Niels Albert dom­i­nated the UCI cyclo-cross world cham­pi­onships in Koksijde, Belgium, giv­ing Colnago bikes yet another world title.

Albert and his BKCP team­mates began using Colnago bikes in January and the Belgian blasted around the sandy course on his blue and white Colnago Prestige.

He fin­ished 24 sec­onds ahead of Rob Peeters, with Kevin Pauwels third, as Belgian rid­ers again dom­i­nated the world cham­pi­onships. Sven Nys fin­ished sev­enth, while Radomir Simunek of the Czech Republic was the first non-Belgian in eighth place. He also com­peted on Colnago.

Alberto had strug­gled with a hand injury after a train­ing crash in November but never gave up hope of win­ning a sec­ond world title and worked hard to be at his best for the biggest race of the cyclo-cross sea­son. Cheered on by an esti­mated 60,000 home crowd, Albert rode a tac­ti­cally per­fect race, choos­ing to go clear alone early on the sandy course. His rivals per­haps thought he would fade but instead he con­quered the sandy course with a classy performance.

“I had a very good day and my start was per­fect. I got the lead on the first lap and my legs were very good. I got a five-second gap and decided that it was every­thing or noth­ing. It was every­thing and so I’m very happy,” Albert said as he savoured his sec­ond Elite world cyclo-cross title after also win­ning in 2009.

“I knew it was a hard course but I knew it was bet­ter to be ride alone on the sand. You can choose your own line and also recu­per­ate before the ascents. That was good for me. My sea­son is good now. I have two gold medals at just 26, so I’m very happy.”

Team Europcar has unveiled its new jer­sey and new Colnago bike colours as it pre­pares for another sea­son of suc­cess in 2012.

The French team dom­i­nated the head­lines dur­ing the 2011 Tour de France thanks to Thomas Voeckler fight­ing to defend the race leader’s yel­low jer­sey and Pierre Rolland win­ning in L’Alpe d’Huez and tak­ing the best young rider’s white jersey.

Both rid­ers are part of the impres­sive Team Europcar line-up for 2012, along with Yukiya Arashiro, Christophe Kern, Anthony Charteau, Rafâa Chtioui, Sebastien Chavanel and tal­ented neo-pros Angelo Tulik and Björn Thurau. The full line-up was unveiled at the offi­cial team pre­sen­ta­tion in Paris.

Team man­ager Jean-René Bernaudeau talked about the emo­tions of 2011 but also looked ahead to the new sea­son: “2011 was a great moment. I’m very proud of what we achieved. I espe­cially like that peo­ple said thank you because of the way we per­formed as a team. I in turn can only say thank you to our spon­sors and to all of our rid­ers. Winning is good but to move peo­ple with the way we ride with or hearts is even bet­ter. That’s we intend to do even more in 2012.”

Ernesto and Alessandro Colnago were present at the event and showed off the stun­ning C59 Italia and M10 Colnago bikes the Team Europcar rid­ers will use in 2012. The bikes have a metal­lic green and matt car­bon fin­ish that will ensure he bikes stand out in the peloton.

The Colnago-CSF Inox team will ride the Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milan-Sanremo and il Lombardia races in 2012 after receiv­ing wild card invi­ta­tions from race organ­is­ers RCS Sport.

The Italian team faced stiff com­pe­ti­tion for a place in some of the sports biggest races but can now look for­ward to another excit­ing sea­son of rac­ing and more suc­cess from some of the most tal­ented young rid­ers in cycling.

Ernesto Colnago wel­comed the news that a team bear­ing his name will again com­pete in the biggest races in Italy.

“We’re extremely happy to see that the Colnago-CSF Inox team has been invited to the Giro d’Italia and RCS Sport’s other big races. I think RCS Sport has recog­nised that the Colnago-CSF Inox team rep­re­sents the future of Italian cycling,” the leg­endary bike maker said.

“During all my years in cycling, I’ve always sup­ported tal­ented young rid­ers in the hope they can develop into great rid­ers. Quite a few have because my bikes have helped rid­ers win over 40 world titles and hun­dreds of major races.”

“I’m now the main spon­sor of the Colnago-CSF Inox team and I’m sure the team can do great things in 2012. Sacha Modolo is one of the fastest sprint­ers in the pelo­ton at the end of a long hard race like Milan-Sanremo. He almost won it in 2010 and I’m sure he’ll be up there his year before bat­tling with Mark Cavendish in the sprints at the Giro d’Italia.”

“The 2012 Giro d’Italia will also be a big oppor­tu­nity for Domenico Pozzovivo. He’s one of the true pure climbers in the sport and can win the big moun­tain stages of the Giro. I’m also excited about Enrico Battaglin. He won the Coppa Sabatini last year while rid­ing as a sta­giaire with the team. He’s a huge tal­ent and I think he’ll be the best neo-pro of 2012.”

The Colnago-CSF Inox team is cur­rently work­ing hard for the new sea­son at a train­ing camp in Tuscany. The team will make its debut at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina on January 23.

Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) won his eighth Belgian national cyclo-cross title in Hooglede-Gits after another mas­ter­ful dis­play of rid­ing in the mud on his Colnago Prestige bike.

Nys beat Niels Albert to pull on the pres­ti­gious national red, yel­low and black jer­sey, mean­ing Colnago bikes secured a dom­i­nant and his­toric one-two in the most com­pet­i­tive national cham­pion in the world.

Nys has been a long-time user of the Colnago Prestige bike and even helped design it with Ernesto Colnago. Albert and his BCKP-Powerplus team­mates began using the Italian bikes at the start of 2012.

Nys and Albert quickly dis­tanced the rest of the field after two laps of the demand­ing course and then Nys surged ahead alone, leav­ing Albert strug­gling in the mud.

The final two laps were a march of tri­umph for Nys. He changed his Colnago Prestige for the last time and then began cel­e­brat­ing his vic­tory with the crowd.

He was nat­u­rally emo­tional after tak­ing his eighth national title victory.

“Not so much because of my per­for­mance but because of what hap­pened dur­ing the day,” Nys told Belgian tele­vi­sion, reveal­ing he had to visit a doc­tor in the hours before the race to get treat­ment for a back problem.

“I really thought I was going to have to let every­one down. A few hours before the race I was strug­gling but now I’ve won. It was an emo­tional moment, I really didn’t think I was going to even race, let alone win.”

Nys is now expected to lead the Belgian national team at the UCI world cyclo-cross cham­pi­onships in Koksijde, Belgium at the end of the month.