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January 6, Elite Men: Rome

Pauwels prevails at Rome 'cross World Cup

By:
Brecht Decaluwé
Published:
January 6, 15:07,
Updated:
January 6, 17:18

Albert regains overall World Cup lead with 2nd place result

Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) won the penultimate World Cup round in Rome.

Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games) won the penultimate World Cup round in Rome.

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On a blisteringly fast course at the Capannelle hippodrome on the outskirts of Rome, one rider showed that he’s hard to beat on this type of course, as the quietly-spoken Belgian rider Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb – Napoleon Games) claimed a convincing win that puts him back in contention for the overall win in the cyclo-cross World Cup. Pauwels joined teammate Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb – Napoleon Games) in front in a tactical move which left World Cup leader and World champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) behind in a chase group with Italian champion Marco Aurelia Fontana (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Francis Mourey (FDJ-Big Mat). Albert eventually exploited a late mechanical from Vantornout to take second place.

“It was a perfect course for me. It was fast and I could use my power. Niels probably wasn’t happy with our move but that’s the benefit of being with two in a team. Vantornout? It’s too bad, otherwise he would have been runner-up,” Pauwels said.

Thanks to his second place, Albert limited the damage for the overall standings of the World Cup in Rome, losing only ten on Pauwels. Albert now holds 485 points, Pauwels 469. That was in stark contrast to Sven Nys (Crelan-Euphony), who entered the race as co-leader of the World Cup. Due to illness in the previous weeks, however, Nys was never able to make a fist of it and he steadily lost ground. The Belgian champion finished twentieth and drops back to third place overall with 446 points. “I gave everything but got worse every metre. You can’t defend your chances if you’re ill. I’m not sure if I’ll take part in the Belgian championships [next week]. I wasn’t ill enough to skip this race, but I couldn’t go faster,” Nys told Sporza.

A surprise presence on the podium was Marco Aurelio Fontana. Despite a bad starting position, the Italian worked his way to the front group, helped by the small crowds who showed up to cheer him on. Fontana moved up from a spot outside the top-20 to a fifth place on the third lap. The Italian closed the gap on the four-man lead group with Pauwels, Vantornout, Mourey and Albert few laps later.

In the closing laps, Fontana battled with Albert and Mourey for third place. Albert gapped the Italian but suddenly the duo blasted over Vantornout who stood next to his bike, putting his chain back on the bike. On crossing the line Fontana was exuberant in his celebrations, and by pointing his hands in the air he seemed to dedicate the win to late Burry Stander, the mountain bike rider who died only a few days ago.

Despite his bad luck, Vantornout finished fifth, half a minute behind teammate Pauwels. Lars van der Haar (Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team) was best of the rest, winning the sprint for sixth place at 50 seconds from the winner. Van der Haar originally was part of the lead group. During the third lap he even led the race but at that moment he overshot a corner and went over the handlebars.
 

