Recent content by jono

This is why pursuing an Olympics spot seems foolish to some but vital to others.

I suppose in the same way that van der Poel can do well at Liege or Lombardia (he has top 10s in both) then the Montreal course is not "that bad", but he has no chance of winning if Pogacar decides to turn up, and a single digits percent chance otherwise. Pursuing objectives in MTB would have a...

I'm sure that's what he would prefer, but will his team (sponsors) allow it?

I don't know if they'll win it all, but this Blue Jays team has been one of the most fun we've had to watch in decades.

The earliest either rider has started their 'cross seasons since 2020 is the last weekend in November. Both riders competed for GC in their one-week tours in August (Deutschland for Wout, Renewi for Mathieu), and MVDP had major goals in September (MTB WC) while not over his illness. Wout...

Surely there must have been some support when they hosted worlds (Bogense 2019).

Look at the rest of Sunday's slate of games. Only a handful of close or interesting games and very few with any big moments. If they are scripting games they sure have a strange way of doing it.

On the UCI site, Groenendaal is listed as Danish. Not saying they're not wrong, but that's about as authoritative a source as you are likely to find.

Keegan Swenson fails to win the overall in the Lifetime series for the first time.

Some cyclocross diehards think every race should be a Dendermonde-style muddy tractor pull. Races like today or Benidorm often provide much more exciting racing. I think there is room for both in this sport.

A lot of the drama sucked out of Big Sugar as the distance has been reduced to a 50 mile race due to inclement weather.

I don't think anyone has suggested that middling cyclocrossers, long retired World Tour racers or continental level road riders (Soete, van Avermaet, Bak Klaris -- the only Euros in the top 20 to have done much gravel racing stateside) to dominate American races just by showing up. The only...

I guess you could hold out hope that a version of Wout that is a bit more focussed on cross, and an MVDP that didn't have any more good performances this season after halfway his pneumonia through the Tour, might result in some closer racing at the front, but I don't think that is likely...

Thanks for putting that together. I'll get a team together at some point today when I have more time. I wish I had a bit more clarity on the planned European schedule of some of the NA-based riders I'd be interested in selecting.

He could succumb to mechanicals, just like anyone else, but if Colby Simmons was able to get on the podium last year, big brother should have an even better chance. The extra wrinkle with Big Sugar is that many of the Lifetime competitors will be focussing on their battle for the overall and may...