Sven Nys kicked off the 2014 cycling season with a bang when he took yet another win in the race that carries his name, the GP Sven Nys in his home city of Baal. In the most dominant performance of the cyclo-cross season, he attacked already on the first lap and put more than a minute into Zdenek Stybar whose 2nd place was the best result in his short cross campaign.

 

Since the start of the Christmas series of cyclo-cross races, Sven Nys has given the impression that he is in a class of his own. While bad luck and stupid mistakes prevented him from benefit fully from his splendid condition in the first races, he has finally got the ball rolling.

 

After winning the races in Loenhout and Diegem just before New Year, Nys kicked off 2014 in the best possible way when he crushed the opposition in his home race, the GP Sven Nys in his home city of Baal. he world champion was by far the strongest rider in the race and ended the Christmas campaign by delivering the most dominant performance of the season.

 

 Already on the first lap, Nys showed his intentions when he launched his first attack and he soon found himself riding on his own at the front of the race. He decided to wait for Rob Peeters who rode a very good first race for his new Vangoostservice team, clearly preferring to have a little help in what was still a long race.

 

However, Nys was in a league of his own and when Peeters lost contact a few moments later, he decided that there was no reason to hold anything back. From there, he kept the speed high all the way to the finish and extended his lead each lap except for the last one.

 

Zdenek Stybar took his best result in his short cross season when he finished 2nd but the Czech champion was no match for Nys. When he crossed the line, he had lost a massive 51 seconds to the superior world champion.

 

Niels Albert got his race off to his usual bad start but gradually moved up in the peloton and ended the race in 3rd place while Peeters could only manage fourth after his good start.

 

With his dominant win, Nys extended his overall lead in the Bpost Bank Trofee series to a massive 2.37 over Albert. The penultimate round of the series takes place on February 8 in Lille while the best cross racers will be back in action on Sunday in the World Cup race in Rome.

 

Bina with a fast start

Martin Bina continued his recent strong run of form when he won the opening sprint and led the peloton onto the first grassy section. Corne van Kessel and Rob Peeters - in his new colours of the Vangoostservice team - were glued to his wheel as he led the peloton through the corners in the first part of the circuit.

 

In an muddy section, van Kessel was having difficulty and he fell back a few positions while Sven Nys used the difficult part of the course to move up towards the front. Meanwhile, the peloton started to splinter as Bina continued his pace-setting.

 

Nys makes first acceleration

As they neared the end of the first lap, Philipp Walsleben took over on the front while Niels Albert had had his usual slow start and was riding back in around 10th position. However, 20 riders were still together at this point in the race.

 

When most riders decided to swap bikes in the pits, Nys was almost the only one to skip the change. The world champion continued past the messy zone and started to accelerate furiously while Albert had a completely failed bike change and lost several positions as a consequence.

 

The peloton splits into several groups

Nys' acceleration made the peloton split in several groups and he quickly opened a gap to his rivals, with Walsleben being in lone pursuit. Bina and Peeters followed a little further behind.

 

At the first passage of the line, Walsleben had caught Nys and they were 6 seconds ahead of their two chasers. Van Kessel closed the gap to the chase duo while Zdenek Stybar, Tom Meeusen, Thijs van Amerongen and Marcel Meisen formed the next group on the course. Albert was already more than 20 seconds behind.

 

Nys on his own

In the first corner of the second lap, Walsleben lost contact with Nys who looked back to realize that he was already the lone leader. While his old rival Bart Wellens was forced to run for a long time due to a mechanical, Nys upped the pace even further to increase his lead over Walsleben.

 

While Nys was riding away from everybody else, Albert started to move up in the peloton and had now replaced Meisen in the four-rider chase group. At the same time, Peeters continued his good form by dropping his rivals and passing Walsleben.

 

A chase group is formed

Van Kessel was now starting to strugle and he fell back to the Stybar and Albert group while Walsleben overcame his small crisis to close the gap to Peeters. Bina was still on his own in between the chase duo and the Stybar/Albert/Van Kessel/van Amerongen/Meeusen quintet.

 

Nys was still not riding full gas and Peeters and Walsleben started to get closer to the world champion. However, he made sure to keep the pace high enough to win the intermediate sprint to add five bonus seconds to the overall Bpost Bank Trofee standings.

 

Peeters bridges the gap

Stybar was leading the main chase group and they caught Bina. Meanwhile, Walsleben was again struggling and lost contact with Peeters who bridged the gap to Nys who apparently thought that it was still too early to ride on his own.

 

Nys and Peeters crossed the line for the second time with a 6secpmd gap over Walsleben while the Albert-Stybar group was 18 seconds behind the leaders. Klaas Vantornout who had started the day 3rd overall, was on a disastrous day and was already far behind the best riders in the race.

 

Meeusen accelerates

Meeusen showed on Sunday in DIegem that he is riding well at the moment and the Telenet rider decided that it was time to up the pace in the chase group. He quickly closed the gap to Walsleben with Stybar on his wheel while he left his other companions behind.

