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For the tenth anniversary of the Grand-prix de la Commune de Contern and the 40th international cyclo-cross organized by the ACC Contern, the nicest present came from the UCI calendar. The week-end of October 26 is one of the only ones in 2014/2015 where there is no Category 1 race at all on the calendar. Only category two races, on the same level as the one in Contern, are in Switzerland, England, Spain or Italy on the schedule, as well as a national event in Belgium. Sven Nys and his countrymen will participate in this race in Meulebeke, others will have a week-end of rest after an already exhausting start of the season, but lots of riders will also travel to Luxemburg where they will face one of the most interesting line-ups of the last 15 years in Contern, with among others two Top 10 finishers of the latest world-cup race.
PROVISIONNAL START LIST (as pdf document)
For once, the Belgians are not the main favourites for the win on October 26 in Contern, but it could well be the Dutch riders this year,
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Thijs Van Amerongen
Photo: Telenet - Fidea
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with the long Thijs Van Amerongen for example. The former Dutch National champion was one of the few last season to match up with the Belgians in the big races and he finishtd the 2013/2014 winter as 12th in the UCI ranking, due to very steady performances. He was already on top of the list as junior and U23 rider, where he won National titles in both categories, but also world-cup races. More than once, he was battling with Jempy Drucker in those days, for example when he bested the rider from Luxemburg during his win in the St. Michielsgesteel Superprestige. Van Amerongen certainly made a big progression as an elite rider last year since he finished inside the Top 10 in the big races no less than 20 times and was also able to get some Top 5 results on the tough courses like Niel, Essen, Hogstraaten or Heerlen. After having switched teams during the off-season for the legendary Telenet-Fidea team, the tall Dutch rider didn't have an ideal start to this season, due to problems with his back amongst others. But the 9th position in the recent Grand-prix Mario Declerq on the very tough course in Ronse and an excellent 6th place in the opening act of the world cup in Valkenburg only a few days ago prove that his form is good and he will surely rely on that to make the difference on the difficult loop in Contern. Last Thursday, Van Amerongen finally took the long awaited first victory on pro level in Woerden, ahead of Van der Haar and Van Kessel.
In the shadow of his young brother, David Van der Poel is working on a beautiful career and seems to have made another step for this winter.
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David Van der Poel
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The son of Adrie and grandson of Raymond Poulidor has begun the season with a bang when he finished fourth in the Superprestige race in Gieten behind brother Mathieu, Lars Van der Haar and Sven Nys. A sixth place in s'Hertogenbosch and an eight position in Neerpelt confirm his good start into the season. In the junior and U23 categories, the older Van der Poel won among others two National titles in the Netherlands, four Superprestige races and two World-cup events, before finishing sixth of the last world championships in his home-town of Hoogerheide. Eddy Van Ijzendoorn, former bronze medalist at Junior World Championships and surprise winner of the Superprestige in St.Michielsgesteel down in 2009 ahead of Bart Wellens, Richard Jansen, 12th very recently in Woerden as well as the very steadily performing Patrick Van Leeuwen, 62nd of the UCI ranking in February 2014 and good 26th in the latest world-cup leg in Valkenburg complete a strong Dutch line-up.
Belgian defending champion Patrick Gaudy will try to reiterate last year's win but this should be very difficult given the bigger opposition than 12 months ago.
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Patrick Gaudy
Photo: Veranclassic - Doltcini
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But the former MTB specialist seems to be in good condition this winter as he has already a victory on his account in the national rac ein Moerbeke-Waas and finished 22nd of the race in Renaix, won by Sven Nys. Last year, the only rider from Wallonia to battle with the Flandriens in the mud created a bit of a surprise by winning the race in Contern ahead of Czech rider Filip Adel. But then, he confirmed his skills with a second place at the elite without contract national championships, a third place in Differdange as well as Top 20 finishes in Essen and Overijse, among others. Meanwile, Gaudy has joined Sascha Weber at the Continental team of Veranclassic-Docini and should thus be able to move another step forward. Another former winner of the Grand-prix de la Commune de Contern is Joeri Adams who has had an exceptionnal career before taking a professional licence: junior world champion in 2007, Belgian Naional Champion in the novice and the U23 categories, winner of World-cup legs and of the junior overall world cup as well as podiums on European championships and in the big Superprestige or GVA races stand on his palmares. After that, Joeri Adams focused on road racing but returned to the off-road business in 2011 when he won the cyclo-cross in Contern ahead of team-mate Rob Peeters and, only a few days later, the U23 ranking on the famous Koppenberg ahead of Braet and a certain Lars Van der Haar. The next seasons were less successfull for the elder of the Adams brothers, but after having left the Telenet-Fidea team for the one of Vastgoedservice, he seems to have improved this year: Top 10 in Ronse and Woerden or a fourth place behind Vanthourenhout, Meeusen and Walslseben in the Kermiscross of Ardooie are there for prove. Joeri's younger brother Jens Adams was less successfull in the youth categories, but seems to have negociated very well the upgrade to the elite and pro level this year. Last season, Admas suprised a lot op people on the horse race course in waregem where he took the Belgian National title in the U23 category, his biggest win so far.
