Meeusen guts out a hard fought World Cup win in Nommay

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The World Cup finale in Nommay, France, turned into a muddy thriller in which three riders battled for the French flowers. It came down to a sprint in which fast man Tom Meeusen (Telenet-Fidea) had no problems beating local favourite Francis Mourey (FDJ) and Philipp Walsleben (BKCP-Powerplus). After winning the Koppenbergcross early on in the season it's only the fourth win of the season for Meeusen. Lars van der Haar (Rabobank Development Team) finished fourth in this seventh round of the World Cup which was more than enough to rack up the overall win.

Meeusen, a 25 year-old Belgian rider, wasn't worried about wasting energy one week ahead of the world championships in Hoogerheide. "Don't ask me about bad luck for the rider who wins the last race before worlds. I didn't win so much this season so I'm happy with every race that I can win. I've beaten him [Mourey] before in the sprint for third place in Kalmthout but never for first place. I'm really happy that I can win in his country," Meeusen said in the post-race flash interview.

Meeusen showed his ambitions right from the start. He powered away from the rest and quickly led the race solo. He allowed German champion Walsleben en teammate Corné van Kessel (Telenet-Fidea) to come back. In the background Mourey realized he was missing the right train and he set up a comeback ride.

Halfway into the third lap Mourey closed the gap with the three leaders but when he did Walsleben attacked. In no time Walsleben and Meeusen gapped Van Kessel and Mourey. A little later Van Kessel slipped away and lost contact with the leaders.

Further back Lars van der Haar (Rabobank Development Team) was doing much more than needed to secure his overall World Cup win, as he rode in fifth place with Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Napoleon Games). Walsleben put Meeusen into trouble in the first half of the course but the Belgian rider managed to bridge back up to the German by the end of the lap. Meanwhile Mourey kept going hard, receiving a lot of support from the home crowd who would have loved to see a French victory on Sunday afternoon.

When hitting the sixth lap a hard-working Walsleben looked back and saw Meeusen and Mourey on his wheel. The French champion led that sixth lap and once again Meeusen was in trouble in the first muddy part of the Brognard course. Meeusen needed most of that lap to get back to the front but when hitting the finishing straight there were again three leaders. The same scenario came in the penultimate lap in which Walsleben set the pace. In the final lap Meeusen turned the script around.

"I had one bad section on this course where I always lost a lot of time. That's why I led the group there in the final lap. If I could pass there in front I would not lose a lot of ground like I did every lap," Meeusen said. Meeusen's plan worked out perfectly and the trio hit the second part of the final lap all together. Mourey led most of it, countering one late acceleration from Meeusen and Walsleben. Mourey led out the sprint but he was quite easily beaten by Meeusen, disappointing the many French spectators. Walsleben sat up and rolled in as third.

One minute later Van der Haar crossed the finish line with his hands in the air. His fourth place was more than enough to pick up the 30,000 euros for his overall World Cup victory. Radomir Simunek (Kwadro-Stannah) rode his best race of the season and finished fifth ahead of Pauwels who had a late crash.

In the battle for the seventh and final spot in the Belgian selection for the world championships Wietse Bosmans (BKCP-Powerplus) did the best job. He finished seventh, beating rivals Bart Aernouts (AA Drink) and Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) who finished respectively ninth and twentieth. Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) only managed a twelfth place. World champion Sven Nys (Crelan-KDL) did not take the start in Nommay.

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