UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships:
A perfect season for Zdenek Stybar
Date:
01.02.2010
Description: « My success in the World Cup definitely helped
me cope with the pressure of this race. Today I could afford to
be serene at the start because I was aware that the result of
my season didn’t depend on the outcome of these World Championships.
I was fairly calm throughout, and even when I lost time and places
because of a tyre problem in the first lap, I stayed calm and
came back without too much problem. After that, everything went
very well up until the last few hundred metres: when I saw the
finish line and my country’s flags in front of me, I experienced
sensations that I will never forget, and I nearly lost control.
Fortunately, it was the finish!”
Zdenek Stybar’s first
declarations after his triumph in Tabor sum up perfectly the different
phases of an event that the Czech clearly dominated: his first
attempt at an attack – purposeful but unsuccessful –
as soon as he started pedalling, his quick and decisive return
to the front afterwards, and finally his long solo ride towards
the most important victory of his career.
At 25 years old, Stybar has
already won everything: after two world titles in the Under 23
category and the UCI World Cup – with three wins this season
in Koksijde, Igorre and Roubaix – he has completed his list
of achievements with the title in the Elite category. This title
comes after his silver medals at the last two editions of the
UCI World Championships in Treviso and Hoogerheide.
In front of nearly 30,000
enthusiastic spectators, he didn’t leave any chance to his
adversaries. Quickly finding themselves in difficulty on the extremely
slippery and technical course, the title holder Niels Albert,
Klaas Vantournout and Sven Nys tried to set up a resistance to
his supremacy. But finally they had to accept what was to be the
second defeat for Belgium in nine years.
The Czech Republic achieved
an incredible collective performance, with Martin Bina fourth,
Martin Zlamalik sixth and Radomir Simunek eighth at the end of
a cold but sunny day. The French rider Francis Mourey (5th) and
the Swiss Christian Heule, (7th) were also among the best.
Marianne Vos’ victory
was as clear-cut as that of Stybar. After just a few metres, the
Dutch rider began her flight towards her third world title, after
her victories in Zeddam and Hoogerheide. In doing so, she again
relegated the German Hanka Kupfernagel to second place, and her
compatriot Daphny Van Den Brand – who has just won the UCI
World Cup – to third.
If Stybar and Vos cannot
be considered surprise winners of these 2010 UCI Cyclo-cross World
Championships in Tabor, the outcomes were not as expected in the
races on the first day of competition. In the Juniors race, the
Dutch riders David Van Der Poel and Gert-Jan Bosman had to admit
defeat faced with the Czech Tomas Paprstka, who took the honours
in front of Julian Alaphilippe (France) and another Dutch rider
Emiel Dolfsma. The public were given a preview of the emotions
that were to follow on Sunday.
The Belgian team, led by
the UCI World Cup winner Tom Meeusen, didn’t win any medals
in the Under 23 competition, which came down to a fine demonstration
from the Polish brothers Pawel and Kacper Szcepaniak. The brothers
were joined on the podium by the France’s Arnaud Jouffroy.
After the success of Tabor, which has already hosted the season’s
highlight in 2001, the next UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships
will take place in Sankt Wendel, Germany.
