It’s been a long season with a lot of great racing from a great group of riders. Each week since mid-September I’ve been cranking out weekly power rankings for European and US cross racers. This week, I’ve decided to put together one last ranking for 2009/10 that takes into account the entire season—it’s the top ten riders in cross this year. I’m going in reverse order this week to help build a bit of suspense. But if you’ve been following my column this year, you can probably guess the top 3. So without further delay, here’s the final power rankings of 2009/2010:

After last weeks last-lap slug-fest between Niels Albert and Zdenk Stybar, the final race of the year took a decidedly different tone as Bart Wellens rode solo for eight laps to pick up the win. Wellens’ victory is his first major win since 2008. Behind, the rest of the top-ten came in within ten-seconds of each other. The bulk of the pressure was on Sven Nys as he tried to wrap up the GVA Trophy overall. However, Nys took the smarter route allowing others to battle it out while he settled for sixth and picked up his sixth-straight GVA Trophy. In front of Nys, Zdenk Stybar and Kevin Pauwels rouded out the podium, making it a Telenet-Fidea sweep. Meanwhile, cousins Sven and Dieter Vanthourenhout rounded out the top-five. (more…)