Kevin was very strong today.”

The Sunweb rider, who now leads the eight-race GVA Trofee series with 81 points, said “it now looks very good for the overall classification.”

But Stybar, who remains second with 69 points, nine ahead of the third-placed Nys, said it was too soon to say whether Pauwels had clinched the title after just three races. “It’s a long season,” he noted.

Meeusen attacks early (and often)

Meeusen took the holeshot and led the way onto the 2.9km course, a rolling, winding circuit with stretches of pavement, grass and sand — three pits in all — plus three rideable flyovers and a pair of stout logs that the leaders were able to bunny-hop (most of the time, anyway).

Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb) took over as the lap unfolded with Meeusen, Stybar and Nys following. Then Stybar grabbed the front going into the second flyover, which was separated from the third by the final long sand pit.

The world champ led Vantornout and Meeusen into lap two, with a big group including Pauwels and Nys right behind.

The first half-dozen riders ran the first sand pit, though Nys was able to ride, and soon it was one long line with Meeusen on the sharp end. Then Vantornout and Pauwels took over, with Nys and Meeusen on their wheels.

Simunek stacks it, splitting the field

A sharp, steep right-hand corner clogged traffic, forcing several riders — including Nys — off their bikes. But the first big separation came courtesy of Radomir Simunek (BKCP-Powerplus) who next time through the log hop center-punched the second one and hit the deck, taking down Rob Peeters (Telenet) and splitting the field.

The mishap left a six-man group off the front: Nys, Pauwels, Vantornout, Stybar, Nys and Dieter Vanthourenhout (BKCP-Powerplus).

Going into the first flyover Nys laid down an attack that slashed the group in half going into the second flyover. Stybar and Pauwels stayed with him, and as the threesome began the third lap Vantornout was just behind, sprinting to catch on. The rest of the field followed in ones and twos.

Pauwels led through the first and second sandpits and the six-man group gradually reformed until Pauwels drilled it going past the pits and only Stybar could go with him. Nys and Vantornout were a couple seconds back, but closing.

Pauwels shows his power

This time the leaders hopped the logs cleanly, with Vanthourenhout chasing just behind. But Nys and Vantornout were having trouble in the sand, and Pauwels took a gap once more going over the third flyover. Stybar was chasing in second with Nys third and Vantornout fourth.

Pauwels rolled into six to go with four seconds’ advantage over Stybar as Nys led a four-man chase a few seconds further back. Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant), who got off to a slow start, led a second chase at 24 seconds.

Stybar rejoined Pauwels in the first sand pit. They had three seconds over Nys with Meeusen. Vantornout and Vanthourenhout just behind. The gaps narrowed as the lap dragged on and soon the six were back together — until Vantornout bobbled that tight right-hand corner and briefly blocked Meeusen and Vanthourenhout.

Despite Pauwels’ relentless accelerations the six came back together again going into the second flyover. Then the next sand pit set everyone afoot save the Sunweb rider, who powered into five laps to go with a two-second gap over the others. Aernouts, meanwhile, had closed to within 15 seconds of the lead group.

At the first sand pit Stybar shot forward with Meeusen on his wheel. Pauwels slipped to third as Nys dangled slightly behind in fourth. Vantornout and Vanthourenhout were off the back with Aernout and Bart Wellens (Telenet) closing.

Stybar unfurls the rainbow flag

When Pauwels bungled the right-hander and blocked Nys suddenly it was Stybar and Meeusen off the front. Pauwels was chasing solo and Nys was back with Vantornout and Vanthourenhout.

Everyone hopped the logs cleanly and by the following flyover Stybar led Meeusen and Pauwels, with Nys chasing solo at three seconds and Vanthourenhout just behind.

Then Stybar bobbled in the sand past the flyover and Meeusen seized his opportunity. Pauwels was quickly on him, leaving Stybar and Nys chasing.

With four to go Pauwels led Meeusen with Stybar two seconds back and Nys and Vanthourenhout a few seconds further behind.

Once again Pauwels opened a slight lead going into the second sand pit. Meeusen was chasing, trailed by Stybar, Nys and Vanthourenhout. This quintet gradually regrouped with Vantornout perhaps three seconds down at the right-hander and looking tired.

Meeusen won’t surrender

Then Meeusen gassed it just ahead of the logs — everyone cleaned them and the pace ramped up. Pauwels latched on and the two gapped Stybar and the others. Nys was chasing with Vanthourenhout, and Vantornout seemed done.

The determined Meeusen attacked a third time in the next sand pit and took three seconds from Pauwels, who quickly took them back. Stybar latched back on as the leaders hit the pavement, followed by Nys, and with three laps remaining it was a four-man lead group, with Vantornout dangling and Aernouts still some 14 seconds down and on his own.

Vantornout fought back up to the leaders and suddenly Vanthourenhout seemed to be suffering as Meeusen drove the group. Not so Aernouts, who had the lead group in sight as they raced past the pits.

Then Stybar took the front going into the right-hander and gave it the gas. Vantornout botched the turn, leaving a three-man group off the front — Stybar, Pauwels and Meeusen — with Nys chasing solo in fourth.

Aernout loses it at the logs

Then Aernouts took his own header at the logs, Vantornout crashed into him, and that was all she wrote for the pursuit. The winner would come from the lead quartet.

Again Meeusen drilled it in the sand, taking a gap over Stybar, who dismounted to run then chased back on with Pauwels and Nys. With two to go, Vanthourenout was just behind the four leaders.

Finally Nys came forward, taking the lead and attacking through the first sand pit. Stybar rode it cleanly, grabbed his wheel, and the two were away with Meeusen third and Pauwels fourth at the second sand pit. They had perhaps three seconds at the pits — then Stybar botched the right-hander and left Nys in sole possession of the lead.

But not for long — the foursome reformed at the logs. Nys led Stybar, Meeusen and Pauwels over the first flyover, then the second. Nys accelerated through the subsequent sand pit and took Stybar with him. Meeusen and Pauwels fell back, perhaps four seconds behind at the final flyover.

Going into the bell lap it was once again a foursome up front with Stybar leading. Vanthourenout was hanging on to fifth at 15 seconds.

Pauwels slipped into second in the second sand pit and Nys dropped to third. Stybar jumped as they raced into the pits and got a bit of daylight, but Nys slammed the window shut at the right-hander and Meeusen got back on too.

Meeusen nearly misses

On their final trip over the logs Meeusen nearly came undone, unclipping his right shoe on the second log and wobbling leftward, but all four leaders made it through unsacthed.

Meeusen made one final bid for glory, attacking onto the second flyover and grabbing a minuscule advantage. Then Stybar punched it into the final flyover and Pauwels was on him. The world champ powered through the last sand pit with the Sunweb rider on his wheel and Nys and Meeusen fighting to reconnect.

Nys dragged Meeusen back up to the leaders and the four hit the pavement together. Stybar gave it his all, trying to shed the others, but around the final bend and onto the finishing straight Pauwels was on the front.

He led out the sprint and took his second consecutive win here by a whisker, flinging his bike at the line. Nys and Meeusen coasted across the line for third and fourth, respectively, and Vanthourenhout hung on for fifth.

Round four of the GVA Trofee series will be the GP Rouwmoer Essen on December 17.

Quick results

• 1. Kevin Pauwels, Sunweb-Revor
• 2. Zdenek Stybar, Quickstep Cycling Team
• 3. Sven Nys, Landbouwkrediet
• 4. Tom Meeusen, Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team
• 5. Dieter Vanthourenhout, BKCP-Powerplus

Complete results

World champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step) celebrates as he wins the Hamme-Zogge leg of the Superprestige series. Photo: Peter Deconinck | AFP

World champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step) rode a huge group of favorites off his wheel and soloed to victory in the Superprestige Hamme-Zogge on Sunday.

