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Due to sickness of several riders, this list has changed compared to previous editions.
About a month ago, the cyclo-cross in Contern was dominated by the Belgian riders, but they won't have an easy game in Niederanven because while the impressive Dieter Vanthourenhout is not expected to start, other nations will have a considerabely stronger line-up, with with among others a former world champion and two actual national champions.
The strong Czech delegation will be led by Kamil Ausbuher, the junior world champion of 1993. After this performance in Corva (Italy), the rider never has left the headlines of cyclo-cross sport. The year after, he took the silver medal in Koksijde and then, in the elite category, Ausbuher was used to victories (2-3 par year) and podiums(a dozen per year), mostly in the international races of his home country and in Switzerland. 2004 was maybe his best year in the elite category, since, in addition to the National championships ahead of Dlask and Jezek, Ausbuher also won the world-cup race in Tabor by beating Sven Vanthourenhout and Erwin Verwecken. Since two years, he has a professional contract with Belgium teams (actually Easypay) and continues to collect top placings in the big races, like for example last year in Pilzen (4th), Unicov (5th), Eernegem (6th) or Podborany (2nd). He also finished several times in the Top 20 of world-cup race. This year, Ausbuher has taken a great 10th position in Tabor, as well as 25th in Pijnacker and Koksijde. He has also finished 5th in Louny, 2nd in Ceska Lipka, 4th in Podborany, 5th in Hittnau and in Hole Vrchy as well as 2nd in Mnichovo behind Martin Zlamalik.
Jan Chrobak, the fifth of last year's race in Niederanven,
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Jan Chrobak
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makes regularely Top 10 placings in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany or in his own country. He has began the season slowly with an 8th place in Louny, a 7th one in Steinmaur and a 6th in Magstadt, but has been performing stronger recently by taking the podium in the international event in Frenkendorf behind Flückiger and Lang and finishing 4th in Hole Vrchy last week-end behind Zlamalik, Ausbuher and Polnicky. Last season, Chrobak had a fairly good season, winning the race in Differdange and finishing most of the world-cup races around the 30th position. A podium in Podborany and some Top placings in Magstadt, Kolin and Petange are also on his account, as well as the 7th place in the Czech Nationals. Jan has discovered the races of the ACC Contern in 2004 where he finished 6th for his first participation. He has confirmed this good result later on by finishing second in 2006, only 5 seconds behind winner Willemsens and by being in the lead group until two laps to go last year. Chrobak will be joined in Niederanven by two members of the Czech National team for the world cups, David Kasek and Vladimir Kyzivat. Kasek has won this year the race in Lostice and has finished every single race of teh Toi-Toi Cup so far in this season among the Top 10, including last week-end in Hole Vrchy where he crossed the line in 5th position. The Czeck rider has also finished the world-cup race in Pijnacker in 39th position. He was among the world's best riders in the younger categories, where he was National champion in the junior (1999) as well as the U23 category (2000 and 2001). He has also won two bronze medals in world championships (behind Bart Aernouts in 2000 in St. Michielsgesteel with the juniors and behind Vanthouenhout in 2001 with the U23). Kasek didn't confirm these results in the next years, except for a 9th place in the U23 European championships in 2003, but his late results seem to confirm a nice regain in form this season.
Vladimir Kyzivat has finished the two world-cup races of this season as 28th in Tabor and 35th in Pijnacker. He has also taken 6th place in Unicov and Meilen, 4th in Ceska Lipka, fifth in Podborny and third in Magstadt. Last year, Kyzivat has finished among others 24th in Tabor, 3rd in Hlinsko and 5th in Steinmaur. He had also very good results as younger rider, finishing 7th of the junior world championships in 2000 and 2nd in the U23 National championships 2002 behind Bina, but ahead of Zlamalik. The same year he has also finished third in the spectacular race of Loenhout. Kyzivat immediately had good results as an elite rider with Top 30 placings in the world-cup races and Top 10 placings in the Czech Budvar-Cup. But his best season by far was in 2005 /2006, where he finished an excellent 9th of the Zeddam world championships, only 49 seconds down on winner Erwin Verwecken. The same year, the Czech rider took the flowers in Kolin and finished on the podium in Pétange, Magstadt and Hlinsko. He was also 5th in Steinmaur as well as 14th and 16th in the world cup races of Igorre and Tabor.
The young Lukas Prihoda, was the winner of the Grand-prix Comat 2004 in the junior category and is busy in his third season as U23 rider. He was among the best junior riders of his country, finishing for example 15th in the world championships in Zeddam. Last year, he did his best result during the national championships won by Stybar, where he finished a good 11th, whereas this year, a 7th place in Podbrezova stands as his best performance.
