Sven pictured a little while back

Cyclo Cross World Cup Men
Round two of the planet’s top cross series was held at Kalmthout on October
22 in front of a huge, baying Belgian crowd.

The darling of the home spectators was Sven Njis (Rabobank) who pleased his
home crowd by stretching out the field from as early as lap two.

Nijs began to edge away and was followed by Steve Chainel (FRA) and he and
Zdenek Mlynar (Cze) bridged the gap to make a lead group of three. Behind a
big train of riders were holding station at 50 secs and were far too busy fighting
each other to mount a realistic challenge.

Although the Cezch rider Mlynar had featured at the front he lost a few seconds
when he fell after rolling a tub and pulled out. This left Mourey and Njis at
the head of the race and despite seemingly able to set the pace of the race,
the Frenchman couldn’t respond when Njis attacked and moved away to win.

Third was settled by a bunch sprint won by World Champion Erwin Vervecken (FID)

1 Sven Nijs Rabobank :03:25
2 Francis Mourey FDJ
3 Erwin Vervecken FID
4 Sven Vanthourenhout Rabobank
5 Kamil Ausbuher CZE
6 Gerben De Knegt Rabobank
7 Steve Chainel FRA
8 Klaas Vantornout Bel FID
9 Christian Heule STEVENS
10 Pauwels Kevin Bel FID
Brits
44 David Collins (Gbr)
46 Stuart Bowers Gbr
49 Ian Wilkinson Gbr