The redesigned course was dry and fast, with short, rideable climbs, two staircase runs and two flyovers, one a real monster that started with a rideable ramp and segued into a staircase run.

A group of 12 had formed up with seven laps to go containing all the usual suspects: Stybar, Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor), Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea), Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor), Dieter Vanthourenhout (BKCP-Powerplus) and Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant), among others..

Nys and Pauwels tried to whittle the group down without success, and with six laps remaining it looked like anyone’s race.

Then Stybar exploded out of the group, opening up a huge gap, perhaps six seconds. After a moment’s hesitation Albert came forward to lead the chase with Nys on his wheel. But by the giant flyover the world champ had extended his lead to nine seconds.

Next time through the start-finish, 35 minutes into the race, Stybar was out of sight, his lead up to 20 seconds, as Vanthourenhout led the chase across the line.

With four laps remaining the chase was losing ground, nearly a half-minute down. Nys accelerated, taking Albert with him, and the two left the others in their dust.

Forty-seven minutes into the race Nys and Albert still trailed Stybar by two dozen seconds with three laps to go. Vantornout led the others 10 seconds further in arrears.

Pauwels and Aernouts were closing on the two chasers but no one was threatening Stybar, who held firmly to an advantage of 25 seconds with two laps remaining and showed no signs of slowing down. Pauwels fought his way up to Nys and Albert, but Aernouts couldn’t make the bridge and remained a few seconds behind with a second chase group.

Nys punched it, trying to rid himself of Albert and Pauwels, and the Belgian champ seemed to struggle slightly, slipping behind Pauwels at the monster flyover. Nys accelerated again, but Albert hung on, and Nys gestured angrily at Pauwels, who having just bridged up was not eager to share the work.

Eventually Pauwels did take the front, but Stybar was taking the bell lap, 27 seconds ahead, and the chasing threesome began thinking about the arrangement of the remaining places on the podium as they crossed the line.

Nys retook the lead, with Pauwels and Albert following, the Belgian champ always dangling slightly off the back.

And then he was off the back for real as Nys gave it the gas, taking Pauwels along with him going into the monster flyover. Pauwels led Nys past the pits and then laid down a few accelerations of his own on an undulating section, taking a slight lead as the two approached the paved finish.

Stybar took the win, punching the air, and Pauwels led out the sprint for second, pipping a tiring Nys. Albert finished fourth with Radomir Simunek fifth.

In women’s racing, meanwhile, Daphny Van Den Brand (AA Drink-Leontien.nl) took the victory by 18 seconds over runner-up Pauline Ferrand Prevot (AC Bazancourt) and third-placed Sanne Cant (BKCP-Powerplus).

Americans Amy Dombroski (Crank Brothers) and Christine Vardaros (Baboco-Revor) both finished in the top 20, with Dombroski ninth at 1:20 and Vardaros 15th at 3:04.

Men

• 1. Zdenek Stybar (Cze), 1:04:20
• 2. Kevin Pauwels (Bel), 1:04:29
• 3. Sven Nys (Bel), 1:04:29
• 4. Niels Albert (Bel), 1:04:51
• 5. Radomir Simunek (Cze), 1:04:53

Women

• 1. Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned), 40:35
• 2. Pauline Ferrand Prevot (Fra), 40:53
• 3. Sanne Cant (Bel), 40:53
• 4. Sabrina Stultiens (Ned), 40:53
• 5. Sophie De Boer (Ned), 40:53

Complete results

Sven Nys held his fire until the end and took the victory.

A crafty Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) outfoxed world champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step) and Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) to win the first race of the 2011-12 UCI World Cup in Pilsen, Czech Republic.

The three were well ahead of a half-dozen chasers with Stybar and Pauwels doing the lion’s share of the work and Nys only rarely taking the front. Instead, he held his fire until the final meters of the race, laying down a decisive attack after a steep staircase run-up and taking a slight lead onto the paved finishing straightaway.

It was all he needed — Nys held on for the win ahead of Pauwels and a visibly frustrated Stybar, whose relentless attacks had left him with the lowest step on the podium.

The top American on the day was Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) in 10th. Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) finished 20th with Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) 21st.

In women’s racing, the top American was Katie Compton (Rabobank-Giant), who soloed to victory.

Compton tested the other contenders several times before making a decisive move on the fourth of six laps. She held off the chase to finish 18 seconds ahead of runner-up Sanne van Paassen (Brainwash) and nearly a half-minute up on rival Katerina Nash (Luna).

Fast and furious

The course in Pilsen was a fast, dry 2.6km affair, with plenty of twisting and turning, two barriers, a few short rideable climbs and that steep staircase run-up.

All the usual suspects were in the mix in the early going. With seven laps to race the lead group included Nys, Stybar, Pauwels, Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor), Steve Chainel (FdJ), Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant). Powers, Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) and Radomir Simunek (BKCP-Powerplus).

Pauwels and Stybar took a little daylight after the barrier section, which most of the lead group was bunny-hopping. They quickly took a five-second gap over Nys, who in turn had a slight gap over the rest of the chase.

Stybar was content to let Pauwels lead the way, and with six laps to go Nys was closing in on the leaders. Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) was not having a stellar outing — the Belgian champion was sitting 10th with Powers 11th and Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) 15th.

Katie Compton soloed to victory in Pilsen.

Nys caught the two leaders and sat in as Stybar shared the work with Pauwels.

Behind Aernouts tried to escape the chase — Vantornout and Wellens soon joined him and that threesome was just five seconds back at the staircase. They would get no closer.

The chase crumbles

With five laps to go the chase was eight seconds in arrears. All three leaders were hopping the barriers as behind only Vantornout dismounted to run. At the staircase the chase was 11 seconds down and steadily giving ground.

Four to go and a second trio was closing in on the chase — Albert, Francis Mourey (FdJ) and Chainel. Powers was just behind. Despite the additional horsepower the pursuit was fading as the leaders extended their advantage to 20 seconds, with Pauwels in the driver’s seat, Nys second and Stybar third.

With three to go Nys finally took the front. Albert led the chase through the start-finish 20 seconds later. Wellens dropped out of the chase with a mechanical, running to the pits, but Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) had made the group.

Going into the staircase Pauwels had retaken the lead with Nys and Stybar following. Stybar took the front going through the start-finish with two laps to go and once again Nys parked himself at the back.

Albert continued to lead the five-man chase, but they were out of the hunt.

Stybar’s legs v. Nys’ brains

Stybar abruptly twisted the throttle, taking a couple of bike lengths going into the barriers. But Pauwels and Nys hung tough, keeping the world champion within reach, and he dialed it down a notch, letting Pauwels slip back into the lead. The three were locked together as they ran the staircase and rode through the start-finish into the bell lap.

Stybar punched it on the pavement but couldn’t shake the others. He continued to lay down little accelerations coming out of corners, into the barriers and onto anything like a climb, but Pauwels and Nys stuck with him.

Then he seemed to ease off a bit, apparently secure in his ability to out-sprint the others. And Nys, knowing this all too well, came forward, perhaps to slow the pace a bit.

Stybar was having none of that. He slipped past, led the way up the stairs — and then suddenly Nys snaked past on the slight incline following the run-up and hit the pavement first, taking the win and the World Cup lead ahead of Pauwels with Stybar third. Mourey was best of the rest in fourth with Vantornout fifth.