On the French side, we have the confirmation of the participation from Steve Chainel, the fourth of the world championships
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Steve Chainel
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in Zeddam 2006. He was the surprise of the day in this race and failed the podium for a mere 10 seconds behind Verwecken, Wellens and Mourey. The rider from Auber 93 was French National champion 2000 in the junior category and owed a total of 9 international victories in the elite category in cyclo-cross as of today, among them two times the race in Frenkendorf (2005 and 2006) as well as the one of Pétange in january 2008. Chainel has finished two times eight in the U23 world championships and three times among the Top 10 of world cup races in the elite category (7th in Kalmthout and 9th in Milano 2006/2007 as well as 9th in Tabor 2007/2008). He is of course one of the best riders in France and if he never hit the jack-pot in the elite Nationals, he is regularely on the podiums in the Challenge National, like for example in October 2008 in Montrevel, where he took second place behind Mourey. The soon to be Bouyges Telecom rider has started this season really well, but some health problems prevented him to perform well after that. It was only recently that he was able to win again in a regional race in his hometown Remiremont, but this return of the form was confirmed last week-end during the second leg of the Challenge National, where he was again on the podium between Mourey (winner) and Nicolas Bazin (3rd). Chainel is an outstanding road racer and he won this summer the queen stage and the overall classification of the Circuit de Lorraine, as well as two stages in the Tour de la Manche. Second positions in the Trophée des Grimpeurs and the Châteauroux Classic de l'Indre this year underline the talents of the young rider, who will continue to combine road and cyclo-cross following the advices of former world champion Dominique Arnould.
The Belgian riders will be numerous again, led by David Willemsens. He was three times elite without contract National champion and wore
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Willemsens vainqueur en 2006
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the jersey down in 2006, when he won the Grand-prix de la Commune de Contern by dropping Jan Chrobak on the very last lap. Willemsens has been into cyclo-cross for years now and at the beginning of his career, he formed a very strong duo with his brother Peter. He was already 2nd of a Belgian Championships in the novice category in 1992 as well as 3rd with the juniors in 1994, behind Gianni David and a certain Sven Nys. In 1997, the Belgian rider finished again on the podium, this time as espoir behind Bart Wellens and Ben Berden. During those years, the Willemsens brother often showed up in Luxemburg, David notably finished 2nd in Muhlenbach and 3rd in Leudelange. in 1997-1998, the younger of the two reached the highest level with victories in Middlekerke (ahead of his brother and Herijgers) and in Huijbergen, as well as podium places in Essen (behind Wellens and Van der Poel), in Zonnebeek (behind Nys and De Clercq) and in Weldegem (behind Wellens and De Clercq). But after another victory in Zelzate in 2000, the Willemsen's wanted to quit racing at a top level and whereas Peter stopped for good, David didn't have any results for several years. But he came back to a decent level in 2004, opting for a non-professionnal status and concentrating himself on the elite without contract races. He won an incredible amount of smaller races (around a dozen victories per season) since then and also showed himself in the bigger events. He won three consecutive National championships (2004 - 2006) as well as Contern, Oostende, Frenkendorf, Leicester and Muhlenbach. He also finished 2nd in Dudzele (behind Sven Vanthourenhout) and in Lanarvily , 2 times 3rd in Zonnebeke as well as 3rd in Rijkevoersel and in Maldegem (behind Nys and Albert). This season, the evergreen seems again to be on the right track, because he counts already four victories (Exeter, Stabroek, De Pinte, Zelzate) and has finished several times among the Top 15 of the big races.
Tom Van den Bosch has shown a great performance in Contern, a month ago, when he finished second behind Vanthourenhout. If the latter
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Tom Van den Bosch
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dominated the race from the beginning, Van den Bosch was also untouchable for the second place of the podium. The former Palmans rider turned out last season to be the King of the B-races for his first year among the elites, since he won no less than 9 victories in elite without contract races and also took an impressive number of other good placings. But Van den Bosch also competed in the bigger races where he took among others 24th position in the first Superprestige race, 20th in Hamme-Zogge, 19th in Hasselt or 17th in Hoogstraaten. Eventually, he was among the good surprises in the event of the ACC Contern in Niederanven, where he was in the leading group during most of the race and finally finished in 6th place. He was a very good rider in the youth categories with a silver medal in the junior Belgian championships and a bronze medal in the military world championships. For his last season as en espoir in 2007, Van den Bosch finished 8th overall in the Superprestig and 15th in the world championships in Hooglede-Gits. This year, the Belgian rider has changed colour and with the jersey of Rendement Hypo, he seems to be much stronger since he was 8th in the race at Lebbeke, two time 9th in the first category events of Schmerikon (Switzerland), Dottignies and Eernegem as well as 14th in Niel, 15th in Ruddervoorde, 18th in Hasselt, 22nd in Asper-Gavere and Hamme-Zogge, which means two top placings for the last week-end.
