Sunday, 6 February: Hoogstraten - Superprestige
Hey, did you know the winner of a Superprestige race gets €25.000 euros? I sure didn't. But it's what the Hoogstraten website tells me. To get that money, in Hoogstraten our peloton has to conquer a typical field race over hilly grasslands. There are some nice climbs and descents but really, the race is all the more epic when it rains. As is usually the case in 'cross.
So, with a fairly unspectacular race ahead of us, why should you watch? Well, you could watch because it's possible that today is the day that Sven Nys wins his tenth - yes, tenth - Superprestige overall. In the current rankings, Nys is 17 points ahead of Yoah:
1. Sven Nys 82
2. Kevin Pauwels 65
3. Zdenek Stybar (Cze) 64
4. Niels Albert 61
5. Bart Wellens 56
6. Bart Aernouts 49
7. Tom Meeusen 39
8. Klaas Vantornout 35
9. Rob Peeters 35
10. Gerben de Knegt (Neth) 34
The winner gets 15 points, second 14, third 13 and so on... fifteenth gets the last point. In theory that means that Nys either needs a place in the top two today or in the final Superprestige race, or two top nine placements. Sounds like something he could pull off, doesn't it?
Well, you can all find out in about half an hour.