Quick results
Men

• 1. Sven Nys (Bel), 1:06:08
• 2. Kevin Pauwels (Bel),
• 3. Zdenek Stybar (Cze), 1:06:11
• 4. Francis Mourey (Fra), 1:06:45
• 5. Klaas Vantornout (Bel), 1:06:46

Complete results

Women

• 1. Katherine Compton (USA), 40:37
• 2. Sanne Van Paassen (Ned), 40:55
• 3. Katerina Nash (Cze), 41:04
• 4. Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned), 41:20
• 5. Helen Wyman (Gbr), 41:53

Complete results

Stybar is hoisted up to the stage by Belgian fans. | Photo courtesy of Jan Neys

Indeed, you could image that Belgian `cross fans left Sankt Wendel this past weekend more than a little disappointed that the world champions in 2011 hail from France, Holland and the Czech Republic. You might also be wrong about that disappointment, especially for residents of Essen, the town in Northern Belgium two-time world elite men’s cyclocross champion Zdeněk Štybar now calls home.

On Sunday, as Belgians sporting jackets that proclaimed “Supportersclub Sven Nys,” “Neils Albert Supporter,” or even “Supporter Alle Belgen” retired to the big red Belgian party tent to drown their sorrows, the gang from Essen – complete with their own Club Stybar jackets – had ample reason to celebrate.

“Hey, he’s got a Belgian girlfriend,” said one Belgian Stybar fan over dinner on Sunday night. “He’s practically one of us. He’s a local now.”

On Monday, the cyclocross community of Essen turned out to welcome “home” their conquering hero, with a victory bash, a massive cake and a new sign proclaiming the local BMX and cyclocross training park had been renamed in Stybar’s honor.

Hey, if you can’t beat `em, have them join you.

Zdenek Stybar defends his rainbow jersey. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com

ST. WENDEL, Germany (VN) — After suffering a mid-season knee injury, Zdenek Stybar decided he wanted to concentrate solely on a single race. It paid off on Sunday in St. Wendel as the Czech successfully defended his elite men’s world cyclocross title, finishing well ahead of Belgium’s Sven Nys.

Stybar crossed the line all alone, arms flung wide and punching the air. Seventeen seconds later Nys followed for second, waving to the crowd.

“Whatever race, it’s very difficult to win,” a smiling Stybar said afterward. “They say the most difficult to win is the first one, and the second one is a little bit easier. It’s really unbelievable. It’s really great.”

Great isn’t exactly what Stybar had been feeling in December when he decided to cut his World Cup campaign short, stop competition and then spend time recovering and training to regain form on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca.

“No one really expected that could put my whole focus on this one race … and then do well,” Stybar said. “No one really believed me when I put on my Twitter account how many hours I’d been doing on Mallorca, but I was motivated.”

Not being a Belgian is reason enough to go fast

Stybar’s motivation was evident from the start as he quickly moved to the front and led the field of 59 starters through the running track and onto the dirt of the 2.8km course around Sankt Wendel.

“I wanted to keep the pace as high as I could,” he said. “I was afraid that we would ride this race in too big of a group and that doesn’t suit me.”

Stybar’s efforts strung out the field almost in single file, with a small group forming up front. There at the front of a gaggle of black-red-and-gold-striped Belgian team kits was Stybar driving the pace with a small selection of others in the mix. American Jonathan Page appeared to be solidly in contention, ending the first lap in fifth, right there with Stybar, Nys and fellow Belgians Kevin Pauwels, Klaas Vantornout, Gerben de Knegt and Bart Wellens.

Local fans were thrilled to see young German phenom’ Phillipp Walsleben there, too, with France’s Francis Mourey and Italian Marco Fontana.

While still driving the pace at the front, Stybar looked around and decided he wasn’t too happy with the make-up of the lead group.

“Too many Belgians,” he said. “I didn’t like that.”

He continued to ride aggressively and the group was whittled down to more manageable levels. At the same time, Page suffered a flat and a rider who could have been a contender found himself chasing hard after a long ride back to the pits for a new bike.

Jonathan Page was riding well until a flat derailed his train. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com

Stybar and the Belgians continued to winnow down the field and after four laps the leaders included just the defending world champion, Nys, Pauwels, Vantornout, Walsleben and Fontana.

The six already had a comfortable gap on a rather sizable 10-man chase group that included Mourey and American Tim Johnson. However, Johnson’s chances evaporated just the group crossed the line at the end of lap four. Another rider caught a pedal in Johnson’s front wheel, the wheel collapsed and Johnson hit the deck. He was transported to a local hospital and Johnson said he suffered no major injuries in the mishap.

“I was just getting ready to move out of that group when the dude moved in from the left and drove me to the right,” Johnson told VeloNews. “There was no chance to save it … I dumped it hard. I guess — as the Germans say — I had a painful ausfahrt (exit) from this one. I was seriously ausfahrted.”

Johnson said he has major bruising around his ribs and “a couple of hairline fractures,” but he’s not too concerned about the long-term consequences of the crash because “hey, season’s over now.”

Meanwhile at the front, two more laps into the 11-lap event, Stybar decided to really test his legs.

“With three Belgians out there, I didn’t want to wait around and see which one of them would attack,” Stybar said. “I attacked once and only Sven stayed with me. I was comfortable with that.”

Not even Nys could hold Stybar in check. By the end of lap 7, the Czech rider had a six-second advantage, one that steadily grew to 18 seconds by the finish.

“No, that’s not a lot, but my only worry was making a mistake or having a mechanical problem,” Stybar said. “I felt good and I felt the kind of pain I felt when doing intervals on Mallorca. The knee was fine.”

Behind, Walsleben tried an attack with two laps remaining and succeeded only in shedding Fontana from the group. The young German was left with a two-on-one battle with the Belgians, the situation Stybar did his best to avoid.

The attacks came first from one and then the other, as the two Belgians played cat-and-mouse with their rival. The gamesmanship — some call it “argy-bargy” — slowed the pace enough so that Mourey joined up from the next chase group.

Sven Nys gave it his all but fell just that little bit short. Photo: Graham Watson | www.grahamwatson.com

At the finish,  1:15 behind the winner, Pauwels surged onto the track, held off a charge from Mourey and earned the usual powerhouse of cyclocross only its second medal of the weekend.

Nys was somewhat philosophical in having been defeated on a course on which he’d won the world title in 2005.

“I’m happy,” he said. “The strongest man won here today. He earned it. I’m 34 — almost 35 — and I rode the best I could … it just happened to be second-best today.”

Indeed, Nys said missing a worlds gold is no reason for him to consider retirement.

“I’m committed to racing through the 2014 season,” he said. “I love what I do. I am still pretty good at it — I only missed the podium in five races this season — and I enjoy my job.”

Stybar, meanwhile, will be joining the Quick Step team this coming road season and may change his focus from here on out.

“I want to try to see what I can do on the road,” he said. “I am young and the one thing I do not want to do is to look back and wonder if I could have done it. It’s a good thing to try. I just need to focus on that for a while.”

And you know what can happen when Zdenek Stybar decides to focus on a goal. Stay tuned.

—Online editor at large Patrick O’Grady contributed to this report.

Stybar at last weekend's cyclocross World Cup, where he finished fourth. Photo: Dan Seaton

The Czech Republic’s world cyclocross champion, Zdenek Stybar, will join the Quick Step road team March 1 and may make his road debut with the team at the Tour of California or the Tour of Belgium, the team announced Tuesday

The 25 year old will first defend his ‘cross world championships this Sunday in St. Wendel, Germany.

“Personally it’s a dream come true,” Stybar said in the team statement. “This is an important step in my professional life that will offer me many opportunities and open doors for me into the professional world. I’m still trying to absorb what’s happened.  I’ve won a lot in cyclocross but I really wanted to try this experience.”

Stybar said he does not intend to quit cyclocross and also hopes to race the mountain bike cross country event at the 2012 London Olympics.

“As far as my schedule, I’m taking it one step at a time. I have to learn a lot, almost everything. This is why we’ve worked out a schedule that doesn’t keep me too busy to start with, that gives me time to grow slowly. At the moment, though, all my energy is concentrated on Sunday’s world championships. I’m going to do my best to win it, for me and Telenet-Fidea team … I’d love to leave this important prize as a gift to the team and to our sponsors. I’d like to thank everybody for the years we spent together, but I think it’s time for me to try my hand at road racing.”

