Francis Mourey proved that he is one of the best cyclo-cross riders in the world when he won the World Cup race in muddy Namur but the talking point of the day was the impressive comeback from Sven Nys. Having only decided to participate this morning after crashing yesterday, the world champion overcame a disastrous start and a 1.10 deficit to finish 4th in the Walloon mud while Lars van der Haahr defended his overall lead.

 

A month ago, Francis Mourey complained about not getting invited to the Superprestige race series, feeling that the non-Belgian riders were disadvantaged compared to the riders from the hotbed  of cyclo-cross. Today the French champion proved that he belongs in the biggest races in the world when he won the World Cup in Namur on an extremely muddy, hilly circuit that made for one of the toughest races of the season.

 

The French champion showed his intentions by escaping right from the start and while he was reeled in again and spent most of the race riding in the middle of a front sextet, he had saved something for the finale. With a few laps to go, he accelerated again and this time no one was able to get back to the strong Frenchman.

 

Mourey had deserved to be the star of the day for taking the biggest win of his career but the man in the spotlight was Sven Nys. The world champion was undecided about his participation when he went to bed yesterday, suffering from the effects from his crash in yesterday's race in Essen.

 

Despite a swollen arm, he decided to head to the Wallonia for the race but probably regretted his choice when he found himself almost a minute back after just one lap. A mechanical right from the start had placed him towards the back of the field and he found himself surrounded by riders that he would usually lap on a hard course like this.

 

While the likes of Mourey, Klaas Vantornout, his archrival Niels Albert, Philipp Walsleben, Julien Taramarcaz and Thijs van Amerongen probably thought they had left him behind for good, Nys refused to give up. At one point, he was 1.10 behind the leaders but he used his superior technical skills in the thick mud to gradually approach the front group.

 

On the penultimate lap, he did the unthinkable when he erased the final part of his monstrous deficit to the group that was in pursuit of the lone Mourey. In a technical section, he overtook all of his rivals before launching a furious acceleration in the final lap.

 

Just as he had opened up a gap and appeared destined for 2nd, he made of those costly mistakes that has dominated his racing for the past few weeks. Again he hit the deck and despite remounting quickly, he had no chance of a podium spot anymore. Vantornout and Albert passed the world champion who had to settle for 4th.

 

Overall leader Lars van der Haahr appeared to have things under control in the first part of the race but disaster struck when he crashed on a muddy descent. Like Nys, he found himself far behind his main rivals and his narrow two-point lead over Walsleben was clearly under threat.

 

However, the Dutch champion refused to give up his overall lead in the most prestigious series and he gradually closed the gap to his main rivals. He made the junction with Nys on the penultimate lap and while he had used up too much energy to enter the podium battle, his 5th place was enough to extend his overall lead over Walsleben who faded towards the end and could only manage 9th.

 

The cyclo-cross racers will now take a short Christmas break but will be back in action on Thursday in the next round of the World Cup in Heusden-Zolder where Nys will be eager to take revenge and van der Haahr will be keen to again defend his overall lead.

 

Mourey gets a fast start

Francis Mourey won the opening sprint and led the peloton onto the first climb. As Marcel Meisen was was unable to keep his wheel, the French champion opened a gap almost from the gun. Meanwhile, Sven Nys had a disastrous start and was riding near the rear end of the peloton.

 

Philipp Walsleben led the peloton in the first part of the race as they tried to get back to Mourey and his fast pace was enough to make the peloton splinter. Nys entered the pits to change his bike and probably had had a mechanical right from the start.

 

Mourey is the lone leader

Near the end of the first lap, Walsleben and Marcel Meisen closed the gap to Mourey and a front trio was formed. On the next climb, Mourey escaped again while Walsleben and Meisen fell back to the peloton. The French champion crossed the line with a 6-second gap over the peloton while Nys was already 45 seconds behind.

 

Like Nys, Niels Albert had a bad start and the former world champion had lost some ground as they started the second lap. Meanwhile, Lars van der Haahr had overcome a bad start and was now riding in third position as Julien Taramarcaz brought Mourey back into the fold.

 

Van der Haahr crashes

On a muddy descent, the Dutch champion crashed and it took some time for him to get back on his bike. When he was back in the race, he was far back in the peloton and had lost more than 20 seconds.

 

Taramarcaz excelled on the hilly course and opened a gap over the peloton which was now led by Walsleben. The German champion set off in lone pursuit of the Swiss leader while Thijs van Amerongen took over the pace-setting in the peloton.

