Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) easily won today’s round two of the World Cup of Cyclo-cross in Tabor, Czech Republic, ahead of Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step) and Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb-Revor). Pauwels rode the second half of the race by himself after Stybar changed his bike, steadily moving away from an eleven-man chase group.
The revitalized Pauwels, who has team leadership at Sunweb-Revor, takes the lead in the World Cup standings with 150 points. He’s ahead of Stybar and Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet), who are tied at 135 points.
“I was riding hard with Stybar, but when he went to the pits, I was alone, even though that’s not really what I wanted,” Pauwels told Sporza TV at the finish. “When I was ahead by half a minute, I knew I had the victory.”
“I felt really good,” his team-mate Vantornout added. “Kevin and I understand each other well. We don’t have to speak much to feel good within the team.”
It was a normal start in Tabor today, after last week’s snafu involving several riders and a camera-person who didn’t clear the course before the flag dropped. Pauwels, Stybar, and Bart Aernouts (Rabo-Giant Offroad) were leading early, with Christoph Pfinsten (Cyclingteam de Rijke) in tow.
On a winding, undulating course, Stybar attacked at the top of a short set of stairs on lap three, taking Pauwels and Vantornout with him. Nys and Aernouts followed, Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea), Frances Mourey (FDJ), and Steve Chainel in contact. A rapid pace throughout separated the contenders early, and a majority of the race was run with only eleven in contention.
Soon after, Stybar made a quick bike change, but by the time he had accelerated out of the pits, he was at the back of the single-file group. Pauwels moved off the front, and with six laps to go, the Belgian crossed the line with a four-second lead. As Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) pulled team-mate Radomir Simunek back to the chasing group, Stybar was back to the front trying to keep Pauwels within range.
I was pedalling well and I felt good,” Stybar said after the race. “Unfortunately, I got a flat in an important moment during the race, so I lost contact with Pauwels. After changing bikes I really pushed it to catch up to the chasing group, but at that point the race for victory was over, because Pauwels rode an excellent race.”
“I don’t know if I would have been able to keep up with him even without the flat, as today Pauwels was really strong. At that point I preferred to concentrate on second place to try and recuperate some important points in the general classification for the World Cup. Compared to last week in Plzen, however, I’ve made some more progress as far as my conditioning. Even though I’m still not in the shape I’d like to be in, I’m looking forward to the next events with serenity and optimism.”
For the next several laps, Pauwels gradually increased his lead, with Stybar pulling Vantornout and Mourey leading a chase group a little further back. With four laps remaining, Pauwels had pulled out to 22 seconds as Albert led the chase over the line.
Doing most of the work, it was the world champion Stybar who tried several attacks in an attempt to keep Pauwels close. However the Belgian kept pushing, frustrating Stybar. With three laps to race, the Czech rider pulled the chase over the line and eased up, gesturing at the others to help out. Being Pauwels’ team-mate, Vantornout wouldn’t do it, and Albert appeared exhausted as well. So it was the Czech rider, former U-23 silver medalist Simunek, who came through to assist his compatriot.
But it was to no avail, and with two laps to go, Pauwels’ lead increased to almost a minute, and Stybar pulled away from the chase with Vantornout policing. Simunek tried to follow, but his earlier work began to wear on him, and Meeusen began leading the chase back.
On the final lap, well after Pauwels had secured the win, Vantornout came around Stybar for the first time to make sure that the duo stayed away and secured the other two podium spots.