CYCLO-CROSS

8th GP Commune de Contern for elite and U23 riders (UCI Cat 2) / GP COMAT for ladies, novices and juniors 38th International Cyclo-cross - 21.10.2012 - Contern

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REPORT

There was a summer feeling in the air on Octobre 21 in Contern with temperatures well above 20 degrees and T-Shirts, skirts and shorts being more appropriate than the usual winter coats and mud boots. It was too hot for a cyclo-cross thus, but two men were handling well with these extreme conditions: with defending champion Joeri Adams and Sven Vanthourenhout being absent for illness, it was Jim Aernouts and Jan Denuwelaere who dominated the race until the end and after a last lap full of suspense, Jim Aernouts took the win in front of rather few cyclo-cross fans.

sun and heat in Contern

8th GRAND-PRIX DE LA COMMUNE DE CONTERN It was in real summer weather though, which contrasted totally to the miserable conditions that the unfortunate organizers in Kayl had only a week ago, that 49 riders lined up for the 8th edition of the Grand-prix de la Commune de Contern, with two notable riders missing on the start list: Joeri Adams injured his foot while training on Friday, while Sven Vanthourenhout only announced his withdrawel on the day of the race, which didn't leave a chance to the organizers to replace him. The rider from Landbouwkrediet was ill since Thursday, but he waited until the last moment to take his decision since the impact of the race in Contern was crucial for numerous Belgian riders. best start for Sascha Weber In case of the probable victory of one of their riders in Tabor today, they would be rewarded with an additionnal start place for the next world-cup race in Plzen and this start place would most probably go to the best Belgian rider in Contern. Nearly half of the contenders on the start line though came from the country of the just married Princess Stephanie, but it was a German who marked the race in its very beginning. Sascha Weber took the hole shot and he was very impressive on the first passage in the big meadow, when he climbed the short, steep hill without dismounting from his bike, while nearly all the other riders put their feet to the ground. After the first lap, the rider who absolutely dominated the beginning of the season in Luxemburg had a small gap on the troops from Belgium formed by the likes of Denuwelaere, Aernouts, Cant and so on. But the rider from CC Differdange rode above his capacities and had to slow down after a moment, eventually dropping out of the race with cramps later on. As of the second lap, it was Jim Aernouts who took control of the race, ahead of Weber, Denuwelaere, Toon Aerts, Belgique junior champion Daan Soete and Dutchman Mitchell Huenders. A little bit behind them, America's Luxembourger Christian Helmig showed a good start around position 10, together with Swiss resident Nico Brüngger, Ritchie Denolf and road rider Pieter Ghyllebert. two leaders ... ... four chasers National champion Gusty Bausch, as for him, he had problems getting into the race, just like several of the favourites who missed their start: Tom Van den Bosch, Dave De Cleyn, Mathias Bossuyt or Kenneth Van Compernolle, Gianni Denolf and Eddy Van Ijzendoorn, who finished the second lap behind the third Luxembourger in the race, Lex Reichling. Jim Aernouts was leading the race, but the three times Belgian champion knew that it was too early to go on his own on this dry and very fast course, with a bigger group of Denuwelaere, Weber, Cant, Soete and Van Tichelt forming behind him for a chase. While he hoped that someone could bridge up to him, it was Jan Denuwelaere who parted ways with the other riders, launching himself alone in poursuit of the leader. Toon Aerts, 6th on a similar fast course in the U23 Superprestige race in Ruddervoorde dropped back after a problem with his bike, while Jens Vanderkinderen, Dave De Cleyn and Tom Van den Bosch had moved up several positions in the race. Before mid-race, Jan Denuwelaere had made the junction with the leader and so they were now two riders at the front, with about twenty seconds advantage on a group of young wolves composed by Tim Merlier, Daan Soete, Jens Vandekinderen and Kevin Cant. Van Tichelt had been dropped just like Sascha Weber who was clearly suffering a lot. Behind them, Mathias Van de Velde rode on his won, followed by another group containing De Cleyn, Denolf and Brüngger. Gusty Bausch was now riding about twentieth position, he had passed Czech representatives Adeal and Malik and was closing in on Christian Helmig, who was feeling his long road season abroad in his legs, as well as his fast start. One lap later, Luxembourg's champion eventually passed his runner-up of last January, while Denuwelaere and Aernouts were still Best rider from Luxembourg: Gusty Bausch leading the race, with the rider from Sunweb-Revor seemingly a little bit easier than the one from Style & Concept. Jim Aernouts