Despite Belgium being awarded a seventh spot for the elite men at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships thanks to the presence of outgoing champion Wout Van Aert in the team, there is no place for five-time bronze medalist Kevin Pauwels.
Pauwels missed out on the selection after finishing 10th in the Nommay World Cup this weekend, nearly four minutes behind winner Mathieu van der Poel.
Team selector Sven Vanthourenhout chose the country's top two riders - Van Aert (2nd) and Laurens Sweeck (5th), plus Toon Aerts (7th), Michael Vanthourenhout (8th), Quinten Hermans (9th), Tim Merlier (11th) and Daan Soete (13th) for the elite men's race, despite Hermans and Soete finishing well behind Pauwels in Nommay.
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"Kevin is not there for the first time since he is a professional," Vanthourenhout said to Het Nieuwsblad. "That is a result of his race performances this season. He is also realistic enough to see that. This season he was caught by the younger generation and later also passed."
Pauwels' non-selection could well be in violation of the UCI rules for Worlds, which state "Each federation shall be required to include its first three ranked riders in their Men Elite's and Women's team, as long as they are in the top 50 of the UCI Cyclo-cross Classification as published after the national championships in Europe."
In addition to being in the top 10 of the rankings all season, Pauwels has been second to Van Aert in the rankings among Belgians until the latest published standings, when Sweeck overtook him.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pauwels-left-off-belgian-team-for-cyclo-cross-worlds
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