In his first race for his new team, and in the cyclo-cross season opener in the country that is mad for the sport, Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) won today’s Steenbergcross in Erpe-Mere, Belgium. After winning once last year in his home country for his former team Telenet-Fidea, the 27-year-old is already on the board this year.
Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) was second, and Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) was fifth.
“I had not expected that,” a surprised Pauwels said at the finish. “I pedalled faster than I thought I could. Even though Nys was slightly better – he probably would have won but had no luck, but I’ve never felt this good in Erpe-Mere.”
In the early season race, Pauwels and Nys went away together in the final laps. Nys, the Belgian veteran, had a tyre go flat on the last lap, and only Pauwels was left. “I won today thanks to the misfortune of Sven Nys,” Pauwels concluded. “But hopefully I will take this level of racing to my next ‘cross races. Even my team-mate Klaas went well today, I noticed.”
Klaas Vantornout, Pauwels’ team-mate on Sunweb-Revor, finished third, 29 seconds behind his compatriot. The 29-year-old thought he might have been capable of better. “Over the years, I have been faster, but I haven’t had a lot of intensive training,” he remarked. “Given my condition and some mistakes I made on a technical part of the course, third place is still positive.”
Team director Jurgen Mettepenningen’s Sunweb-Revor team heads next to Neerpelt on September 24.
Steenbergcross, Erpe-Mere, Belgium:
1, Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Sunweb-Revor, 1:01:50
2, Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet, at 11 secs
3, Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Revor, at 29 secs
4, Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus, at 51 secs
5, Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus, at 1 min 20 secs
6, Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Landbouwkrediet, at 1 min 43 secs
7, Vincent Baestaens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet, at 1 min 57 secs
8, Joeri Adams (Bel) Telenet-Fidea, at 2 mins 4 secs
9, Radomir Simunek (Cze) BKCP-Powerplus, at 2 mins 19 secs
10, Jan Denuwelaere (Bel), same time