The finish of the U23 race. Note the Polish rider on the left, Pawel Szcepaniak, who finished third here. Just a year later, he came first, only to be disqualified for a failed doping test.Dapnhy van den Brand dances/warms up before the women’s race.Katie Compton and Marianne Vos plays cat and mouse with two laps to go.Zdenek Stybar waits on the start line, surrounded by the best of the Belgians.I can’t remember the exact visitor numbers, but I do remember that it was a huge challenge to move around the course. On the last day, during the elite men’s race, it was almost impossible to use the crossings around the course and I had to use my size more than once to get through.It was only Zdenek Stybar who seemed to be able to challenge Niels Albert, but he just couldn’t keep up with him and finished second, holding off Sven Nys.Niels Albert spent the majority of the race at the front of the race, on his own, the 20 second gap he had on Stybar didn’t really show how much stronger he was on the day than the others.
The chasers, including Martin Bina, Erwin Vervecken and Lars Boom.Albert and his first World Champion title among the elite men.