The Quick Step team was rescued this fall by Czech businessman Zdenek Bakala.

“For Czech Republic is a great thing, he’ll surely promote the movement in our country, too,” Stybar said. “I don’t know Mr. Bakala personally, but I can’t wait to meet him. It’s going to be really exciting.”

VeloNews February 2011 Cover

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Quick Step proudly carries the Belgian banner in the European peloton, but its saviors are a Dutch businessman, Bessl Kok, and Czech investor, Zdenek Bakala, who bought a majority share of the team.

According to media reports in Belgium, team manager Patrick Lefevere will stay at the helm and Quick Step will remain the title sponsor in 2011.

“This agreement will allow the team as well as the people who work for the team to have a guaranteed future even after 2011,” Lefevere said in a team statement Thursday. “From now on we will be able to focus on next season and on building the team for the near future. Our objective, as usual, is to win prestigious awards. Quick Step will stay as the main sponsor for the 2011 season. All remaining partners of the team also confirmed their commitment for next season.”

The arrival of Bakala seems to confirm rumors this week in Europe that cyclo-cross world champion Zdenek Stybar is poised to join Quick Step and make a run at the spring classics. Stybar told Belgian journalists that he has a standing offer and could join the road team as soon as this season.

Quick Step – a Belgian-based manufacturer of floor coverings – stood by Lefevere through a string of scandals including team stars Tom Boonen and Johan Museeuw ever since becoming title sponsor in 2003. Quick Step stays on through at least next season.

It’s the ownership of the holding company behind the ProTour team that’s changing hands. Lefevere said the deals was in the works for “several months.”

Stepping in is Bakala, who, according to media reports, is a self-made millionaire who started a financial services company in the 1990s to help facilitate the sales of the state-run companies in his newly independent Czech Republic. He later invested in the mining industry and has branched out into media operations. It’s not known how much Bakala and Kok paid for the team’s shares.

If Stybar does make the transition to the road, it will be interesting to see how fast he can adapt to the new style of racing. Another cyclo-cross star, Lars Boom, has enjoyed considerable success since switching full-time to the road two seasons ago.

The news comes as Quick Step confirmed its place in the 18-team ProTour league and will be entering the 2010 season losing some of its top riders, including two-time Tour of Flanders winner Stijn Devolder, Spanish scrapper Carlos Barredo, sprinter Wouter Wylandt, and workhorses Kevin Hulsman, Matteo Tosatto and Marco Velo.

Boonen will be on the comeback trail next year from knee surgery in July. Among 11 new arrivals are Gerard Ciolek, Nicki Terpstra and Francesco Chicchi.

Ridley lays the X-Team up in 30 and 24-ton high modulus carbon with an oversized tapered head tube (1.5-inch at the base). The BB30 bottom bracket keeps lateral flex to a minimum and power transfer for the short, angry burst of `cross to a maximum.

Instead of using numbers to differentiate each of Stybar’s bikes this season, his mechanics chose to emblazon each frame with the site of a 2009-10 race win. Stybar doesn’t have a favorite rig yet, but at the Czech national championships he will pull out the Ridley “Tabor,” named for his elite world championship win in his home country, out for the first time. Stybar will ride the special machine only at the championships and his mechanics joked that he will likely choose it as his favorite.

Stybar relies on a SRAM Red drivetrain with Avid Shorty Ultimate brakes and 4ZA integrated cockpit and rims. Cables are internally routed through Kevlar guides and Stybar uses the classy gold medal Jagwire L3 housing.

A stable of Dugast tires done up with custom world champion sidewalls grace the rig when it is in the stable, but were not his tires of choice this weekend.

Kevin Pauwels took a gap out of the final sandpit and held off Zdenek Stybar for the win in Hasselt. Photo: Brian Holcombe

HASSELT, Belgium (VN) — Soft-spoken Kevin Pauwels spoke loudly with his legs on Saturday, burying an elite lead group in the Belgian sand to win the GP van Hasselt by seconds over world champion Zdenek Stybar.

The mud bogs of last weekend’s Superprestige in Hamme-Zogge were but a filthy, fading memory as the world’s best came to Hasselt, which served up a rolling, sinuous handler’s course overflowing with hairpin turns, deep sand and three flyovers — one of which 2009 winner Stybar was using as a launch pad, table-topping for the entertainment of the massive crowd.

On such a tight, fast circuit it was tough for anyone to get away, and early on there was a big crowd up front, including Pauwels, with Telenet-Fidea teammates Stybar, Rob Peeters, Tom Meussen and Bart Wellens; Sven Nys (Landboukrediet); Niels Albert and Radomir Simunek (BKCP-Powerplus); and Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant).

Nys tried time and again to get away, but Stybar marked him relentlessly. Then Aernouts made a big move with four laps to go that trimmed the lead bunch to six — himself, Pauwels, Stybar, Nys, Albert and Wellens.

It was looking like anyone’s race, though Nys seemed the strongest of the six. With two laps to go he was on the front and setting a tremendous pace that split the lead group in two, with the Belgian champion, Pauwels and Stybar in the front.

“It’s really nervous and you must stay on the front three,” said Nys. “There is always a gap and you have to close it and use a lot of energy. You’re dead and you see they’re all coming back.”

Indeed, Aernouts, Albert and Wellens clawed their way back to the leaders, and it was a six-man group racing into the bell lap, though Albert was clearly suffering, hanging just off the back of the group.

Stybar led Nys, Pauwels, Albert and Wellens on the third lap. Two laps later Nys would split the group in half with a long, powerful acceleration. Photo: Brian Holcombe

Stybar took the front and gave it the gas, again trimming the lead group to three. Wellens and Aernouts fought their way back up, but Albert was well and truly gone.

And then Pauwels made his move, leading up and over the final flyover and punching it through the final stretch of sand to hit the pavement with a few bike lengths over Stybar, with Nys just behind. The world champion put his head down and drilled it, trying to bring his teammate back, but it wasn’t going to happen. Pauwels crossed the line alone, with the world champ hanging on for second ahead of Nys.

“Today I had a really good day, so it was easy to stay in front. Some other days it’s hard, but today I was really super,” said Pauwels. “I knew that I had to be very fast into the corner before the last pit very fast and I knew I had to stay in front to go into the last descent on front.”

Stybar said he knew that the first man out of the sand on the final lap would be the first to cross the finish.

“Today it was so technical a race that if you have just one mistake you could lose the entire race. It’s quite dangerous,” said Stybar. “Kevin was really strong and I was not so fast in the sand because I came in with no speed.”

As for Nys, he was disappointed to miss out on the win after showing such strong form.

“It’s too bad that I couldn’t win this race because my feeling was really good,” he said. “I did the perfect race until the last half.”

American Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), who has had an up-and-down season in Europe thus far, got off to a slow start but came back to finish 19th.

Online editor at large Patrick O’Grady contributed to this report.

Complete results

Quick results

• 1. Kevin Pauwels, Telenet-Fidea, 1:01:22
• 2. Zdenek Stybar, Telenet-Fidea
• 3. Sven Nys, Landbouwkrediet
• 4. Bart Wellens, Telenet-Fidea
• 5. Bart Aernouts, Rabobank-Giant

Nys was a popular winner

Twice a year the Koppenberg wreaks havoc on professional cycling: once in the spring when the Ronde van Vlaanderen crosses its cobbled slopes, and once in autumn, when cyclocross fans crowd this hillside in the Flemish Ardennes to watch riders do battle with its legendary mud.

And the Koppenberg did not disappoint this year, as some 16,000 fans who turned out for a special holiday edition of the Koppenbergcross, the second race of the 2010 Gazet van Antwerpen Trofee series, were treated to two of the most dramatic victories of this cyclocross season.

