Summary
In the weeks before the race, four favourites emerged: Sven Nys, who has been considered a favourite on about every race since he became a professional, Kevin Pauwels, who had won the World Cup the week before, Zdeněk Štybar, the World Champion of the two previous years and Niels Albert, who had a lousy season, but is known to be great in the sand.
Sven Nys is a former professional cyclist competing in cyclo-cross and mountain bike. With two world championships, seven world cups, and over 140 competitive victories, he is considered one of the best cyclo-cross racers of his generation, and remains a prominent figure in cyclo-cross. Apart from cyclo-cross, Nys is also fivefold national mountainbike champion, and has competed in that discipline in two Olympic games.
Kevin Pauwels is a retired Belgian professional racing cyclist, for the Sunweb-Napoleon Games team. Pauwels retired on 24 February 2019 by winning the Sluitingsprijs Oostmalle.
The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup is a season-long competition in cyclo-cross, organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). First held in the 1993–1994 season, there are currently four awards, tailored to the different categories of riders: elite men, U23 men, junior men and elite women.
Albert started very quickly with Štybar right behind him. However halfway round the first lap Albert was already alone while Štybar got caught up by the pack. A lap later Pauwels had left the others and was gaining on Albert, but never actually got there. Meanwhile, in the background, the five other Belgian riders were together with Štybar hanging at the end of that group.
By lap four, Nys had joined Pauwels in the chase on Albert who had kept on widening the gap. Their combined efforts were not enough as the gap kept on growing while from behind the four other Belgians, with an impressive Rob Peeters, were slowly gaining ground. The riders from other countries were nowhere to be seen.
Rob Peeters is a Belgian professional racing cyclist for UCI Professional Continental team Telenet-Fidea. In January 2012, he came second at the 2012 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, his biggest achievement thus far.
Albert kept on going solo till the end and took home his second World Championship title. The chasing group consisted completely of the six other Belgians. Tom Meeusen and Rob Peeters were looking the best, but Meeusen fell in the sand in the last lap. Peeters did keep his stability and got a silver medal, Pauwels completed the podium. Nys ended as the last Belgian, the chase on Albert had destroyed him.
Tom Meeusen is a Belgian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Professional Continental team Corendon–Circus. He specializes in the discipline of cyclo-cross.
The 1912 Tour de France was the tenth running of the Tour de France. It consisted of 15 stages for a total of 5,289 kilometres (3,286 mi). The Tour took place from 30 June to 28 July. The riders rode at an average speed of 27.763 km/h (17.251 mph). After 4 stage wins during the Tour of Belgium, the Alcyon team hired Odile Defraye to help Gustave Garrigou repeat his win of the 1911 Tour de France. However, as the race progressed, it was clear that Defraye was the stronger rider, and he was made team leader. Defraye won the 1912 Tour de France, while Garrigou came in third place.
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Previous leaders of the team are the former Cyclo-Cross World Champions – Erwin Vervecken and Bart Wellens as well as the double Under 23 Cyclo-Cross World Champion, Zdeněk Štybar. Kevin Pauwels also rode for the team. The team manager is Sven Nys and the directeur sportifs include two former Cyclo-Cross World Champions – Danny De Bie and Roland Liboton.
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