 

Albert approaches the front

Walsleben caught Taramarcaz just before the passage of the line and they crossed the line with a four-second gap over van Amerongen and Mourey. The next group was made up of Meisen, Klaas Vantornout and Albert who was riding himself back up towards the front of the race. Nys was 1.10 behind and was out of contention as they started the third lap.

 

Albert was gradually finding his legs and his fast pace was too much for Meisen who fell off the pace. The former world champion was getting close to van Amerongen and Mourey while Vantornout was doing his best to keep the wheel.

 

Mistake by Albert

Albert made a mistake in a muddy section and so was dropped by Vantornout who closed the gap to the chase trio. Meanwhile, Walsleben missed his bike when he tried to swap in the pits and was dropped by Taramarcaz. As they passed the line, he was a few seconds behind the Swiss champion while Albert was again getting closer to the chase trio.

 

One third thought the lap, the first three groups came together to form a front quintet consisting of Walsleben, Taramarcaz, Mourey, van Amerongan and Vantornout. However, Taramarcaz was unfortunate to have a mechanical and was dropped a few moments later, thus allowing Albert to join him.

 

Van der Haahr recovers

Walsleben had been in the lead for most of the race and led the front group for most of the lap. They passed the line with a 4-second gap over the two chasers while van der Haahr had moved himself into 7th position. Nys was gradually recovering from his disastrous start and had now reduced his deficit to 46 seconds.

 

As soon as they started the next lap, Albert accelerated and started to close the gap. Halfway through the lap, it was mission accomplished for the former world champion who had Taramarcaz in tow.

 

Mourey gets clear

Mourey had taken over the front as they passed the line and the French champion opened up a small gap as Walsleben started to tire. As he passed the line, he was 15 seconds ahead of the chasers. Van der Haahr led the next four-rider group across the line 17 seconds further adrift, joined by Tom Meeusen, Corne Van Kessel and Wietse Bosmans. Impressively, Nys was now 11th, 50 seconds behind the lone Mourey.

 

As it had started to rain, Vantornout took over the pace-setting but Mourey kept extending his lead. Albert was constantly riding at the back of the group, clearly struggling just to hang on. For a brief moment, he was dropped but he managed to rejoin the group.

 

Nys is almost there

Mourey crossed the line to start the penultimate with a 16-second gap. Van der Haahr was 4 seconds further behind while Nys in extremely impressive manner crossed the line in 9th with a time loss of 25 seconds.

 

Albert moved up into second position behind Vantornout and was now preparing one of his devastating accelerations.  However, he would now have to contend with his archrival as Nys, van der Haahr and Meeusen joined the chase group.

 

Nys hits the front

Halfway through the lap, Albert moved to the front but as he hit a muddy, technical section, Nys showed his superior abilities. The world champion passed the entire group and exited the section in first position.

 

Nys, Albert and Vantornout opened a gap as Albert started to accelerate again. The trio started the final lap with a 23-second gap and so Mourey had extended his lead. Van Amerongen led the next group across the line with a further loss of 14 seconds.

 

Nys accelerates

Nys accelerated hard on the first climb and this put Vantornout into difficulty. Meanwhile, Walsleben had been dropped by the van der Haahr group and so the Dutch champion had left his closest World Cup rival behind.

 

Vantornout rejoined the chase trio and instead it was Albert who was in difficulty. In the technical section where he had overtaken everybody on the previous lap, however, Nys made a decisive mistake and crashed.

 

No one can stop Mourey

Vantornout escaped on his own while Nys remounted but was now back with Albert. Van der Haahr was a few seconds further behind.

 

But no one could stop Mourey who had plenty of time to celebrate his win when he crossed the line. Vantornout was a convincing 2nd while Albert managed to get rid of Nys and took the final spot on the podium. Nys beat van der Haahr in a close sprint for 4th, Meeusen was 6th, van Amerongen 7th, Petrus 8th and Walsleben and Taramarcaz had fallen back into 9th and 10th.

 

Result:

1. Francis Mourey

2. Klaas Vantornout +0.24

3. Niels Albert +0.30

4. Sven Nys +0.35

5. Lars van der Haahr +0.36

6. Tom Meeusen +0.41

7. Thijs van Amerongen +0.52

8. Lubomir Petrus +0.54

9. Philipp Walsleben +0.54

10. Julien Taramarcaz  +0.59

 

Overall standings:

1. Lars van van der Haahr 257

2. Philipp Walsleben 244

3. Niels Albert 235

4. Klaas Vantornout 231

5. Serge Pauwels 229

6. Francis Mourey 210

7. Bart Aernouts 185

8. Thijs van Amerongen 175

9. Corne Van Kessel 165

10. Enrico Franzoi 156