Tim Van Nuffel was a rider with very good results in the youth categories, like for example a second place
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Tim Van Nuffel
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at the novices Belgian championships or 14 victories in the junior category, where he also finished 7th and 10th of the World championships of Middlefart and Poprad respectively. The series continued in the U23 category with 3 victories in Superprestige races (Ruddervoorde, Asper-Gavere and Harnes) as well as a win in the Wetzikon world cup. He has also finished 3rd of the world championships 2000 in Wielsbeke and 7th of the Monopoli world championships. Among the elite riders, Van Nuffel showed out to be very strong on difficult courses like in Koppenberg (5th in 2004), in St. Michielsgesteel (7th in 2004) or in Leudelange (3rd in 2004). The Easypay rider has also lined up numerous times in Germany and Switzerland, gaining a considerable number of top placings (Hamburg, Magstadt, Frankfurt, Berlin, Ruti, Schmerikon, Sion). Last season, he finished second of the elite without contract National championships in Hofstade, narrowly beaten by Jan Soetens. This season, Van Nuffel races again often abroad and has had his best results so far in Switzerland: 5th in Frenkendorf, 9th in Wadenswil and Hittnau. But a 6th place in Dudzele, a 9th in Ardooie or, for example, the 18th position in last week's Superprestige-race in Hamme-Zogge show that he is able to perform well in his home country too.
On the German side, National Champion Malte Urban will get some strong company with
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defending champion Johannes Sickmüller
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Johannes Sickmüller, the defending champion of the race in Niederanven. Twelve months ago, Sickmüller surprised everyone by placing a strong attack with two laps to go and this acceleration allowed him to take the victory with 18 seconds advantage on David Derepas. It was the beginning for a good season for Sickmüller, with more than 10 Top 10 placings in international races, notably in Hamburg, Frankfurt (4th) or Leudelange and Magstadt (3rd). He has also finished 12th in Woerden, 18th in Loenhout, 24th in the world-cup event of Hoogerheide, a race tha he had finished in 13th position the year before. In january 2008, the German rider took for the second time in a row the silver medal in his national championships, after having won the title in 2006. Sickmüller has a real collection of national championships medals, since he has also won some on the Mountain-bike. The Stevens rieder also participated in the cyclo-cross in Contern down in 2005, and was only beaten by Klaas Vantornout in the last lap to finish in second place. Several weeks later, he took revenge by winning the race in Mühlenbach in impressive manner.
Sickmüller has been very calm in the summer (except from a victory in the Trans Austria Tour MTB), but has started the 2008/2009 cross season very well with two victories (in Lorsch ahead of Birkenfeld and in Wedel ahead of Aernouts) and several other top placings (2nd in Magstadt behind Zahner, 3rd in Wedel behind Walsleben and Simunek, 3rd behind Walsleben in Berlin, 5th in Unicov). He did not participate in the race in Contern since he does most of the World-cup races and finished 24th in Kamthout, 35th in Tabor and 41st in Pijnacker.
Malte Urban was the one who prevented Sickmüller from winning his second Nationals in Janurary.
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German champion Malte Urban
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The rider form Alpecin-Focus is one of the major caracters in German cyclo-cross over the last years and at home in Herford, he took his third National title after 2000 and 2004. Already as junior, Urban showed strong abilities off-road with a 5th place in the world championships, but after his first national championships win in the elite category, he opted for a road career. As member of the teams Coast and Bianchi, he participated alongside Jan Ullrich in races like Giro d'Italia, Ronde van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix or Tour de Suisse. But the end of the Bianchi squad, in 2003, meant also the end of the road career for Malte Urban. He returned into MTB and cyclo-cross with lots of national success and also some international references like a 15th place at the world championships in Zeddam or a second place behind Groenendaal, last year in Hamburg. The German has prepared his cross season on the road, where he took the victory in the criterium of Gütersloh. But the beginning of his season has unluckily been harmed by sickness, whith was also the reason for him dropping out in Contern on late October. But an 8th place in the traditionnal race in Margstadt shows that the form is coming back again. He will show up in Contern with two of his team-mates, Finn Heitmann and Stepahn Sprinke. Heitmann was U23 German National champion 2003 ahead of Paul Voss and made a good entry into the elite level last year when he took three victores against the best German riders. Heitmann finished at the foot of the podium in the National Championships in Herford. Stephan Sprinke also was among the best U23 riders in Germany where he made some podium places. Last year, in his first elite season, Sprinke finished 7th in both international events of Hamburg and he took a victory on the road this year in Sennestadt. We are also expecting Sascha Wagner to show up in Niederanvan, a rider that is used to taking the flowers in Luxemburg, since he has already taken two victories in Dippach and Belvaux ahead of Gusty Bausch. Belvaux eventually was his third win for the season since he has also been the first at a race in Mannheim. Wagner was 3rd of the German Nationals in the junior category down in 2005 and second in the U23 category in 2007, both of them behind Philipp Walsleben. Last year, Wagner has also won the elite cyclo-cross in Gelenau ahead of Jan Chrobak and owed the overall victory in the U23 Deutschland-Cup.
