By Peter Hymas The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup concludes this Sunday with its ninth and final round...
Sven Nys sewed up his lead in the World Cup. (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
By Peter Hymas
The UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup concludes this Sunday with its ninth and final round taking place in Milan, Italy. The overall World Cup champions have already been decided at the previous event in Roubaix, France where Sven Nys and Hanka Kupfernagel each accumulated enough points to create an insurmountable lead in their respective Elite men's and women's series. On Sunday, Nys and Kupfernagel will make their final appearance of the season resplendent in the white World Cup leader's skin suit, a kit reserved for World Cup events only.
The Under-23 men and Junior men have already concluded their abbreviated, four-race World Cup series in Roubaix, France. The German Philipp Walsleben dominated the U23 World Cup with victories at each venue, Tabor, Pijnacker, Zolder and Roubaix, while the Netherlands' Tijmen Eising nearly duplicated the feat, winning three of four Junior men's events.
While the overall series champions are not in doubt, the Milan World Cup still provides an opportunity to earn a prestigious win, fine-tune the form one last time prior to the world championships and solidify, or perhaps better, one's position on the world championship starting grid by earning valuable UCI points. Additionally, there's the overall World Cup purse to finalize with the top-25 men and top-10 women in the series taking home prize money.
