Pictures Elite - Koksijde

Pictures Women - Koksijde

Pictures Juniors/U23 - Koksijde

Top 3:

Elite: Erwin Vercken - Sven Nys - Zdenek Stybar
Women: Katie Compton - Hanka Kupfernagel - Daphny van den Brand
U23: Van Compernolle

for more information read the articles on dp

http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=13795

http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=13798

http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=13794

Thanks for the pics Bartoli!


I never actually rode a sand cross (did ride in the sand of course) but I don't think it'd be my cup of tea. These guys just ride through most of the sections, crazy.



Btw, Wellens is looking much better and Nys seems to be weakening...trying to consolidate his standing in the seperate rankings instead of going all-out for the win. Bartje is only 2 points behind in the GVA trophy and was looking mighty strong in Koksijde and Gieten. He's getting there!! And he's started trashtalking again, which is a good sign.

I'll second that Nys is weakening at any point of the season but should point out that he is in the middle of his annual Mallorcan training stint ... (2weeks including hopping back to Belgium for a couple of races ... strange)

I actually managed to watch parts of the race - yeah, those sand part were crazy! It was like watching Burkni on a leisurely ride to work!! It was hard to tell which was quicker - riding or running. Either way, you just sunk in that stuff.

Nys is probably better dividing his strenghts. Not go full in every race to save more energy for the final part of the season. In order to reach a peak in Hoogerheide at the end of January.

I can imagine he's saving his strengths, but peaking for Hoogerheide will be hard. He's not much of a championships rider as it is, and with Boom's ambition to win on a course that's perfectly suited for him it's gonna be very hard for Nys to win. Ah well.

Burkni: I know it sounds strange that Nys (and Vanthourenhout) would be training in Mallorca for cold races down here, but it never seemed to affect him much before so...I don't think that's the reason for his relative weakness (well, he IS still leading all three rankings and wearing the Belgian jersey ).

By absence of Albert he still has less competition for most of the rankings. Boom doesn't go for the rankings and the other fall to short.

Didn't mean it as a hot vs. cold thing, but that these races come while he has heavy training legs and still a few big sessions to do.