History was made today in Louisville, Kentucky at the 2013 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships when four world champions  were crowned for the first time outside of Europe in the event's 63-year history. The noisy and happy crowd, estimated to be close to 10,000 strong, didn't let snow, freezing conditions or flooding deter their love of the sport, they cheered loudly all the racers.

 In the Elite Men's race, veteran Sven Nys of Belgium took the second world title  of his illustrious career. His teammate Klaas Vantornout was second and Lars van der Haar, of the Netherlands, was third.

There was plenty of cleaning to be done.

Fans from all over the world came to Louisville.

Dirty and clean!

And they're ready to go!

Sven Nys (Belgium), Elite Men 1st place
“The key for me was waiting for the second part of the race where I am normally the strongest. You
saw that all season. For me it was, ‘’try to stay calm, don’t make any mistakes, and wait until Mourey
was making some mistakes.”
“It is true [I said I would never race world championships again], and this day before the race I felt I
was getting a little nervous. I thought ‘damn, why am I doing this?’ It is so stressful, costs a lot of
energy, but in the end when you win and you have this jersey, you say, ‘this is why I am doing it.’
The crowd and family at home, I felt before the race that I got the respect from all of the U.S. fans and I
felt myself really calm. That is what I needed to win this race.”

Future World Champion, Sven Nys

Team USA had a great showing!

The Belgium's congratulate Sven on his win.