Recent content by stonerider

del Grosso and Puck were in a video at the same training camp. Both of them are fading at the end of the races. Something tells me riding wheelies uphill doesn't translate to CX dominance. del Grosso has tons of talent but he lacks the killer instinct of MvdP.

Fem would do best with a smaller contract with a CX team without the expectation of also doing road racing. I suspect the contract she signed with Visma was too big to just be a CX racer. The internal pressure to also perform on the road got to her. She may not like all the travel involved...

Fem is calling a timeout on her cycling career. She is mentally burned out and is leaving Visma.

I didn't notice MvdP in Puck's video. I'm thinking he rarely trains with the "team". Tibor could benefit from some training sessions with MvdP. It's kind of funny he doesn't train with his "teammate" since they seem to be on a similar CX schedule.

Mathieu is on the downside of his peak years...he will decline. How fast will he decline...no one knows.

Many multi-discipline racers have found it too difficult to race a full road and/or XCO calendar while also trying to race CX in the winter. You only have so many "mental" matches to burn each year so you need to be careful where you use those matches. I suspect road and XCO pays the bills so...

Maybe Tibor Del Grosso will step up to elites and slot into the number 3 position? He seems talented but I'm not sure he pushes hard. He looks like he races holding back a little.

I imagine MvdP is in no hurry to race CX when he can live and train in warm Spain. Let's face it, he'd be bored to death racing CX against the current crop of racers. No one currently racing has made a step up in form to challenge him and make it fun for him to race. He'll show up around...

Nys seems "mental" to me. If something is just a little bit off it really gets into his head. Seems everything has to go perfect for him to win. He also didn't have the raw watts to ride the sand section.

This is why you really need to practice your hard starts for CX, especially if you're a Dutch woman.

I feel like Nys' problems are totally mental. He does lose focus too easily.

Kudos to Matt Beers for winning "big" Sugar.

Is Shirin racing CX? She didn't race last year.

CX in the USA is a participation sport. We don't support the pro racers very well financially. It makes financial sense for the best cycling athletes to gravitate towards road, gravel, and XCO racing.

If you want a close race then the less technical race is better. I get bored with real technical races with big gaps between the leaders.