g'day all,
today the last cyclocross race was a fact. The last heat of the GVA trophee took place at Oostmalle, about 5km away from former Aussie pro David Harrigan's residence. To start the day Lieve (my wife) and i went for a nice Aussie "caffé latté" to Harro's place. Jess and Dash (his nearly 5 year old little cute daughter) welcomed us inside. Outside the snow came down and it was freezing cold. Chatting away and few new ideas for the Omnisport International "Aussie Cup"later, we hit the road again towards the race. The U23 race was won by the worldchampion Lars Van der Haar (NED) and the women's was also won by a Dutchie, Daphne Van Den Brande. At 3pm the elite riders, all ready to start and no more snowing. We saw a relaxed Stybar, Albert and Nys getting cold, while waiting for the startgun. Anyway, Kevin Pauwels only needed two points to win the GC of the GVA trophee. But then he had to beat Sven Nys. But the experienced Nys controlled the race and didn't even payed attention on Niels Albert when he rode away alone and won the race. No matter how hard Zdenek Stybar and Bart Wellens tried to help their teammate Pauwels, it was SvenNys who won the trophee! So once again a cyclo cross season was dominated by Sven Nys, together with world champion Stybar and Belgian champ Niels Albert.

In the meantime 3 road races finished where Australians could score lots of points for the Aussie Cup. Matthew Goss scored enough points in the Tour of Oman to stay leader in the OSI Aussie Cup, also Haussler rode well enough to keep his third place in GC. In Portugal, the Volta ao Algarve, the big winners were "Bling", Cookie, Gerrans and Allan Davis. The third race only saw 3 aussies at the start and Mitch Docker stopped in the second stage. The other two, Travis Meyer and Richie Porte only took 3 points each.
So, on GC, it means that Matt Goss is still in the lead with 82 pts, in second Michael Matthews with 67pts one more then Heinrich Haussler. Still two Continental riders in the top 10! Nathan Earle (49pts) of the Genesys team and Lachlan Norris, the Drapac rider with 36 pts.
Next weekend we're off to the opening classic in Belgium and the following day, Kuurne - Brussels - Kuurne. C'mon Aussies go for it!!!