Full Results
1 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games 1:01:17  
2 Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus 0:00:16  
3 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing 0:00:22  
4 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ 0:00:27  
5 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games 0:00:32  
6 Lars van der Haar (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team 0:00:50  
7 Radomir Simunek (Cze) Kwadro-Stannah 0:00:51  
8 Bart Aernouts (Bel) AA Drink Cyclocross Team 0:00:53  
9 Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB Racing Team 0:01:02  
10 Twan van den Brand (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team 0:01:10  
11 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite 0:01:12  
12 Martin Bina (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor 0:01:13  
13 Simon Zahner (Swi) EKZ Racing Team    
14 Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) AA Drink Cyclocross Team 0:01:14  
15 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus    
16 Aurelien Duval (Fra) UV Aube 0:01:16  
17 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Métropole 0:01:34  
18 Elia Silvestri (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite 0:01:40  
19 Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet - Fidea 0:01:50  
20 Sven Nys (Bel) Crelan-Euphony 0:02:10  
21 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Crelan-Euphony    
22 Marcel Meisen (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus 0:02:12  
23 Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet - Fidea 0:02:13  
24 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus 0:02:15  
25 Niels Wubben (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team 0:02:18  
26 Thijs Al (Ned) Telenet - Fidea 0:02:22  
27 Micky van Empel (Ned) Crelan-KDL 0:02:39  
28 Jan Denuwelaere (Bel) Style & Concept 0:02:41  
29 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team 0:02:44  
30 Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) 0:02:56  
31 Lubomir Petrus (Cze) BKCP - Powerplus 0:02:58  
32 Martin Haring (Svk) CK Banská Bystrica 0:03:01  
33 Marco Ponta (Ita) Centro Sportivo    
34 Stefano Capponi (Ita) 0:03:15  
35 Petr Dlask (Cze) Madeta - Fitness / Specialized 0:03:18  
36 Christian Helmig (Lux) Elbowz Racing p/b Trisport 0:03:21  
37 Ondrej Bambula (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor 0:03:23  
38 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) Crelan-KDL 0:03:25  
39 Fabio Ursi (Ita) 0:03:26  
40 Thomas Paccagnella (Ita) ADV Team 0:03:27  
41 Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team 0:03:35  
42 Martin Loo (Est) 0:03:49  
43 Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team 0:05:03  
44 Lukas Winterberg (Swi) Team Müller Gartengestaltung/BH Bikes 0:05:41  
45 Adrien Pascal (Fra)  -1lap  
46 Robert Glajza (Svk)  -3laps  
47 David Quist (Nor)  -4laps  
World Cup standings after round 7
1 Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus 485 pts
2 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games 469  
3 Sven Nys (Bel) Crelan-Euphony 446  
4 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games 356  
5 Lars van der Haar (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team 341  
6 Bart Aernouts (Bel) AA Drink Cyclocross Team 336  
7 Radomir Simunek (Cze) Kwadro-Stannah 311  
8 Francis Mourey (Fra) FDJ 300  
9 Thijs van Amerongen (Ned) AA Drink Cyclocross Team 283  
10 Tom Meeusen (Bel) Telenet - Fidea 276  
11 Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet - Fidea 250  
12 Niels Wubben (Ned) Giant Off-Road Team 236  
13 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite 235  
14 Simon Zahner (Swi) EKZ Racing Team 233  
15 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus 232  
16 Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) BMC Mountainbike Racing Team 219  
17 Rob Peeters (Bel) Telenet - Fidea 218  
18 Twan van den Brand (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team 214  
19 Philipp Walsleben (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus 213  
20 Marcel Meisen (Ger) BKCP - Powerplus 212  
21 Marcel Wildhaber (Swi) Scott-Swisspower MTB Racing Team 189  
22 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team 187  
23 Thijs Al (Ned) Telenet - Fidea 178  
24 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Roubaix Lille Métropole 174  
25 Martin Bina (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor 165  
26 Mariusz Gil (Pol) Kwadro-Stannah 155  
27 Jonathan Page (USA) 145  
28 Lubomir Petrus (Cze) BKCP - Powerplus 142  
29 Patrick van Leeuwen (Ned) Orange Babies Cycling Team 138  
30 Egoitz Murgoitio Rekalde (Spa) Grupo Hiremet Taldea 122  
31 Jeremy Powers (USA) Rapha-Focus 113  
32 Micky van Empel (Ned) Crelan-KDL 101  
33 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Cyclingteam De Rijke-Shanks 94  
34 Steve Chainel (Fra) FDJ 93  
35 Martin Zlamalik (Cze) Crelan-KDL 90  
36 Ondrej Bambula (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor 85  
37 Jirí Polnický (Cze) Whirlpool - Author 83  
38 Arnaud Grand (Swi) Telenet - Fidea 77  
39 Aurelien Duval (Fra) UV Aube 75  
40 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Ita) Cannondale Factory Racing 65  
41 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 65  
42 Nicolas Bazin (Fra) Auber 93 65  
43 Mirko Tabacchi (Ita) 63  
44 Martin Haring (Svk) CK Banská Bystrica 58  
45 Timothy Johnson (USA) Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld 57  
46 Ian Field (GBr) Hargroves Cycles-Specialized 57  
47 Elia Silvestri (Ita) Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite 54  
48 Guillaume Perrot (Fra) 46  
49 Vladimír Kyzivát (Cze) Johnson Controls TJ Auto Škoda 46  
50 Petr Dlask (Cze) Madeta - Fitness / Specialized 43  
51 Marco Ponta (Ita) Centro Sportivo 43  
52 Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez (Spa) 42  
53 Christian Helmig (Lux) Elbowz Racing p/b Trisport 42  
54 Isaac Suarez Fernandez (Spa) 35  
55 Jim Aernouts (Bel) Sunweb-Napoleon Games 34  
56 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Crelan-Euphony 30  
57 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) Trek World Racing 29  
58 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) 26  
59 David Kášek (Cze) CEZ Cyklo Team Tábor 26  
60 Arnaud Jouffroy (Fra) Telenet - Fidea 26  
61 Jan Denuwelaere (Bel) Style & Concept 23  
62 Magnus Darvell (Swe) Team Herbalife 24 Raumerrittet 23  
63 Mitchell Huenders (Ned) 21  
64 Justin Lindine (USA) Redline 18  
65 Robert Gavenda (Svk) Dukla Trencín Trek 18  
66 Stefano Capponi (Ita) 17  
67 Lukas Winterberg (Swi) Team Müller Gartengestaltung/BH Bikes 16  
68 Kenneth Hansen (Den) Baboco 15  
69 Robert Glajza (Svk) 15  
70 Lewis Rattray (Aus) 15  
71 Sascha Weber (Ger) Team Differdange - Magic-Sportfood.de 14  
72 Aaron Schooler (Can) Norco Bicycles - SRI Importing 13  
73 Adrien Pascal (Fra) 13  
74 Jose Antonio Diez Arriola (Spa) 13  
75 Fabio Ursi (Ita) 12  
76 Ole Quast (Ger) 12  

For more about this week's racing see Cycling News HD

Pignone Fisso 2 days ago
Glad most courses aren't like this one.