My intent was to ride today but I got lazy and decided to have a Sunday off the bike. This is probably the last one for a while with the first "race" being only 5 weeks away. Taking the day off and fully enjoying a Sunday rest day seemed like a good idea. Keep the mind and body fresh.

News Item of the Day: (L'Equipe) The Belgian Sven Nys (Rabobank) gained his tenth win of the World Cup, Sunday afternoon in Hoogerheide. He preceded his compatriots Davy Commeyne and Sven Vanthourenhout , respectively 2nd and 3rd. The first French, David Derepas, took the 10th place.

It is the sixth World Cup win the season for Nys. Current UCI world N°1 already has 20 victories this winter. One week before the World Championships at Saint-Wendel, Nys confirmed that he would be the man to be beat for the rainbow jersey.

On the very travelling course of Hoogerheide, Nys however had a bad start and saw a group escape headed up by the champion of Italy Enrico Franzoi and the Belgian Bart Wellens, the current world champion. Although trailing by almost 20 seconds at the start of the second of ten laps, the Belgian wonder managed to erase the deficit at the end of the third lap.

The leader of the Rabobank formation placed a powerful attack at mid-race to go away towards the victory, clearly in front of his competitors

Viewpoint: Hold your form for one more week Sven. You deserve the title this year.