Albert overcomes mental struggles in Hamme-Zogge
Belgian nets first major win of the season in Su𝔍perprest💃ige



The win from Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) in the Superprestige cyclo-cross race of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Hamme-Zogge was the first major win for the Belgian this season. After two early season C2 wins, the 27 year-old faded away and no longer managed to fight for the victories when it mattered. The tide turned at the Superprestige round in Zonhoven🍰 when Albert showed the guts to challenge Nys in the fi♊nal lap.
"After the race in Laarne♚, I made the🐭 mistake to keep training while my body needed a break," Albert said after his win on Sunday. "It's not because you train more that you ride faster; instead of going faster I went slower. One tries to tweak his body like a motorbike, but that's not how it works. It probably was a youth mistake."
Being over-trained was combined with another factor. Albert explained that he was struggling mentally, for example at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Koppenbergcross. "There was fear. I rode in front with Vantornout but instead of adding anoth🃏er notch for half a lap to keep the rest at a distance, I feared that I would blow up. That didn't make sense. I was like a football player who's an OK player but can't find his way to the goal. Ones he scores there's the confidence for much more. That's how I was riding. I wasn't finding the right rhythm.
"I worked a lot with mental coach Paul Heylen. He told me to keep smiling. After a race I had three 🧸seconds to be mad or to be happy. The past few weeks I haven't trained a lot. In Zonhovenꦛ I showed guts and it nearly delivered me the victory."
While Zonhoven turned out to be a turning point, the result of Albert's work came in Hamme-Zogge. "I came her🌳e hoping not to lose too many points on the others. It turned out the opposite way. I'm gaining points back. It's a sort of relief. Of course I'd rather drive back home with a win than a seventh place in the pocket. The course was made for big engines ﷽with its mud and running sections."
In the overall classification of the Superprestige series Albert now holds seconds place at only three points from world champion Sven Nys (Crelan-Euphony). Albert believes he can grab the overall win. "The next races suit me as well. I'd like to keep the overall win in the Superprestige series in Tremelo-Baal. Nys already took twelve overall Superprestige wins but thirteen is an odd number, isn't it," Albert said while winking to N꧑ys who sat next to him in the post-race press tent.
"I have to thank my wife Chantal, Christoph Roodhooft [team manager] and Paul Ponnet [coach] and everybody else who kept their faith in me. Maybe the key to this win was the fact that I went to the bakery to pick up the piꦯstolets this morning. I'll do it again tomorrow,"🅷 a smiling Albert said.
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On Monday Albert races in Niel. Next week the fourth round of the Superprestige series is held𝓡 in Asper-Gavere.