In the women’s race, British national champion Helen Wyman (Kona) powered away from Belgian champion Sanne Cant (BKCP-Powerplus) to claim perhaps the biggest victory of her career, while in the men’s race, Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) dominated an impressive lineup, winning his seventh straight, and eighth career, Koppenberg title.

Even before the race, it was clear that victory Monday would demand a special balance of power, technique, and fearlessness, as the day’s early races ground the already steep and technical track into a thick soup of grass and sticky mud that clogged bikes, snapped derailleurs, and sucked up wheels and shoes alike.

And from the first moments of the women’s race, it was clear that Wyman, who lives in nearby Oudenaarde and finished second here last year, meant to win, opening an early gap by seemingly floating across a course that the rest of the racers, except for Sanne Cant, were forced to run.

Wyman leads Cant on the cobbles near the race's midpoint.

Though both women had their share of bobbles and falls on the almost impossibly muddy course, Wyman was able to capitalize when Cant had mechanical trouble near the bottom of the cobbled section of the climb near the race’s halfway mark. While nearly two minutes behind, Dutch champion Daphny Van Den Brand (ZZPR.nl) and GVA series leader Sanne Van Paassen (Brainwash) battled for third, Wyman used superior handling and some good luck to pull away from Cant, eventually riding to a 30 second win.

“This was a massive win,” a beaming Wyman told VeloNews in a post-race interview. “This is my adopted hometown now and it’s an awesome race. The Koppenberg is just so famous, it’s amazing to do it.”

Wyman added that conditions were so bad that she may have actually benefitted from a mid-race flat. “The descent today was unbelievably difficult. It was just ridiculous … Actually, I had a flat tire coming into the uphill,” she explained, “and I actually got more traction because it was so flat.”

American Christine Vardaros (Baboco-Revor), who was sidelined much of this week by a serious stomach virus, rode to her best finish of the season, 12th place, just behind defending Koppenberg champion Pavla Havlikova (APB).

“I was really happy today. I saw quite a few racers during the race whom I haven’t seen in three or four years,” said Vardaros, who has been steadily improving since she started receiving treatment for a thyroid problem last year. “It felt like I was back to normal. The ironic thing is that my weakest skill is my running, and the smartest thing I did was run even when I could ride. Because otherwise the wheels don’t even turn (later on in the lap).”

In the men’s race it was another Oudenaarde resident, American Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) who shot to the front, driving the pace on the first ascent of the cobbles while the race favorites sorted themselves out behind.

Fans cheer as Stybar leads Gerben de Knegt on the climb.

Though world champion Zdenek Stybar (Fidea-Telenet) led the chase through much of the first half lap, it was Belgian champion Sven Nys who took over from Page, running past the American on one of the course’s most unrideable sections, just below the top of the hill.

Nys stormed down the steep, slick descent, while Page was slowed when he slid out into the tape on one of the descent’s many switchback turns. Only Stybar could match Nys on the descent, but Nys, buoyed by the huge, partisan crowd, hit the gas again, going clear on his way through the saturated field near the end of the lap at the bottom of the hill.

Nys, who cut through the mud with such finesse that, at times, it appeared he was racing on a different course than the rest of the riders, simply pulled away, gaining more than a minute in the course of the race’s seven laps. Behind him, a chase group of Stybar, Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), Gerben de Knegt (Rabobank), and Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor) could do nothing to close the gap. The chase group quickly fractured on the descent, as Niels Albert used his superior handling to pull away from Stybar — who looked particularly uncomfortable in the mud all day and fell several times — and the rest of the bunch.

While Stybar went backward, his teammate, the unflappable Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea), was making his way forward. Pauwels came around Stybar in the pits near the end of the second lap, and quickly worked his way past de Knegt and Vantornout.

Bart Wellens descends the Koppenberg.

Though Albert mounted a valiant attempt to catch Nys, Nys showed that he remains the sport’s most technically gifted athlete, riding easily to his first major victory of the season, dispelling any suggestion that at 34 he could no longer match his younger rivals.

“I’m really excited,” Nys told VeloNews after the race. “This is a really hard race, it’s my favorite race, and when you can win for the eighth time here, it’s really fun. And with all the (supporters) who were standing along the course, it’s fantastic.”

Nys credited both his technique and the risky strategy of running his tires with next to no pressure in them with helping him to the win.

“I have a lot of technical skills,” he said, “but I think the tires are really important, the pressure that you put in them. Of course it’s dangerous to ride a flat tire, but when you don’t do it you crash every time.”

Albert, who went on to finish second on the day, told VeloNews that he was more satisfied with the day’s result after illness and injury hampered his early season.

“After (the race in Zonhoven) yesterday I was a little bit tired,” said the 2009 world champion, “and now on the season my condition is not very good. I didn’t train for two weeks, and now I’ve trained for four weeks. So for me, second place today is OK.”

Despite his strong showing in the first half of the race, Jonathan Page faded to a 25th place finish. The race’s sole American, he told VeloNews that he had planned to attack from the gun. “I took advantage of the line I had directly,” said Page, “then tried to recover and go up the hill fast. Year after year I’ve gotten caught after the cobbles section— it’s a bottleneck — and I didn’t want to deal with that anymore, so I went for it and it worked out. It’s just after that, I’m not recovering quite as well as I hope. But I’ll figure that out and eventually that will come good again.”

Page added that he thought the unique combination of skills the race demands — both power and finesse, often at the same time — make it a favorite for a lot of competitors. “You really have to pick your efforts,” he said. “Not only is it a huge effort to get up the hill, it’s a huge effort to get down without falling on your face. But that’s what makes ‘cross fun.”

Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team) celebrates after win in Zonhoven, Belgium. Photo: Peter Deconinck | AFP

World champion Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea) kept his unbeaten streak intact on Sunday, winning the Superprestige Zonhoven in a three-way battle with teammate Kevin Pauwels and Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet).

Stybar is unbeaten in major races this season, although he did come in fourth at at a midweek event in Tabor, Czech Republic.

Stybar and Belgian champ Nys separated themselves from the pack early on the hilly, sandy circuit. Pauwels and Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant) joined them up front with seven laps to go, pursued by Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus).

Pauwels went to the front with Nys on his wheel as Stybar pitted. The world champ quickly rejoined as the leaders hit the steep sand pit that was the primary obstacle of the circuit, with two precipitous, sandy descents and two long, brutal run-ups. The second was so steep that the riders used their free hands and the course fencing to pull themselves upward.

With six to go it was a four-man group up front, with Albert just short of making contact. Nys laid down an attack going into the sand pit, shedding Aernouts, but Stybar and Pauwels were able to answer, dangling a few bike lengths behind.

When the two Telenet riders closed on Nys, Stybar went straight to the front and drilled it, his skinsuit unzipped to the breastbone. Nys and Pauwels both hung tough, though.

Pauwels bobbled in a sandy rut and lost contact, nearly being overtaken by a three-man chase containing Albert, Telenet’s Bart Wellens and Aernouts. He was back on the leading trio with four laps to go, but the chase was closing in, to within four seconds.

Stybar attacked once again on the second pit run, but couldn’t shake Nys. Pauwels in turn stuck to the Belgian champ’s wheel. And then the chase finally connected, leaving a six-man lead group, heavy on Telenet riders, in contention for the win.

Pauwels took the front and set the pace, Nys on his wheel and Stybar right behind.

With three laps to go, 44 minutes into the race, it was still six men up front and apparently anyone’s race. Stybar took the front once more in the sand pit, and Nys seemed to be losing steam.

Once out of the pit Stybar punched it, quickly taking a four-second gap. Albert led the chase, trailed by Aernouts and Pauwels, with Nys and Wellens struggling off the back.

