Luxemburgish National Cyclo-cross Championships - 06.01.2008 - Contern

Reports:

Elite / U23:

After 1982, 1991 and 1997, the ACC Contern cycling club has organized in 2008 for the fourth time the cyclo-cross Nationals, on the traditionnal course with start and finish in the rue de Moutfort in Contern. And it was a huge success with a fantastic crowd, estimated at 3000 spectators. Even before the first races had started, the event was in the headlines because of the hand of Jempy Drucker. The big favourite had injured in during his big performance in Diegem where he failed to win the race on December 30, 2007, and he wasn't sure to line up in the Nationals until the day before. But Jempy wanted to win back the title, he knew that he was in big shape and didn't want to give up, nor for himself, nor for all his fans. Finally, the injury was less handicap than expected and Drucker dominated the race, never leaving any doubt about his superiority and despite some pain in the hand, he was able to raise his bike high above his head while crossing the line to celebrate the victory. 28 riders have started for an hour of suffering under cold, but sunny weather and in front of a big crowd that Luxemburgish cyclo-crossers are not used to. The course was very difficult, especially the part in this meadow between Contern and Moutfort that has become a classic in Luxemburgish cyclo-cross for almost 30 years now. The soil was dry enough to leave the riders relatively clean, but the heavy mud glued onto the rider's wheels and made it extremely tough. To heavy for some of the riders, this must be agreed, but this course didn't allow any cheating and only a real champion, the strongest of the day both phisically and technically, was able to snatch the win. Like Jempy Drucker who seemingly didn't care about the mud, flying over it and staying on his bike at several parts where all the other riders had to run. Gusty Bausch took off very fast and it was him who led the riders into the very tricky downhill in the woods for the first time. But Drucker put the hammer down shortly later, in the most difficult part of the course. With impressive power and technical skills on the slippery ground, the new member of the ACC Contern flew away from his opponents and in only one kilometer, he had made a gap of more than half a minute on the next chasers. The race was already nearly in the pocket for him, all he had to do is controlling the gap in the next laps. Behind him, defending champion Gusty Bausch was also very strong and if he tolerated the company of Michely, Claerebout and Wolter for half a lap, he quickly also was on his own and he was the only one capable of limiting the loss against the flying Fidea-man Drucker. Eventually, Gusty has fought until the end and as of the second lap, the gap stayed more or less the same at a little bit more than a minute. In the last two laps, it even decreased a little bit and the defending champion finished with style by coming closer and closer to Drucker who of course, didn't take any risk any more. The member of VC Diekirch finally crossed the finish line only 27 seconds late on the winner and was himself more than 3 minutes ahead of the winner of the bronze medal. Strong performance!!! With the two first places already known, there was only one medal left, to be handed out between Claude Wolter and Pascal Triebel. The latter appreciates tough courses and normally deliveres strong performances with his bike on the shoulder, but he had bad legs today and wasn't at his advantage on the slippery downhill sections. Wolter on his side had a tremendous starts together with the best U23 riders and was in third position after one lap. But the old lion Triebel didn't give up, slowly but surely he fought his way back and bridged up to Wolter at around mid-race. Maybe, Claude Wolter had started a bit too strongly, because at the end, he wasn't able to hang onto Triebel's wheel and had to let the rider from Tetange leave him for another medal in a Luxemburgish championship. A nice battle between the two riders, together with U23-rider Claerebout, that helped us to forget the lack of suspense for the gold medal. A surprising performance by David Claerebout, who wasn't expected as strong by most of the people. But even if Kim Michely, the favourite for the victory, had a very strong opening round in the wheel of Gusty Bausch, he had to admit a little later that it wasn't his best day. The son of the best Luxemburgish cyclo-cross-man of all the times lost some time in the second and third laps, and Claerebout didn't hesitate to take over. During a long time, the new affiliate of Differdange rode in third place overall in the commun race with the elite category. Even if he had cramps at the end and was passed by Pascal Triebel in the penultimate lap, he didn't care: the most important for him was the gold medal in the U23 category, two minutes and a half ahead of Michely and more than 4 minutes ahead of third placed David Schloesser. The new National champion was overwhelmed with joy: he had given it all today and had just ridden the race of his life. Another man was very happy after the race: Jempy Drucker. The Fidea rider had taken the risk to registrate for the elite-category even if he still belongs to the U23 riders until the end of the season and it paid off. Because next year, he will have to line up with the big guns and the newly acquired red-white-blue champions jersey will surely be useful for him in search of a professionnal contract that he will need in order to battle with the Nys and Wellens in optimal conditions.

Women, novices and juniors:

Some of the podiums in the women or youth categories looked similar to those of the last year and the name of the winners in these races are not a surprise, but this doesn't mean that they lacked of action or suspense. Especially in the women's race where the expected battle between Nathalie Lamborelle and Suzie Godart was very tight. The younger one made good use from her technical skills in the downhill part to get rid of the older one already in the first lap, but Godard never gave up and stayed closely behind until the end. Nathalie Lamborelle took off early, but she slipped away and Suzie Godart toot over the command after half of the first lap. Nathalie quickly managed to move up to Suzie again and broke away again on the descent in the woods, on a particularely tricky place where Suzie preferred to run rather than stay on her bike. The rider from Uniqa created a small gap but crashed once more in the last lap. But even if Godart came back to six seconds behind her, Lamborelle had the title in her pocket. The bronze medalist, Christine Majerus, had been ill during the whole week and didn't have very good legs. The rider from Cessange was never able to match for the win and she finished one minute and a half behind Nathalie Lamborelle. In the novice's race, the riders from UC Dippach were dominant with no lass than 8 participants, which means nearly half of the line-up. No surprise that they made the law like they have been used to it since the beginning of the season. Kevin Feiereisen took the best start, followed closely behind by his team-mates Alex Kirsch and Bob Jungels, whereas the first rider who didn't belong to the team of Lucien Didier, Lex Reichling, was already several meters back. Jungels had already won five times this season and he was also the stronges today. He profited form his strong athletic skills and bridged up to Feiereisen in the second lap, just to leave him behind a little bit later and fly to the victory, 47 seconds and 1'24" respectively ahead of his team-mates. No less than 4 riders from Tetange dominated in the first lap of the junior race with Pit Schlechter, Vincent Dias Dos Santos, Max Michely and Laurent Sadler, whereas defending champion Tom Thill didn't manage to keep up with them. The rider from Kayl improved after hat but, if he could pass Sadler, he never was able to endanger the other three. Pit Schlechter seemed very strong in the beginning, but Dias Dos Santos joined him in the lead on the second lap, just to drop him later on. After a mechanical and several mistakes on the tricky ground, Schlechter even dropped down to third place with Michely taking second after a nice final lap. Dias Dos Santos had time enough to celebrate his title before passing the line. The small rider, with just the right proportions for a cyclo-cross man, has very good technical skills and he seems to find back to the form that he had in the beginning of the season, before an urgent medial operation. He wins his first national title with 46 seconds advantage on Michely and showed his joy at the finish line.

Luxemburgish cyclo-cross Nationals 2008 >>