After his third place in yesterday’s race in Hasselt, Tom Meeusen returned to the top step of the podium when he won today’s Druivenkoers Overijse. While Sven Nys abandoned the race and saw his streak of four wins in a row come to an end, the Telenet-Fidea rider beat Klaas Vantornout, Mathieu van der Poel and Philipp Walsleben in a four-rider sprint.

 

Tom Meeusen broke the dominance of Sven Nys in the Druivenkoers Overijse when he won one of the first real muddy races of the year. Having shown good form in yesterday’s race in Hasselt, he excelled in the difficult conditions to take a hugely deserved victory in the race which is not part of one of the major race series.

 

The race turned out to be one of elimination until four riders had escaped at the midpoint of the race. Meeusen was joined by Klaas Vantornout, Mathieu van der Poel and Philipp Walsleben to form a strong quartet which quickly got a big advantage over the rest, making it evident that they would decide the race.

 

At first, van der Poel seemed to be a step above the rest when he escaped on his own while Vantornout had a hard time closing the gap. While the young Dutchman stayed around 10 seconds ahead, Meeusen bided his time before he launched a big acceleration to bridge the gap in an impressive showing.

 

Vantornout and Walsleben also joined the group and moments later van der Poel started to suffer, paying the price for his hard effort. Meanwhile, Vantornout and Meeusen took turns, trying to get rid of the rest, but as they started the final lap, the quartet was still together.

 

Crossing the line, Meeusen hit the front, preparing himself for a big attack. During the final lap, both he and Vantornout tried to accelerate off the front but none of them managed to make a difference, setting the scene for a four-rider sprint.

 

Meeusen led the group onto the tarmac and launched a long sprint. Vantornout tried to come around him but had no match to the Telenet rider’s impressive speed, rolling across the line in second with van der Poel completing the podium.

 

For four-time defending champion Sven Nys, the race was a big disappointment. After a solid start, he had to swap his bike already in the first pit zone, dropping out of the top 20 positions. From there, he lost constantly lost further ground until he abandoned the race after 3 laps.

 

Yesterday’s winner Kevin Pauwels didn’t fare much better, losing contact with the best in the opening laps. He spent the entire race in chase mode but was unable to make it into the top 10.

 

Many of the best cyclo-cross racers are now taking a break from competition to prepare for the heavy christmas season, with Saturday’s race in Antwerp being the only major appointment next weekend. The major series resume on December 20 with the Bpost Bank Trofee race in Essen.

 

How it unfolded:

Unusually, Bart Wellens got the race off to the best start as he created a gap when the rider ran up the long muddy climb in the beginning of the circuit. Sven Nys got the race off to a solid start too, riding in fourth position, but as he swapped bikes already at the first passage through the pits, he dropped outside the top 20 positions.

 

Klaas Vantornout and Tom Meeusen bridged the gap to Wellens, forming a front trio that was chased by the main group. As Nys made a costly mistake and hit the deck, he lost contact with the peloton which was now splitting to pieces.

 

Meeusen dropped Wellens and Vantornout and stayed ahead for a little while but as they crossed the line for the first time, it was back together. However, Nys was already 37 seconds and faced a long battle to get back in contention.

 

Rob Peeters went down in a crash that held up Kevin Pauwels and Mathieu van der Poel but everybody got back on their bikes quickly. Meanwhile, Meeusen continued to set the pace, gradually whittling down the peloton.

 

Due to the incident, Pauwels was forced into chase mode and was dangling a few metres behind the main group. Meanwhile, Philipp Walsleben took over the pace-setting, with Mathieu van der Poel, Corne van Kessel, Meeusen, Gianni Vermeersch, Marcel Meisen, Klaas Vantornout, Sven Vanthourenhout on his wheel. At the second passage of the line, Pauwels was more than 10 seconds behind those 8 riders while Nys was now one minute behind.

 

As Walsleben continued to set the pace, the group split up, with Vermeersch, Vanthourenhout and Meisen losing contact with the leaders. Those three riders was joined by Pauwels who was gradually moving up through the field.

 

At the end of the third lap, the front quintet was still seconds ahead of Pauwels whose progress seemed to have stalled. Nys was now more than 1.30 behind and decided o withdraw.

 

At this point, van der Poel took over the front and he showed great technical skills in the mud to gradually build a gap. Meanwhile, van Kessel was starting to suffer and as they went up a long climb, he was dropped.

 

Van der Poel decided to swap bikes in the pits and as his three chasers didn’t do so, the front group came back together. At the end of the fourth lap, they were 10 seconds ahead of van Kessel while the Pauwels group was at 23 seconds.

 

As they went through the pits, van der Poel was the only one not to swap bikes, allowing the Dutchman to make a small gap. As Vantornout made a mistake on the subsequent descent, the gap grew until Vantornout got back into chase mode.

 

Vantornout’s hard pace was enough to split the group, with Walsleben losing contact with the two Belgians. However, the German champion refused to give up and as they reached the finishing straight, he had rejoined his companions who were 9 seconds behind van der Poel.

 

With 3 laps to go, Meeusen launched a big attack to try to get back in contention. Walsleben immediately lost contact while Vantornout was clearly suffering.

 

Meeusen dropped Vantornout and at this moment, disaster struck for van der Poel. The Dutchman went down in a crash and even though he quickly remounted, it was enough for Meeusen to bridge the gap.

 

In the pit, Meeusen made a clumsy bike swap which allowed van der Poel to get a new gap. However, Meeusen proved his strength to quickly bridge the gap and as they started the penultimate lap, they were again together, with Vantornout also joining them. Walsleben was still podium contention as he was only 5 seconds behind while van Kessel was at 25 seconds.

 

Walsleben rejoined the front group and went straight to the front to up the pace as they ran up the muddy climb. Van der Poel was now paying the price for his big efforts and was dropped by his three rivals.

 

The Dutchman fought his way to the front as Vantornout took over the pace-setting. As the Belgian upped the pace, Meeusen was showing the first signs of weakness while Walsleben benefited from a decision not to swap bikes to move into second.

 

As they crossed the line for the penultimate time, Meeusen moved to the front, preparing himself for his big attack. Vantornout drifted to the back position but as they hit the long, muddy climb, he moved back onto Meeusen’s wheel.

 

The group split when van der Poel made a small mistake, with Vantornout and Meeusen getting clear. However, Walsleben was quick to pass the Dutchman, bringing the group back together.

 

Vantornout continued to set the pace but was unable to get rid of Meeusen. Instead, the Telenet-Fidea rider took over as they hit the final big climb, launching a strong attack.

 

Vantornout and Walsleben stayed on his wheel but the pace was too much for van der Poel who lost contact. Using his great descending skills, he rejoined the group and all was set for a four-rider sprint.

 

Meeusen led the group onto the finishing straight and launched a long sprint. Vantornout tried to pass him but was no match to the strong Telenet rider who took a deserved victory, with Vantornout and van der Poel completing the podium.

 

Result:

1. Tom Meeusen

2. Klaas Vantornout

3. Mathieu van der Poel

4. Philippe Walsleben

5. Corne van Kessel

6. Marcel Meisen

7. Gianni Vermeersch

8. Rob Peeters

9. Sven Vanthourenhout

10. Julien Taramarcaz