World Cyclo Cross Champs 08

The World Cross Championships 08 held over the weekend of January 27/29 attracted 50,000 fan who enjoyed the sun, the beer and the racing.

It was carnival in Treviso but out on Bandie Lake the cross community showed that they too could throw a party with a riot of flags, horns and cow bells, plus a few dead drunk Belgians awaiting to be scooped up by their friends.

Huge thanks to Wilier Cycles for being our hosts in Treviso.

More pictures of World Champ Men's Race

Elite Men
A large group of riders broke free and the decisive move came when Richard Groenendaal (Netherlands) attacked, and when he was caught his team mate Lars Bloom put down the hammer and jumped away. Sven Nijs (Belgium) said after, that when Goendall attacked he was recovering from his own push and this with the chase of Groenendaal, he was unable to respond. He also remarked that he followed fellow Belgian Erwin Vervecken's wheel when he almost bridged the gap to Bloom, but it wasn't to be.

When asked whether Boom's win marked a changing of the guard at the top of the cross, he said that "He had a few more champs in him".

Lars Bloom was ecstatic with his win and he talked warmly of the cross community and that he and Groenendaal had talked the previous evening, and that although having no set plan that they did have an 'understanding' to support each other.

1 9 BOOM Lars Netherlands 1:05:27,79
2 48 STYBAR Zdenek Czech Republic +00:05,17
3 2 NYS Sven Belgium +00:06,15
4 1 VERVECKEN Erwin Belgium +00:09,03
5 49 SIMUNEK Radomir Czech Republic +00:10,03
6 15 FONTANA Marco Aurelio Italy +00:10,08
7 5 VANTHOURENHOUT Sven Belgium +00:10,76
8 26 HEULE Christian Switzerland +00:12,20
9 22 GADRET John France +00:12,30
10 4 VANTORNOUT Klaas Belgium +00:12,86
11 7 PAUWELS Kevin Belgium +00:18,62
12 10 GROENENDAAL Richard Netherlands +00:18,68
13 16 FRANZOI Enrico Italy +00:19,60
14 6 AERNOUTS Bart Belgium +00:20,43
15 3 WELLENS Bart Belgium +00:21,93
16 27 ZAHNER Simon Switzerland +00:22,43
17 11 DE KNEGT Gerben Netherlands +00:27,29
18 43 CICHOSZ Marek Poland +00:27,41
19 34 BARENYI Milan Slovakia +00:28,50
20 13 VAN GILS Wilant Netherlands +00:31,50
51 47 JEBB Robert GBR +04:45,52
52 46 OLDHAM Paul GBR +04:54,20

More pictures of World Champ Women's Race

Women
Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) said that this was her hardest World Championship race to date and she had suffered a big spill, she commentated that in practice the mud had been frozen but in the race it had begun to melt causing her to crash. Nonetheless she was able to build a lead that she kept to the end.

Marianne Voss rode a brilliant race from the last row of the grid and almost chased Kupfernagel down in the final laps. Helen Wyman (GBR) had started from the front row, but a seemingly kamikaze Dutch woman delayed Wyman more than once in the important opening laps.

1 12 KUPFERNAGEL Hanka Germany 45:15,55
2 11 VOS Marianne Netherlands +00:13,98
3 4 F LEBOUCHER Laurence France +00:17,72
4 2 FERRIER-BRUNEAU Christel France +00:26,31
5 1 SALVETAT Maryline France +00:52,48
6 9 MELCHERS-VAN POPPEL Mirjam Netherlands +00:58,08
7 34 SIMMS Wendy Canada +01:04,01
8 6 VAN DEN BRAND Daphny Netherlands +01:09,92
9 18 LLOYD Rachel USA +01:23,64
10 5 F MANI Caroline France +01:42,40
18 32 G WYMAN Helen GBR +02:58,59
32 33 DAY Gabriella GBR +06:40,51

Under 23
Neils Albert (Belgium) dominated the race with a classy display from the man who ended Sven Nys's domination of Super Prestige Series only a few weeks previously.

1 12 ALBERT Niels Belgium 0:51:11,66
2 7 DUVAL Aurelien France +00:38,90
3 26 COMINELLI Cristian Italy +00:46,35
4 8 LOPEZ Jonathan France +00:47,46
5 9 BOURGOIN Clément France +00:48,50
6 18 KLOUCEK Lukas Czech Republic +00:53,11
7 28 URSI Fabio Italy +01:05,21
8 10 PERROT Guillaume France +01:31,29
9 21 VOSS Paul Germany +01:39,10
10 3 N SINKELDAM Ramon Netherlands +01:39,73
20 54 FIELD Ian GBR +02:19,21
48 55 THWAITES Mark GBR +06:18,01

Juniors
Arnaud Jouffroy (France) was the toast of the field riding ahead of the race throughout. Alex Paton (GBR) had been in third in the opening stages but a bad cold put paid to his adventure for this year.

1 17 JOUFFROY Arnaud France 40:30.0
2 55 SAGAN Peter Slovakia +00:01,14
3 12 PETRUS Lubomir Czech Republic +00:04,83
4 26 SILVESTRI Elia Italy +00:54,53
5 40 RUPP Matthias Switzerland +00:55,69
6 20 GARSON Pierre France +01:07,13
7 2 BODEN Stef Belgium +01:08,27
8 3 DE BIE Sean Belgium +01:11,24
9 19 CESSOT Jonathan France +01:11,53
10 31 KEOUGH Luke USA +01:12,82
34 38 BATCHELOR Sebastian GBR +03:14,93
38 37 WILLIAMS Andrew GBR +03:24,80
51 39 CREBER Hamish GBR +04:46,25
54 36 PATON Alex GBR +05:53,18