Vos, Nys win Azencross in Loenhout
World champions shine in the heavy mud at Azencross
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World champion Marianne Vos exacted her revenge on the technical circuit in Loenhout, Belgium, on Friday when she topped Katie Compton at Azencross. Vos (Rabobank) was best in the heavy mud, keeping Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) at bay a day after the American won the World Cup in Heusden-Zolder.
Helen Wyman (Kona) was third in the Bpost Bank Trofee stop.
The rainbow stripes took top honors in the men’s race later Friday when Sven Nys (Crelan-Euphony) beat Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea) by nearly half a minute. Former world champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus), second behind Nys in the series standings, was third.
“It was a little bit of a heroic race, because I’m the leader in this classification and Niels is second,” said Nys. “So when two guys are riding for the lead in this ranking, it’s always nice, and people want to see this (kind of racing). There were a lot of attacks and I had to follow him and it was not so easy. But at the end of the race I felt that I was the strongest mentally, because for me there is always an option to win the sprint against Niels, so maybe that’s why I had the last two or three laps a mental advantage.”