Some more German-speaking riders will come to Niederanven and might well be able to play the first roles, namely from Switzerland and Austria. Pirmin Lang was regularely among the
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Pirmin Lang
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best U23 riders in the world-cup events down in 2005-2006 (5th in Milan, 7th in Hoogerheide, 10th in Liévin, 13th at the Zeddam world championships) used to finish on the podiums during national races (2 victories, 2 times 2nd of Swiss championships). He has made a smooth transition into the elite category in 2006 with again 2 victories, a 5th place in Dagmarsellen, 7th places in Ruti, Hittnau and at the Swiss Nationals, as well as 8th in Wetzikon. Last season, Pirmin Lang was able to celebrate three wins, in Sion (ahead of Taramarcaz and Van Nuffel), in Pfaffnau and in Schwarzhausen. His good performances (2nd in Frenkendorf, Hittnau and Aigle, 3rd in Dagmarsellen) have provided him a spot in the team for the world championships in Treviso where he has finished at a very good 29th position, merely a minute and a half behind winner Lars Boom. Lang is also a good road racer and regularely participates in bigger races in France, Switzerland and Italie and even takes the victory from time to time like in Schattdorf, Frauenfeld and Valloton this summer. The road races of course provide him with a good basis for a successfull cross season and this winter, Pirmin has taken a second place in the international cyclo-cross of Frenkendorf, behind Flückiger, but ahead of Chrobak, Skarnitzl and Van Nuffel.
Austrian rider Peter Presslauer has won in January 2008 in Rankweil his eigth National title in a row, despite a fairly bad season marked by health problems, where his best performance was without doubt the 34th position in the Treviso world championships. Presslauer is mostly known for being a good Mountain-biker and also on the road. On the ATB, he is also used to take the Austrian National title and has been among the 50 Best in the world for a long time. This summer, Presslauer has again mixed up MTB (victory in Garmisch) and road racing, where he has done some big races like 3 days of La Pann, Flèche Brabançonne, Het Volk or Grand-prix de Denain with his Volksbank team. Despite an injury due to a heavy crash at the beginning of the season, the Austrian champion hopes to profit his road experience during this season and have better results than a 41st place in the world cup event in Tabor last month.
Joachim Parbo, former double Danish champion,
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Joachim Parbo
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(2005 and 2006) is a dominating character in danish cyclo-cross and a real fanatic of the disciplin. All alone and without many support from his federation, he has travelled through Europe in train for several years to line-up in the international races, trips that also let him to Contern for three times. He didn't have many success at that time but never counted his efforts and constantly improved. He has for example finished 14th in the cyclo-cross of Roubaix, future leg of the world-cup, 21st of the world-cup in Hoogherheide or 32nd in the world championships in Hooglede-Gits. Last year, Parbo travelled for several months to the United States where he finished 10 times in the Top 10 and four times on the podium. His form was good, but sickness has prevented him from reconducting his national title for anotehr year. This season, the Danish rider also opened his season in overseas and finished 4th in Lakewood and in Burlington as well as 15th in the spectacular night-cross of Las Vegas. Back in Europe, Parbo took 12th place in Hittnau as well as 37th and 38th in the world-cup events of Tabor and Pijnacker. In the summer, Parbo does some Mountain-biking, a disziplin in which he has also won a national championhip.
On the luxemburgish side, most of the hopes are on the shoulders of Gusty Bausch after his fantastic performance in Contern a monthe ago, where he finished in 7th place after having battled for the podium for quite a while.
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Gusty Bausch
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The multiple Luxemburgish champ has a good season begin with two victories, in Brouch and in Tétange, but also some nice international references: 27th last week-end in Hasselt, 34th during the world-cup in Kalmthout, a 30th place on the Koppenberg or the 45th position in Pijnacker. The new member of LC Kayl has often performed well in the races of the ACC Contern: besides his second place in the national championships in january 2008, he was 5th in the traditionnal international cross of October in 2004 and 2005. We hope that a lot of other Luxemburgish riders will show up in Niederanven (they were only 10 in Contern on October 26), like evergreen Pascal Triebel who starts to have a good form with a second place in Tetange, beaten by Bausch, then a 9th position in the international race in Frenkendorf (Switzerland) and finally, a victory in Cessange last Sunday, ahead of Gusty Bausch and Claude Wolter. The latter, just like Jérôme Juncker or the young guns Vincent Dias Dos Santos and Pit Schlechter, will target a Top 20 place.
In addition to this, some riders form the border region and from Flanders will line up in Contern to participate in the race, as well as some last-minute contracts.
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