The Frenchman Francis Mourey (FDJ.fr) had the best start, fell back in the meantime and in the end won a superior race in a race that could hardly be surpassed in terms of excitement. Below the citadel of Namur, the international cyclocross elite came together today at the fourth cyclocross world cup of the season.
Before the start, alongside last year's winner Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games), who won yesterday in Essen, the young World Cup leader Lars van der Haar (Rabobank) was also the favourite. With only two points behind in the overall standings, the German champion Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Powerplus) also wanted to deliver a good race.
The Kleinmachnower initially succeeded in doing this. Together with Aachen's Marcel Meisen (Kwadro-Stannah), who ended up eleventh, he set off in pursuit of Frenchman Mourey. Behind both followed the Swiss Julien Taramarcaz (BMC), Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napoleon Games), Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), Thijs van Amerongen (AA Drink) and van der Haar. On one of the steep descents, however, he made a mistake and fell. The fall cost him valuable seconds. The defense of the World Cup lead was in danger.
But as the race progressed, van der Haar surpassed himself, just like world champion Sven Nys (Crelan-KDL), who started extremely poorly and who was already well over a minute behind the leaders. Both riders were undoubtedly the heroes of the day alongside Mourey.
Further up, however, the Swiss champion took the initiative in the second round with Taramarcaz. Together with Walsleben, he managed to break away from the pursuers around Mourey. The advance only ended on the fifth lap when a four-man lead formed with Walsleben, Mourey, Van Amerongen and Vantornout, just ahead of Taramarcaz and Albert.
At this point, Van der Haar was 25 seconds behind the leader. Nys was still 50 seconds behind. Mourey took advantage of the situation and increased the pace. The Frenchman thus brought about a preliminary decision. Because while he was able to continuously extend his lead, Nys first overtook Van der Haar and a little later caught up with him to the group around Walsleben. For the Kleinmachnower, who had been driving a very strong race up to that point, the merger brought about a turning point in his racing history. As a result, he had to let Van der Haar go, who now has a 13-point lead in the overall World Cup standings, and ended up being the best German in ninth place. But the Dutchman had nothing to do with the fight for the podium. Nys, Vantornout and Albert fought for the two places behind Mourey. In the end, Nys knocked himself out of the podium. He fell on one of the technically demanding passages through the meadow and had to let his two competitors go.
The race was also exciting for the women. After reigning World Champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank) initially determined the early phase of the race with Eva Lechner (South Tyrol-Colnago), she ultimately had to concede victory to last year's first and currently World Cup leader American Katie Compton (Trek).
Those who missed the two races can watch them again in the following video.
//Result men
1. Francis Mourey (FDJ.fr) 1:00:50
2. Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) 0:00:24
3. Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) 0:00:30
4. Sven Nys (Crelan-KDL) 0:00:35
5. Lars van der Haar (Rabobank) 0:00:40
//Result women
1. Katie Compton (Trek) 0:36:47
2. Marianne Vos (Rabobank) 0:00:40
3. Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea) 0:00:47
4. Eva Lechner (South Tyrol-Colnago) 0:01:21
5. Pauline Ferrand Prevot 0:01:23