Corné van Kessel has obtained his first professional victory. The Dutch Telenet-Fidea rider already left the rest of the field behind in the first lap of the Centrumcross in Surhuisterveen and easily held his rivals off. Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Corendon) and Twan van den Brand (Orange Babies) completed the podium. Lars Boom (Astana) finished in the top 10 for the first time this season.

In the absence of the Dutch top riders Lars van der Haar and Mathieu van de Poel, Corné van Kessel had the perfect opportunity to grab his first professional victory in Surhuisterveen. Van Kessel - who was a fine eighth in Baal yesterday - was the first to leave the tarmac and immediately got a small gap. After half a lap, that difference was already five seconds and that forced Lars Boom to take the lead in the chase group.Philipp Walsleben, Joris Nieuwenhuis, Marcel Meisen and Van Kessel's teammate Thijs van Amerongen joined him.

Van Kessel's advantage continued to grow. After twenty minutes, he was more than half a minute ahead of the the rest and it became clear that they were fighting for second place. Boom remained active in the chase group which was joined by Twan van den Brand after a slow start made but the Astana rider was unable to make a difference. German Philipp Walsleben Twan van den Brand escaped with 15 minutes to go. However, they were no threat for van Kessel for whom the final round was a victory lap.

On Sunday the busy Christmas period will end with the Soudal Classicrace in Leuven. Sven Nys, Klaas Vantornout and Tom Meeusen are the big favorites, but most riders already have their eyes on the national championships, which are scheduled for next Sunday.

Result:

1.  Corné van Kessel (Telenet-Fidea) 
2.  Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Corendon) 
3.  Twan van den Brand (Orange Babies) 
4.  Marcel Meisen (Kuota-Lotto) 
5.  Martijn Budding (Rabobank) 
6.  Stan Godrie (Rabobank) 
7.  Lars Boom (Astana) 
8.  Patrick van Leeuwen (Orange Babies) 
9.  Joris Nieuwenhuis (Rabobank) 
10. Thijs van Amerongen (Telenet-Fidea)