Groenendaal’s announcement about moving to AA Drink from Rabobank got me thinking more about his current relationship with Nys. There is some bad blood brewing between the two, and while I don’t understand all the details, the photo below from this year’s last Superprestige is quite telling. Nys won every single race in the series, and in this last one he and Groenendaal rolled to the line together. It was expected that Nys would let Richard win, but instead attacked in the last meters to take the win. Apparently Nys had quite a gap on the field, and then slowed, waiting for the field. Once they reached him, he attacked again and took the win.
Some quotes
Groenendaal, 2nd place and giving the finger:
We are the mice and Nys is the cat. Everybody saw it once again, Nys is the strongest around. Nys likes this game and I’m playing along. Of course he’s allowed to come back on us as we’re all fighting each other. There should be another competition for him, but I’m afraid that he’ll race with the 125cc motor bikes then.
Gerben De Knegt, also on Rabobank and 10 seconds back in 3rd:
I took for granted the win would be for Groenendaal as he is leaving the team and he could use a victory. Nys ultimately came back on him, I think that was sad.
Sven Nys, winner:
I came back [on Groenendaal] because I want to win all events in the Superprestige series. With my seventh victory I’m already doing better than Roland Liboton. Groenendaal will be disappointed but he has to realize that thanks to me he could create the gap; I always served the team’s interests and from then on I felt the best should win.
I’m not saying that Nys should have gifted him the win, just that there is some emotion between the two. How will the dynamic change now that they are on different teams? Who knows, maybe there will be less tension, or maybe the gloves will come off for some bare knuckle cross action. Only time will tell…
dog4aday on 
If I had a teammate who crashes too much and did this to me:
“Rabobank win: at what cost?
The young Belgian Sven Nijs had hoped to be the focus of the World Championships and he was. But not in the way he had dreamed of. When his Dutch Rabobank team mate Richard Groenendaal got a gap on the first lap, Belgian title defender Mario de Clercq had to do the whole job in chasing Groenendaal, Nijs just hung on to his wheel and refused to help in the chase. And Richard Groenendaal won his first elite world title.
The race wasn’t really exciting, because Groenendaal jumped away easily in the first lap. He fell during the race once into a fence and hurt his hand a little, but really had no problems and was of course happy with his title. And despite all discussions about tactics, Groenendaal rode faster alone than de Clercq did alone.
Of course the Belgians were disappointed, since Nijs did not help his team to reach the flying Dutchman at the front. The one who lost most on that was probably Nijs. He lost the race and he lost his face but was later forgiven by his national manager Eric de Vleaminck when asked, some hours after the race, about Nijs’ future with the national team:
“I can’t miss Sven in the future. I forgive him. And don’t forget: he has already brought two world titles to Belgium.”
So Richard only won his world title because Nys did not contribute to the race! He must have known that playing the “teammate” card early was the ONLY way to beat Sven even back in 2000!
I was wondering if the dynamics of that 2000 worlds played any part of Nys’ decision to take the win in Lille. I’ve heard all the talk about Nys gifting Groenendaal the win in 2000 but the fact is, we’ll never know what would have happened if Nys had decided to chase.
Perhaps Nys would have reverted to form and crashed out. Maybe he wasn’t fast enough to catch Groenendaal that year. His decision will always cast doubt on that worlds result. One thing is for sure, Sven’s gotta be kicking himself for not giving it go and working with Declercq since his luck in subsequent worlds hasn’t been the best. And Groenendaal has as many championships as Nys.
In fact, it looks like Sven has psyched himself out now. After the crash with Wellens, he just about gave up this year. Going over the bars when he hit the root might have been the final straw, but I think he was mentally out of the race by then. Wellens was a cad for what he said after the race but at least he got back on his bike and kept on racing.