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Jens Adams
Photo: Vastgoedservice - Golden Palace
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This title seems to have given him lots of motivation since he had an extraordinary start into the 2014/2015 season: a fifth place in Baden and in Neerpelt was followed by an 11th spot in Gieten and, most of all, a superb 8th place in the World-Cup race in Valkenburg last week. Teammate of Van Amerongen at Telenet-Fidea, the young Daan Soete had opened his season in a very good way by taking 6th at the elite race in Las Vegas, the biggest race outside Europe as well as fourth, sixth and 10th in the U23 races in Gieten, Ronse and Valkenburg (world-cup). He is a former Belgian National champion, as novice and as junior, and finished 5th in this category at the Koksijde world championships. Soete was on the podium of the GP Julien Cajot in Leudelange the last two years and knows the course in Contern since he was 5th in this race in 2012, for his very first season as an U23 rider.
Jan Denuwelaere still isn't at his very best level in 2014 which is quite normal considering the fact that he retired from racing last year, after too much frustration for not making it into the Belgian world cup selection on a regular basis, despite an extraordinary victory against Zdenek Stybar in the mud in Essen and another one in Bredene, still ahead of the Czech world champion. In Summer 2014, Jan the strongman changed ways and in the first B-races of the season in Belgian, the tall rider was present at the start, with a second place in Wiekevorst as best result. After that, Denuwelaere moved up a level and finished in 16th place in the sand of Gieten, amongst other results. He knows the course in Contern very well for having ended three times in a row on the podium of our race, in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Dave De Cleyn created a big surprise in 2011 when he won the race in Differdange ahead of the two Czech riders Petrus and Nipl, after Top 20 finishes in Leudelange, Ronse, Essen, Pétange or Valkenburg. Since then, the rider from Belgium has confirmed his abilities with a second victory in Differdange, ahead of Joeri Hofman and Patrick Gaudy, a third place in Contern last year, podium places at the Belgian championships for elite without contract riders as well as half a dozen of wins in the B-races in Belgium. Those National races in his home country are also the favourite hunting ground for Daan Hoeyberghs since he won already three of them this year so far. The team-mate of Van der Poel at BKCP-Powerplus also took second behind Kevin Eekhout in Stabroek, despite the fact that he is still U23 rider. Other Belgian riders awaited in Contern will be Joeri Hofman, who was second last year in Differdange, Jelle Schurmans, who won a bronze medal in the latest junior world championships in Hoogerheide or Jens Teirlinck, winner of last year's Grand-prix Comat l'année dernière. Both or them are in their first year in the elite/U23 category.
Even if he was beaten by Marek Konwa in the two latest editions of the national championships, Mariusz Gil is still the dominant cyclo-cross rider in Poland in the last year. He won a silver medal in the U23 world championships 2004 in Pontchâteau behind Kevin Pauwels and took no less than 10 National titles in Poland, in the categories juniors, U23 and elite. At the beginning, Marsiusz Gil lined up in the races with his twin brother Dariusz, then he made it to the Quadro Stannah team in Belgian, where he took several Top 15 places in the big races, like for example last year in Hasselt, on the Koppenberg and at the Grand-prix de la Région Wallonne.
The Czech delegation will be led by one of its best young riders, Vojtech Nipl.
