Elite
Championships, February
4, 2001
Vervecken
finally does it
 |
Erwin
Vervecken
Photo: © AFP
After two second places in World Championships and four second
places in National Championships, Belgium's Erwin Vervecken finally
won himself a rainbow jersey. Muddied but triumphant, Vervecken
outsprinted Petr Dlask (Cze) who came so close to winning for the
home country. In third and fourth were Belgians Mario de Clercq
and Sven Nijs, while Jiri Pospisil (Cze) took fifth spot.
The big question was 'Where was Groenendaal?'. The Dutchman has
been virtually unstoppable all summer, winning both the Superprestige
and World Cup classifications, and holding down the number one UCI
ranking all season. However, Groenendaal had a hard fall half way
through the race, and could not recover, eventually finishing 24th.
An unlucky end to such a good season.
Vervecken on the other hand was jubilant - he finished second
behind Mario de Clercq in Poprad two years ago, overtaken in the
final metres. Today he did the same to Czech Petr Dlask, who was
leading the race with 500 m to go.
Dlask was the only one who could have spoiled the Belgian party,
spurred on by the crowd and looking very dangerous throughout the
race. However in a twist of fate, it was de Clercq who got in the
way of Dlask on one of the corners on the final lap, allowing teammate
Vervecken to get past. The Belgian team made sure that there was
no repeat of last year's performance, when Sven Nijs helped his
trade teammate Groenendaal to win. To avoid this, the Belgian riders
had reached a financial agreement a few days prior to the race,
and that included Nijs.
"In my country, they called me 'almost the champion'," said Vervecken
afterwards. "I finished second twice in the World Championships,
but also four times second in the National Championships, often
because of bad luck."
The only misfortune suffered by the Belgians was when Bart Wellens
was taken to hospital, suffering from the beginnings of hypothermia.
However, he was not in a serious condition.
Results
