ROUBAIX, France (VN) — Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) won a tactical battle with world champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) and Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) at the Roubaix round of the World Cup on Sunday.
Julien Taramarcaz (BMC) was an early aggressor on the fast but sloppy circuit, forging a lead group containing World Cup leader Albert, Pauwels and Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) as Nys chased from well down the field.
Taramarcaz and Albert did all the work up front while Pauwels sat on and Meeusen struggled to hold the wheel.
The Taramarcaz-Albert train finally shed the Telenet rider, but with five and a half laps to go Nys had latched onto him and towed him back to the front as Albert’s teammates Radomir Simunek and Dieter Vanthourenhout likewise closed in.
It was a seven-man group out front with five laps remaining, and Nys finally worked his way into the lead.
With four to go the Belgian champion had trimmed the group to Taramarcaz and Pauwels, with Albert fourth at three seconds down. Pauwels finally took the front, but didn’t do much with it, and as Lars Van Der Haar (Rabobank) led a big chase to within sight of the leaders, Nys, Albert and Taramarcaz took turns holding them off.
Headed toward the velodrome for the final time Nys had put some daylight between himself and the others, as Taramarcaz finally cracked and Albert began running out of gas.
Pauwels sprang to life and chased past Albert onto the track, but by that time Nys had the victory well in hand. Pauwels would have to settle for second, with the World Cup leader third.
“It was not possible to get a big gap,” said Nys, who conceded that he was having trouble with one of the descents.
“The last downhill was a little tricky — I felt it was not my best place on the track,” he said.
Nevertheless, he added: “I’ve done what I need to do. I did one acceleration two corners from the finish and it was enough to win the race.”
Editor’s note: Stay tuned for more from Roubaix.
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