Nys rejoined the pursuit, but Stybar wasn’t waiting for him or anyone else. Two laps from the finish he held a gap of five seconds over Albert and Pauwels, with Nys yo-yoing on and off the chase.

Stybar padded his lead to 15 seconds once out of the pit, manhandling his bike through the sand. Nys had returned to the front of the chase, dogged by Pauls and Aernouts, and now it was Albert dangling off the back.

Stybar had 12 seconds over the three-man chase going into the bell lap, and Albert was clearly baked. The chase closed in the sand pit, but Stybar fired up the afterburners coming out of it, holding a six-second lead over his teammate Pauwels with Nys in third.

The three could see each other as they snaked through a sandy lane on the backside of the course, and Pauwels seemed within striking range, though Nys looked as though he’d be content with the bottom step on the podium.

Good thing, too, because that’s the way it shook out — Stybar once again triumphant, Pauwels second and Nys third.

Nys and Stybar warm-up before the race.

Once again racers faced atypical cyclocross weather and a dry, dusty, mostly flat 2.4km course, with a slight wind and temperatures in the upper 40s.

The race quickly boiled down down to a three-way tussle among Stybar, Telenet-Fidea teammate Kevin Pauwels and Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus).

With four laps to go, Stybar punched it into a head wind going through the start-finish line and dispatched Pauwels, leaving him to chase some five seconds back. But Albert stuck to his wheel. Sven Nys (Lanboukrediet) led a four-man chase at 30 seconds back.

The two front-runners tested each other during the next lap, taking turns in the lead, neither able to gain an advantage, though Albert seemed stronger on the steep staircase run-up.

With two laps to go the two still seemed evenly matched. Pauwels was still dangling five seconds back while the four-man chase had dwindled to Nys and Francis Mourey (FdJ).

And then Stybar drilled it once more at the start-finish line going into the bell lap, and Albert seemed simply to deflate as the world champion instantly opened a huge gap. The gritty Pauwels overhauled him and moved into second place, 12 seconds behind Stybar, with Albert a further five seconds in arrears.

And that was that. Once again Stybar proved flawless and untouchable, powering away for the win in 1:05:50. Pauwels crossed for second at 15 down while Albert rolled in for third at 32 seconds. Mouray pipped Nys for fourth at 41 seconds.

American Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) finished 46th, two laps down.

“The finish line was really very tough because the wind was from the head,” said Stybar, adding that he had had “specific training for this approach.” And he thanked the partisan crowd for cheering him on.

“Today the crowd was really incredible,” he said.

Earlier, Sanne Van Paassen (BrainWash) won the women’s race in 43:40, with Daphny van den Brand (ZZPR.nl-Destil) second at 16 seconds and Katerina Nash (Luna) third at 55 seconds. Susan Butler (Hudz-Subaru) was the top American, finishing 14th at 2:41.

Complete results

Quick results
Men

• 1. Zdenek Stybar (CZE), Telenet-Fidea, 1:05:52
• 2. Kevin Pauwels (BEL), Telenet-Fidea, at 0:18
• 3. Niels Albert (BEL), BKCP-Powerplus, at 0:33
• 4. Francis Mourey (FRA), Fdj, at 0:41
• 5. Sven Nys (BEL), Landbouwkrediet, at 0:42

Women

• 1. Sanne Van Paassen (NED), 43:40
• 2. Daphny van den Brand (NED), at 0:16
• 3. Katerina Nash (CZE), Luna Pro Team, at 0:55
• 4. Pavla Havlikova (CZE), at 1:11
• 5. Helen Wyman (GBR), Kona, at 1:25

World champion Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea) and American Katie Compton (Planet Bike) took commanding victories in the first World Cup cyclocross of the season on Sunday in Aigle, Switzerland.

Compton soloed to victory ahead of Daphny van den Brand (Netherlands) and Katerina Nash (Luna) on the dry, dusty course, which served up plenty of short, steep ups and downs, a staircase run-up, a BMX-style rhythm section, a sand pit and a double set of barriers that eight of the top 10 were bunny-hopping.

And Stybar raced away from the bunch with five laps to go, taking an insurmountable lead over a powerful group of chasers.

With three laps to go Stybar had a gap of 20 seconds over Francis Mourey (FdJ), Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea), Dieter Vanthourenhout (BKCP-Powerplus), Klass Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor), Steve Chainel (BBox Bouygues Telecom), Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea), Bart Aernouts (Rabobank-Giant) and Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus)

Aernouts dropped his chain with three to go and fell out of contention. Up front, Stybar was flawless, clinging to a margin of 20 seconds with two laps to go and Albert leading the chase, which had fragmented into ones and twos.

Going into the bell lap, Albert had closed to within 15 seconds, but he would not catch the leader. The world champion took the victory in 1:03:48, which Albert second at nine seconds and Pauwels third at 14.

“Today was very tough. Every race is very difficult to win,” Stybar said afterward. But he certainly made it look easy.

Stybar has a chance to make it look easy in front of a very partisan home crowd next week, as the World Cup heads to Pilzen in the Czech Republic on Sunday.

Brief Results

Women

Full Results

Men

Full Results

No rainbow curse for this guy

For the second time in as many weeks the sun shone on world champion Zdenek Stybar (Telenet Fidea), who stormed to an impressive victory in the season opener of the Nissan Superprestige Topsport Vlaanderen Trofee in Ruddervoorde, Belgium, on Sunday. The 24-year-old Czech attacked almost straight from the gun, thrilling the enormous crowds, who came out to this village of 5,000 in West Flanders in huge numbers thanks to a stretch of spectacular early autumn weather.

Though Stybar, with his early attack, may have set the stage in much the same way as last week, when he rode to a solo victory on the hills of Namur, the similarities ended there. Ruddervoorde featured a flat, fast, intricately wound course — the only climbs were short, steep, manmade hills and bridges. But the reigning world champion, with wins in the sands of Koksijde, the snows of Tabor, and the mud of Roubaix, is nothing if not versatile, and he easily distanced all but Belgium’s Bart Aernouts (Rabobank), with whom he quickly built a 10-second lead that looked insurmountable even in the race’s first laps.

While Stybar and Aernouts, frequent training partners and neighbors in Essen in northern Belgium, cooperated to stretch their lead early in the race, the real drama of the day was unfolding behind them. 2009 world champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), in his first start of the season after struggling with both illness and injury, found himself gapped after failing to cleanly negotiate the first turn of the race. Albert methodically worked his way into a chase group featuring Belgian champion Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), who was himself looking to return to form after abandoning last weekend in Namur.

The two were joined by an ever-changing cast of characters that, at times, included former world champion Bart Wellens (Stybar’s teammate on Telenet Fidea), Belgain Sven Vanthourenhout (Sunweb-Revor), 2006 Dutch national champion Gerben De Knegt and Frenchman Steve Chainel (Bbox-Bouygues).

A second bobble in a corner by Albert cost the Belgian any chance at a place on the podium, while a broken derailleur forced De Knegt from the race. Nys managed, at one point, to whittle the gap to the leaders down to less than 15 seconds before a broken spoke left him fighting for third with Chainel, ultimately finishing some 45 seconds back.

Niels Albert corners in his first race of the season.

In front, the decisive moment of the race came with two laps to go, when Aernouts accelerated just before he and Stybar hit a short but tricky stretch of sand that had dogged riders all day. Aernouts powered his way through the sand and emerged with a gap over a surprised Stybar, who lost five seconds when he was forced to run while the Belgian pedaled away. Aernouts made a valiant effort to hold off the Czech rider, but simply couldn’t match Stybar’s power on the final lap. A slight bobble by Aernouts on the race’s penultimate set of stairs gave Stybar all the distance he needed to seal his second straight major victory of the season.

