Niels Albert continued his recent dominance of the cyclo-cross scene when he won the Scheldecross in Antwerp. His young teammate Mathieu van der Poel impressed the entire cycling world by finishing 2nd in his first race among the elite riders while Philip Walsleben completed the BKCP Powerplus clean sweep of the podium.

Niels Albert is seemingly unstoppable these days and not even a two-week break from competition has done anything to slow down the former world champion. When the racing resumed in Belgium at today's Scheldecross after a two-week period that allowed the sport's major name to train and recover under the sun in Southern Europe, Albert was back in his dominant role to add another win to the ones he took at the World Cup race in Koksijde and the Superprestige race in Gieten two weeks ago.

Albert took the lead early but for most of the race, he hid himself far back in the peloton. Towards the end of the race, he moved back to the front and escaped with Rob Peeters and Philip Walsleben before leaving his companions behind for good.

The major talking point was, however, not another strong Albert showing. Instead, the headlines were taken by junior cyclo-cross and road world champion Mathieu van der Poel who rode his first race in the elite ranks. Riding an almost faultless race, the young Dutchman ended up being the nearest challenger to his teammate Albert, crossing the line on his own to take 2nd.

The final rider on the podium was Walsleben who made it a fantastic day for BKCP Powerplus who made it a clean sweep. As opposed to this, world champion Sven Nys didn't seem to have benefited from the small break from competition and finished a disappointing 9th.

Nys will get a chance to take revenge tomorrow when the Vlaamse Druivencross will take place.

Meisen hits the front

Marcel Maisen (Kwadro-Stannah) won the opening sprint but was quickly overtaken by Albert. The former world champion is often starting the races rider slowly but today he had a different tactic and was riding hard in the first sand section.

Nys and van der Poel both had bad luck as the world champion went down and the youngster was held up. However, Nys was quickly back up to Albert and the duo crossed the line with a small gap on their rivals.

Albert slows down

Albert eased a bit and allowed Peeters and Belgian champion Klaas Vantornout to join them. Walsleben was the next rider to get across, followed by young Wout Van Aert who had been a surprise 2nd behind Nys at the Jaarmarktcross when he last rode against the elite riders.

Albert dropped back towards the back of the field that had now gathered while Walsleben accelerated on the front. The German briefly had a small gap but when he stumbled at the top of a stair step, a 12-rider group came back together.

A 13-rider group is formed

The group consisted of Nys, Albert, Walsleben, Peeters, van Aert, Vantornout, van der Poel, Kevin Pauwels, Bart Aernouts, Thijs Van Amerongen, Jim Aernouts, Wietse Bosmans and Dieter Vanthourenhout. Peeters led the peloton across the line to start the fourth lap but was quickly replaced by Vantornout.

Nys hit the front in the sand section and started to open up a gap. However, the broadcast connection went bad at this moment and so kept the further progress of the race as a secret for the worldwide audience.

The decisive move is launched

Van der Poel passed Nys but were quickly overtaken by his teammate Walsleben who launched an attack at the start of the fifth lap. Peeters and Albert joined him and the decisive trio had been created.

Albert did his best to get rid of his companions and finally had success in his mission. From there he continued all the way to the line to take another impressive solo win.

Van der Poel continued his fantastic first race in the elite ranks by bridging across to Peeters and Walsleben and even had enough left in the tank to continue on his own. The Dutchman crossed the line on his own to take 2nd while Walsleben rounded out the podium.

Result:

1. Niels Albert

2. Mathieu van der Poel

3. Philip Walsleben

4. Kevin Pauwels

5. Rob Peeters

6. Klaas Vantornout

7. Wout Van Aert

8. Jim Aernouts

9. Sven Nys

10. Diether Vanthourenhout