 

Nys had decided to wait for Peeters but the world champion was still doing all the work in the front duo. Peeters was doing his best to stay with Nys in the many muddy sections but halfway through the course, he had to give up as the world champion started to open a small gap.

 

Albert starts to move up

Stybar and Meeusen dropped Walsleben who fell back to Albert. The former world champion had appeared to be on his limit but was now starting to move up as the group splintered behind him.

 

Walsleben was starting to tire and was quickly dropped by Albert who started to close the gap to Meeusen and Stybar. Meanwhile, Nys was still keeping a hard pace and as he passed the site of the intermediate sprint, he was 10 seconds ahead of Peeters.

 

Nys extends his lead

When he crossed the line to start the fourth lap, the gap had been extended to 12 seconds. Stybar and Meeusen were 11 seconds further adrift and Albert joined the dup just as they passed the line. Van Amerongen was the next rider on the course, with Bina, Van Kessel and Walsleben following even further behind.

 

Albert spent a little time to recover while Meeusen set the pace in the chase trio. Halfway through the lap, he decided, however, that it was time to tighten the screws again and moved to the front with a fierce acceleration.

 

Meeusen in difficulty

Meeusen briefly paid the price for his hard work but managed to stay in contact with Albert and Stybar. Meanwhile, Peeters was clearly riding more to conserve his 2nd place and rode a smart race without going too much into the red zone.

 

Stybar was now struggling to hold onto the wheel of Albert and just before the pits, he lost contact with the former world champion. Albert now started the chase of Peeters in earnest while Meeusen stayed glued to Stybar's wheel.

 

Nys extends his lead

When Nys crossed the line at the halfway point of the race, he had extended his lead over Peeters to a massive 27 seconds. Albert had again been joined by Stybar and Meeusen and the trio was 4 seconds further behind. Van Amerongen was in 6th place but had almost lost a minute to the world champion.

 

One minute after crossing the line, Peeters was caught by thee Albert trio and a chase quartet was now formed. Meeusen was, however, starting to tire and he quickly lost contact with his companions.

 

Albert loses ground

Albert made a technical mistake and was also dropped by the chase group as Stybar now hit the front to up the pace even further. The Czech champion rode hard while Peeters was struggling hard just to stay on his wheel.

 

Peeters finally had to surrender and let Stybar go as the Czech champion continued his pursuit of Nys. Meanwhile, Albert was starting to pay the price for his hard chase work and was now losing ground to both Stybar and Peeters.

 

Nys more than 30 seconds ahead

When Nys crossed the line to start the 6th lap, he had extended his lead over Stybar to 34 seconds while Peeters was 5 seconds further adrift. A clearly fatigued Albert was 47 seconds behind Nys while Meeusen had now lost 56 seconds.

 

While most riders were starting to tire, Peeters had done a smart race and still had something left in reserve. He bridged the gap to Stybar and remained in contention for 2nd place. Meanwhile, Albert had again recovered from his short mid-race crisis and was now starting to get closer to Stybar and Peeters.

 

Almost a minute for Nys

However, Nys was clearly the strongest rider in the race and when he crossed the line with two laps to go, he had extended his lead even further to 53 seconds. Albert had reduced his deficit to Stybar and Peeters to just 4 seconds and was now back in podium contention while Meeusen was fading and was more than 1.10 behind the world champion.

 

Albert closed the final small gap to Stybar and Peeters but just as he had regained contact, Stybar decided that it was time to go for 2nd place. The Czech champion made a fierce acceleration and both of his companions immediately lost contact.

 

Stybar opens a gap

Stybar was riding well and when he crossed the line to start the final lap, he was already 13 seconds ahead of Albert and Peeters. However, he was still losing ground to the superior Nys who was now 58 seconds ahead of his chaser.

 

In the first part of the final lap, Nys had his only mishap of the race when he suddenly found himself on the ground. However, the incident happened at low speed and he was quickly back on his bike to continue his procession towards the win.

 

Peeters pays the price

Peeters was finally starting to tire after a long race and was dropped by Albert in the first technical sections of the final lap. The world champion was now putting out his last bit of energy and started to get closer to Stybar and put life into the battle for 2nd place.

 

Nys' small crash saw him lose a bit of time but there was nothing to worry about. He had plenty of time to celebrate his win and despite the series being decided on overall time, he decided to cross the line on his feet with his bike in his arms.

 

Stybar held onto take 2nd while Albert lost a bit more than a minute in 3rd. Peeters had a very good first race with his new team and took 4th while Meeusen was 5th and van Amerongen 6th. Bart Arnouts had finished the race well but was beaten by Walsleben in the sprint for 7th while van Kessel was 9th. Marcel Meisen completed the top 10.

 

Result:

1. Sven Nys  

2. Zdenek Stybar +0.51

3. Niels Albert +0.57

4. Rob Peeters +1.10

5. Tom Meeusen +1.39

6. Thijs van Amerongen +1.55

7. Philipp Walsleben +2.20

8. Bart Aernouts +2.22

9. Corne van Kessel +2.27

10. Marcel Meisen +3.10

 

Overall Bpost standings

1. Sven Nys

2. Niels Albert +2.37