Defending World Champions take medals in Aigle World Cup
The first meeting of the cyclo-cross World Cup series, held in Aigle, Switzerland, picked up where the last season left off. Men’s defending world champion Zdenek Stybar took the gold medal in the Elite Men’s competition, and women’s defending champion Daphny
Van den Brand took the silver in the Elite Women’s, 30 seconds behind gold medallist Katie Compton, the defending American national champion.
"The form is really good," said Stybar. "Every race is difficult so I have to enjoy every win in this world champion's jersey because the form can fade. I still have some margin on my top form, though. I trained a lot during the last few weeks and now I'm
going to recover from all those efforts in order to stay fresh."
It was the sixth consecutive victory of the season for 24-year-old Stybar in as many competitions. The Czech was joined on the podium by a pair of young Belgians, Niels Albert and Kevin Pauwels, with silver and bronze respectively.
"But the course suits me well," said Albert. "Once my motor warmed up it was okay. Power, endurance - there is still room for improvement. I am not superb yet."
Stybar took control after the fifth lap and was alone in the lead in the seventh of eleven laps. The Belgian duo formed the chase group, while a second pair of Belgians, Klaas Vantornout and Dieter Vanthourenhout, finished at the head of the bunch, 20 seconds
behind, to round out the top five. The defending champion Sven Nys finished in ninth.
Katie Compton took her second consecutive victory of the first round of the UCI cyclo-cross World Cup while wearing the jersey of the US national champion. Like Stybar, she came to the race at the UCI headquarters with an undefeated season after five consecutive
victories in the same number of competitions on American soil. Stybar’s US-based Czech countrywoman Katerina Nash joined Compton and Van den Brand on the podium with the bronze medal, finishing at the head of the bunch sprint, 38 seconds behind the winner.
Van den Brand led a trio early in the race and held a six-second lead at the end of the first of six laps. Compton caught her during the second lap and had climbed to a 20-second lead in the third. Thirty seconds ahead in the fourth lap, Compton's lead was
never contested. Van den Brand’s original two breakaway companions rounded out the top five behind Nash in the bunch.
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