accelerated on a few occasions, but each time when he got a small gap, Denuwelaere was able to react and bridged up to him again, with the hope of finally taking a win that he narrowly missed in the last two years. Eventually, the two riders were still together when the bell rang, still trailing around 30 seconds on Soete, Vandekinderen, Cant and Merlier, with the two riders from Telenet-Fidea doing most of the work in this group. There was plenty of suspense in the last lap even if Aernouts looked slightly stronger than his rival. He went into the lead of the race, taking one, two, five, then ten meters advantage in the meadow. Denuwelaere lost a little bit of time but never ceased the fight, nearly closing the gap again just before the last finishing straight. Jim Aernouts had to dig deep with a long sprint on the final slightly uphill tarmac section to keep his small advantage until the line. Jim Aernouts of the Sunweb-Revor team won the 8th edition of the Grand-prix de la Commune de Contern a few winner Jim Aernouts bike lengths ahead of Jan Denuwelaere, who ends on the podium for the third year in a row without being able to climb on its highest step. Aernouts has also finished already three times in the Top 10 in Contern and recently prolonged the contract with Sunweb-Rever until the end of 2013. It was an excellent week-end for his team because while Kevin Pauwels won the world-cup leg far away in Tabor, young Tim Merlier completed the triumph of Sunweb in Contern with a third place. The best U23 rider in the race had first dropped Kevin Cant, the the Telenet-Fidea duo Vandekinderen and Soete in the last lap. After a very strong final part of the race, Dave De Cleyn took seventh while Swiss rider Nico Brüngger was the first Non-Belgian in eight place. Gusty Bausch finally finished as first contender from Luxembourg in a good sixteenth position, less than 3 minutes behind the winner of the day. Chistian Helmig, Lex Reichling and Scott Thiltges were Luxembourg's other representatives that finished within the same lap as the winner, unlike pre-race favourite Eddy Van Ijzendoorn, who clearly had a bad day. 25th GRAND-PRIX COMAT 10 juniors, 13 novices and one and only women lined up for the 25th edition of the Grand-prix COMAT, with the presence of a few Belgian and Swiss riders giving some international flair to the event and a chance for the riders from Luxemburg to compete against a junior winner: Thijs Aerts handfull of top-level riders. And it were the foreign riders who dominated the race with a fast start by Thijs Aerts the brother of Toon who was to compete in the elite event an hour later. The Belgian took the lead of the race as of the first lap with a few seconds advantage on his next chaser who, to the surprise of everyone, wasn't another junior, but Swiss rider Johan Jacobs, the first novice in the race. Behind the two of them rode Luc Turchi with another Belgian, Thomas Van de Velde, then followed another group with Loic Hennaux from Wallonia, Swiss Timon Ruegg, Eric Gleis and the second of the novice category, Philip Sunnen from UC Dippach. Aerts continued to set the pace in the lead of the race, but wasn't able to increase his advantage on young Johan Jacobs. The Swiss rider seems to be in an exceptionnal shape at the beginning of this season because he won already four times in his home country and two times in Belgium, his latest win having been on the day before in Bredene. The rider from VC Steinmaur was around ten seconds back on the leader, meilleur débutant: Johan Jacobs but all the other riders had lost more ground by now. Thomas Van de Velde had dropped Turchi in third position, but the rider from Tooltime Préizerdaul was able to stay within sight of the Belgian. After five laps, Johan Niklas Jacobs won the 25th Grand-prix Comat in the novice category, with nearly three minutes advantage on UC Dippach's Philipp Sunnen. Colin Heiderscheid also finished on the podium while Cédric Godart, who battled for third place during a while in the race, had to settle down with fifth after being passed by Pit Leyder towards the end of the race. Edie Ries, the one and only women who was brave enought to fight against the boys on the tough course in Contern, finished in thirteenth place and thus deserved the flowers for best lady in the race. One lap later, Belgian Thijs Aerts won the junior race one minute and 14 seconds ahead of his fellow countryman Thomas Van de Velde. Luc Turchi and Loic Henneaux finished in third and fourth respectively, a few moments behind the second. Note: "This site contains links to other pages, on which content and presentation we don't have any influence. These refences are indicated merely for your information and and we can't be made reliable for any of the content of any of the places our links may take you to." Contact: ACC Contern - c/o M. Eugène Stirn - 19, rue Jules Fischer - L-1522 Luxembourg - Tél: (+352) 49 27 11 - Fax: (+352) 29 77 72 - eugstirn@pt.lu