After the race, Stybar told reporters he was a little bit surprised by his form on the day. “This week I trained really very hard,” he said. “This week we did some really good training and I was surprised that after this training week I could do such a good race.”

Aernouts, for his part, told VeloNews that he realized his best efforts towards the win had fallen short. “I was thinking during the race, ‘What do I have to do to beat Stybar?’ I was thinking that the only chance for me was to do a surprise, and the last lap he’s so strong, so I was thinking I had to do it before. I tried on the second to last lap, and it was a good effort. I put some pressure on him, but he came back, so it was not enough.”

But he added that he was very happy with his early season success, “It’s been a great start,” he said. “I just hope I can make it to the end of the season.”

Jonathan Page battled hard throughout the race.

Stybar, who has duly earned a reputation as the most magnanimous rider in the European ranks, said he, too, was happy for Aernouts. “Last year he was always fourth, fifth, sixth and never on the podium and now he did it and he almost won the race,” said the Czech. “I didn’t want to try (to attack) like three laps from the end, because I was happy that Bart was riding for the win and I was thinking he is my friend and I didn’t want to ride away from him and take his big chance to be on the podium.”

American Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), made a return to form with a race that was considerably stronger than his 15th place finish might suggest. Page, who narrowly avoided a large crash in the wake of Albert’s first turn bobble, worked his way steadily through the field, riding for ninth place during the second half of the race.

“Results count,” Page told VeloNews, “but how I rode today was better than that … I don’t want to talk about luck, but a little luck at the start and I’m already there. I’m happy, I’m not going to go away disappointed.”

Zdenek Stybar seized the early lead and never looked back.

In conditions more like late August than early October, with bright sunshine and temperatures reaching well into the 70s, European cyclists kicked off the first of their major cyclocross series, the Trofee Gazet van Antwerpen, at the Cyclocross de Namur Citadelle. But the summer-like conditions extended only so far, as a week of rain in Belgium turned an already challenging course — featuring a series of steep, technical descents and often unrideable climbs — into a course that many racers described as one of the hardest they had seen.

In the women’s race, Dutchwoman Sanne Van Paassen (Brainwash) stretched an early-season win streak to three, riding to an impressive solo victory over two national champions, the Netherlands’ Daphny Van Den Brand (ZZPRNL) and Belgium’s Sanne Cant (BKCP-Powerplus).

Van Paassen, who recovered from an early fall to take the lead part way through the second lap, was able to quickly whittle a group of five, including Van Den Brand, Cant, British champion Helen Wyman (Kona-Bongo Bongo) and the diminutive Czech rider Pavla Havlikova (APB), down to three before striking out on her own.

Behind her, Van Den Brand and Cant battled for most of the race before a bobble by Cant on the final lap allowed the Dutch rider to open a gap just as the two reached the stairs at the top of the course. The misstep cost the rising Belgian star any chance at second place, as Van Den Brand pulled steadily away, eventually opening a nearly 30-second gap over Cant. Havlikova, who proved herself a skilled climber with a win at last year’s Koppenbergcross, held off Wyman for fourth.

Van Paassen, who, with a 21-second lead over Van Den Brand, had plenty of time to celebrate the best season start of her career, told VeloNews that the race had gone according to plan.

“You don’t have to do very much in the beginning because later on it will be very, very hard,” she said. “I think I didn’t do too much in the beginning, I relaxed, and later on I was able to go. That was my plan.”

American Christine Vardaros (Baboco-Revor), who finished 17th, told VeloNews that, having changed teams this week, she was satisfied with her race. “I was just happy to be on my bike and feeling good about the team I race for,” she said. “This was easily the heaviest course we’ve ever done. Like nothing we’ve seen before. The only rest was the pavement.”

If there was any doubt about Vardaros’ assessment of the course, the men’s race erased it. Before the start it appeared the race would boil down to a contest between two riders, Belgian champion Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago), who has been unmatched in both form and technical flair in early season races, and the 24 year-old world champion, Czech Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea). Stybar is making his return to Belgian cycling after racing the first weeks of the season at home.

But from the gun it was clear it was not Nys’ day, as the perennial favorite suffered mechanical trouble that left him stranded deep in the field while Stybar jumped immediately to the front of the race. The world champion set an aggressive tempo in the early laps that only 2010 worlds runner-up, Belgian Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor), Bart Aernouts (Rabo Offroad Team) and his own teammate Kevin Pauwels (Telenet-Fidea) could match.

Sanne Van Paassen wins the Cyclocross de Citadelle de Namur.

Aernouts was the first to lose contact with the leaders, dangling while many of the racers took advantage of the UCI’s rule change to allow racers to take feeds in the pits this season. Behind him, two-time world champion Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) recovered from a slow start, launching a dramatic chase that eventually netted him a fifth-place finish. Though Aernouts would hold off Wellen’s charge, he never managed to reconnect with the leaders, finishing just off of the podium in fourth place.

For Nys, meanwhile, nothing seemed to go right, as the Belgian only faded further, eventually abandoning with a gap of more than two minutes to the leaders. Nys was not alone, however, as a dozen riders walked away from the race, defeated by the heat and heavy terrain.

Up front, the group of three was cut to two when Pauwels lost contact after a flat tire. Though Pauwels fought his way back to within a handful of seconds of the leaders with two laps to go, the effort was costly, and he faltered in the final lap, finishing in third, 31 seconds off the lead, while Vantornout and Stybar continued to spar at the head of the race.

American Jonathan Page on one of the course's many unrideable hills.

Several times it looked like the tall and lanky Belgian Vantornout, whose relaxed climbing contrasted with Stybar’s more physical riding, had pulled clear, but each time the world champion closed the gap again. In the end, the more technically skilled Stybar was able to come around Vantornout, making a very tight pass on a difficult off-camber. The Belgian hit the brakes and the Czech attacked, powering through the final climbs to take an eight-second victory, stamping his name as the clear favorite for the GVA Trofee title.

“It’s always very difficult at the first race,” Stybar told reporters afterwards. “You don’t know your real position in the group. I felt OK, but you know if you ride too fast the first lap, you could pay it for at the end.

“I wanted to try to really go deep on the last lap and know where my limit is. I was just trying to go really hard for the last part of the race. Normally Klaas is faster on the climb, but I think I proved that this time I was the fastest.”

Vantornout, for his part, said he simply couldn’t match the Czech’s form or technical skills.

“My condition is very good,” he said, “I was riding for the victory, but I’m second today, so it was just not good enough. Stybar was technically a little bit stronger than me, and he was faster on the downhills on the last lap. Before the big climb he had fifty meters on me and it was over.”

American Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), who made his return to Europe after a few weeks in the United States, said he was still tired from the trip. Page told VeloNews that he was mainly focused on getting a good workout.

“I just wanted to finish the race today and not go too incredibly deep,” he said. “But it’s just hard to ride around this course. It’s very hard, very steep hills, still really muddy, even though it’s a beautiful day.” Page finished 23rd on the day.

The GVA Trofee resumes in a month on the storied slopes of the Koppenberg.

Two-time world champ Bart Wellens (left) and reigning champ Zdenek Stybar

Zdenek Stybar is getting ready to start a new season after an amazing 2009-2010 campaign in which he won the World Cup overall, the Superprestige series overall, the Czech Republic’s national championships and finally, the world championships in his home country.

The 25-year-old is starting his sixth season on the Fidea team (now Telenet-Fidea) and attended the team’s official introduction Thursday at sponsor Ridley Bicycle’s new factory in Beringen, Belgium. VeloNews caught up with Stybar in between photo shoots outside the factory.

Stybar's bike was immaculate, but the saddle has seen a lot of kilometers and a lot of remounts.

VeloNews: You had an incredible season last year. What do you still have to accomplish in this season?

