Kevin Pauwels wins the 8th Elite Men’s World Cup round, along with overall standings
Kevin Pauwels continued his pursuit to perfection as the young Belgian rider claimed his first ever World Cup overall victory. The cyclist extended his overall lead by winning the World Cup round number 8 on Sunday, 22nd January, 2012.
It was the fourth success for Kevin, after he managed to keep the reigning World Champion, Zdenek Stybar, within his sight. The Sunweb-Revor cyclist crossed the finish-line in a total time of 1 hour, 2 minutes and 1 second.
Stybar was 8 seconds behind at the second position, while Klaas Vantornout, Niels Albert, Rob Peeters and Sven Nys claimed the next four positions in the respective order.
The 27-year-old was overjoyed with the win, "This means a lot to me, I'm pleased it is the World Cup that I won because the races are not only in Belgium”.
Pauwels attacked right after Stybar decided to speed up, while Sven Nys was struggling during the initial rounds of the race.
He briefed, "When Stybar attacked I went for it. Already during the first lap I knew that Sven Nys wasn't good because he would've been closer on my wheel. Once we hit the road and Nys wasn't there I knew for sure that he wasn't good".
Kevin never looked back and continued his lead over Stybar, which resulted in an 8-second victory over the Czech cyclist during the UCI World Cup round number 8.
He claimed a total amount of 590 points to secure the Elite Men World Cup final standings.
His compatriot and sixth place finisher, Sven Nys, occupied the second overall position with 540 points to himself.
Omega Pharma-Quickstep cyclist, Zdenek Stybar, lost the first position by 65 points and attained the third podium spot with 525 points.
Klaas Vantornout and Tom Meeusen finished at the fourth and fifth positions after the final general classifications.
On the other side, Marianne Vos won the Elite Women category of the race, claiming her 15th consecutive win of the season. Daphny Van Den Brand of Team AA Drink achieved the second spot.
Van Den Brand succeeded at the Elite Women World Cup final standings, with 326 points to herself, while Marianne Vos finished second, with a deficit of 36 points.
Katherine Compton, Lucie Chainel-Lefevre and Helen Wyman occupied the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
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