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Vojtech Nipl
Photo: Facebook Bohemia Cycling Team
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The former junior national champion finished on the podium of the world-cup in Zolder as well as in the races in Loenhout and Gieten in this category in 2010. As an U23 rider, he finished inside the Top 10 quite a few times in world cup events, like in Valkenburg, Tabor or Hoogerheide. In the elite category, Nipl has won the international races in the German Lorsch as well as in his home country in Hole Vrchy, in one of the numerous Toi-Toi Cup race. He is also a good road racer since he finished fourth overall of the peace race as a junior. This season, Vojtech Nipl hasn't raced much so far, but finished third in his only Toi-Toi Cup race behind the two former GP COMAT winner Michael Boros and Jakub Skala. Once again in Contern will be Michal Malik, 7th in Differdange and 9th in Contern last year. He finished eight of the race in Unicov this season so far and will travel to Luxembourg with Jan Svoboda, who finished two times inside the Top 10 during the start of this season as well as the young Bretislav Rohel and Karel Svrcina, who all made it into the Top 15 at the different races of the Toi-Toi Cup so far this season.
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Sascha Weber
Photo: Veranclassic - Doltcini
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Sascha Weber has never performed well on the course of Contern, despite the fact that he has the physical abilities to do so. Two National champion titles as well as two fifth places at world championships as a junior and U23 riders started the career of the Veranclassic-Doltcini rider and he has an excellent 2013/2014 season behind him which he finished as 33rd on the UCI world ranking. His victory in Petange is of course one of the hightlights of the season, just like a bronze medal in the National championships behind Walsleben and Meisen, a third place in Lorsch and an outstanding 16th position in the world-cup race in Rome. On the hilly course in Petange or the flat ground in Rome, Weber can perform anywhere and he is also a good road racer as his fourth place on the second stage of the four Days of Dunkirk won by Demare is tending to prove. Another rider who is well known in Luxemburg is Felix Drumm. Despite a 15th place in the junior world championships in 2012, it was a bit surprising when he finished in 5th place last year in Contern, just behind the podium riders. But Drumm confirmed his progression later in the season when he took the German National U23 title in January 2014.
The best Danish cyclo-cross rider of the last years is called Kenneth Hansen. Although he lost his national champion jersey in January 2014 to Jonas Pedersen,
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Gusty Bausch
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the four times Danish National champion continues to travel the world to the biggest cyclo-cross races. He was 12th in the U23 world championships in Louisville, USA in 2013 and started this season very early when he finishes in 12ht place in Guihe, in China's only international cyclo-cross race. Hansen also finished 2nd behind Ole Quast in Helsingor, in his homeland, before taking 38th spot in the world-cup enven in Valkenburg. This year, he will meet another Danish rider in Contern, Magnus Tholstrup. The french riders will be represented by a true world champion, veteran rider David Derepas who was alread 2nd in the cyclo-cross in Contern down in 2007. He is a real allrounder, was professional rider on the road and several times French National champion on the track and in cyclo-cross. In January 2014, Derepas won the world championhip in the 35-40 years Masters category, 2 minutes ahead of Beat Morf, before thumbling back into the elite category after a 10th place in the French National championships worth a few UCI points. Another former pro on the road is Clément Lhotellerie who seemed on his way to a bright future in cyclo-cross in the youth categories with multiple French champion titles and two bronze medals in the world championships in the junior and U23 categories. Lhotellerie chosed for the road at the time but after a few very good results but also lots of disappointements, he came back to cyclo-cross this year and managed to get a spot for the first world-cup of the season in Valkenburg, which he finished in 35th position. With Christian Helmig not lining up in Contern, Gusty Bausch will be Luxemburg's best chance in Contern, even though he had to settle down with second place in Kayl, a week ago, behind Belgian rider Dany Lacroix. But Bausch seems back to his best level this year and had an excellent start into the season with two dominant wins in Brouch and Dippach. Gusty can target a Top 15 result in Contern, ahead of his challengers of the first races in Luxemburg,
Jérôme Junker, Jérôme Theis, Scott Thiltges or Vincent Dias Dos Santos.
PROVISIONNAL START LIST (as pdf document)
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Contact: ACC Contern - c/o M. Alain Conter - 47, Op der Hobuch - L-5832 Fentange - acccontern@gmail.com
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