Zdneck Stybar: I didn’t start really great this spring. This season just after a rest period I had some problems, but now everything is solved and I can go. I had a really good training camp at high altitude in St. Moritiz and now just before the season last week we did the Tour of Slovakia, and everyone who was there was in good shape and I think I was, as well.

Now I’m just waiting for the first races and, you know, if you start good then you have a good start to the season and you go. If you have a bad start then you just have to refocus for the second part of the season.

VN: What problems did you have in the spring?

ZS: Ah, I don’t know how to say it. Let me just say I had problems sitting on the saddle that had to be operated on and I lost about two weeks (of training). And when I started to get the problems, I was changing positions with my body because of it and I got some problems with my knees, but now they are all good.

VN: Does the rainbow jersey add pressure?

ZS: Unitl now I haven’t felt it because I am trying to just put the pressure out of my head and just enjoy the situation and just take the advantages form it. But also you have lots of disadvantages. I just have to see how it will go during the season. It brings some pressure, but it’s nice pressure. You have to really enjoy it because it may be the first and last time that I have the jersey — I hope not, but it can happen. So I’m just going to see what it’s like and wait for the season.

VN: I heard you rode your ‘cross bike at the Tour of Slovakia.

ZS: Yes, because with a road bike and a ‘cross bike there are some small difference and I had already trained a month on the ‘cross bike and then to jump back on the road bike is not really ideal. You can get some injuries to your knees and your back just from changing too many bikes too many times.

In Slovakia we didn’t go there for GC, we go for the kilometers and the hours and nothing more. Whether you ride on road bike or cyclocross bike, it doesn’t matter. I even did some sprints with the SPD pedals, no problem.

VN: The saddle on your bike looks well-used; has it been with you for a while?

ZS: This is my training bike and sometimes a used saddle is better than a new saddle, because the saddle will form to your body. So sometimes it’s better to train on old saddles and use the new ones on the race bike because you spend a lot less time racing than training.

VN: When will we see you in the U.S.?

ZS: I look forward to the world championships in 2013, I hope it goes well. I had thoughts about doing Las Vegas and those races, but you know in the situation I am now as world champion, it would be nice to start the season in another country, but it’s not easy because you lose quite a bit of time with the traveling.

So my first race is September 25th in the Czech Republic. There are two races there and the first race is in my city and that will be really nice to start the season in the world champion’s jersey in my own city.

• 1. Zdenek Stybar (Cze), 57:58
• 2. Niels Albert (B), 58:04
• 3. Radomir Simunek (Cze), 58:07
• 4. Sven Nys (B), 58:07
• 5. Dieter Vanthourenhout (B), 58:57
• 6. Klaas Vantornout (B), 59:13
• 7. Jonathan Page (USA), 59:25
• 8. Christian Heule (Swi), 59:39
• 9. Mariusz Gil (Pol), 59:50
• 10. Bart Wellens (B), 1:00:06
• 11. Kevin Pauwels (B), 1:00:14
• 12. Petr Dlask (Cze), 1:00:29
• 13. Rob Peeters (B), 1:00:38
• 14. Eddy Van Ijzendoorn (Ned), 1:00:40
• 15. Gerben De Knegt (Ned), 1:00:43
• 16. Enrico Franzoi (I), 1:01:07
• 17. Bart Aernouts (B), 1:01:07
• 18. Gianni Denolf (B), 1:01:11
• 19. Marco Bianco (I), 1:01:34
• 20. Bart Verschueren (B), 1:01:39
• 21. Geert Wellens (B), 1:02:02
• 22. Jan Verstraeten (B), 1:02:21
• 23. Tim Van Nuffel (B), 1:03:01
• 24. Ben Berden (B), 1:03:31
• 25. Thijs Al (Ned), 1:03:39
• 26. Stijn Huys (B), 1:03:53
• 27. Joachim Parbo (Den), 1:03:56
• 28. Kenny Geluykens (B), 1:04:06
• 29. Ken Smets (B)
• 30. Patrick Van Leeuwen (Ned)

Final overall standings

• 1. Zdenek Stybar (Cze), 110 pts
• 2. Niels Albert (B), 109
• 3. Sven Nys (B), 98
• 4. Klaas Vantornout (B), 88
• 5. Kevin Pauwels (B), 82
• 6. Bart Aernouts (B), 61
• 7. Radomir Simunek (Cze), 57
• 8. Erwin Vervecken (B), 50
• 9. Gerben de Knegt (Ned), 48
• 10. Sven Vanthourenhout (B), 39
• 11. Enrico Franzoi (I), 36
• 12. Dieter Vanthourenhout (B), 34
• 13. Rob Peeters (B), 25
• 14. Philipp Walsleben (Swi), 19
• 15. Jonathan Page (USA), 18
• 16. Bart Wellens (B), 17
• 17. Jan Verstraeten (B), 12
• 18. Mariusz Gil (Pol), 10
• 19. Christian Heule (Swi), 8
• 20. Francis Mourey (F), 7
• 21. Martin Zlamalik (Cze), 7
• 22. Petr Dlask (Cze), 7
• 23. Thijs Al (Ned), 4
• 24. Wilant van Gils (Ned), 3
• 25. Thijs van Amerongen (Ned), 3
• 26. Eddy van IJzendoorn (Ned) 3
• 27. Ben Berden (B), 2
• 28. Steve Chainel (F) 2
• 29. John Gadret (F), 1

Sven Vanthourenhout (Sunweb) jumped out to a significant lead in the first lap of the rutted, icy circuit and sailed into the second go-round in front with Stybar chasing just a handful of seconds back. Christian Heule (Rendementhypo) and Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb) were in the hunt, too, with Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) further back in a group with Jonathan Page (Planet Bike).

But Heule and Vantornout came to grief when the Swiss rider slid out in an icy chicane leading to a short staircase, leaving Sven Vanthourenhout with a half-dozen seconds on Albert and BKCP-Powerplus teammates Radomir Simunek and Dieter Vanthourenhout.

Going into the third lap Simunek caught up to Sven Vanthourenhout and took the lead. Albert was chasing at five seconds back with Stybar. Nys was moving up, while Page was falling back.

Simunek led Sven Vanthourenhout through the start-finish and into lap four with Albert dangling some five seconds back and Nys closing in, with Stybar on his heels. Page was six seconds further back with Vantornout.

Going into lap five the hounds and hares were merging into a six-rider lead group containing Nys, Stybar, Albert, Simunek and Sven and Dieter Vanthourenhout. Page and Vantornout were chasing about 15 seconds back.

Simunek moved ahead of the bunch, taking a six-second lead into lap six, with Stybar, Albert and Dieter Vanthourenhout in pursuit and Nys bringing up the rear. But Simunek slid out on an icy stretch, which let Stybar catch on and then seize the lead, with Albert and Dieter Vanthourenhout chasing and Nys just behind.

Racing through the start-finish and into lap seven Stybar and Simunek clung to a slim lead over the chasing trio until Stybar hit the pits for a spare bike, leaving Simunek, Albert and Nys at the head of affairs.

With two laps to go the threesome was charging along through lapped riders with the world champ riding a solo pursuit a handful of seconds behind. And then Simunek slid out in the same section that took down Heule and Vantornout, clipping Nys’ wheels out from under him and leaving Albert all alone at the head of the race.

Nys and Simunek both remounted, but it was now Albert’s race to lose. He hit the bell lap with just four seconds over Stybar, and when the world champ finally caught on the two fought like dogs for the win, banging bars and squeezing each other into the barriers.

The two traded attacks and counters until Stybar took a slight lead. It would be just enough. He hit the cobbles of the start-finish stretch with three seconds over Albert, enough to take the win and the overall series title. A clearly disappointed Albert coasted across the line for second on the day and second overall, while Simunek pipped Nys at the line for third. Nys held onto third place in the series, however.

Page crossed in seventh position, behind Dieter Vanthourenhout and Vantornout.

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