Recent content by theyoungest

Van der Haar has hypermobility. In his case this means dislocating his shoulder is a fairly common thing. It has happened to him multiple times during races, and he always sets it himself.

That's the same in nearly every championship, and we know why: Belgium is the only nation that takes cyclocross seriously as a profession. For the other nations it's mainly a talent development tool, so all the biggest talents disappear from cross... apart from the Belgians. For the women it's...

I'd just like to see Aniek van Alphen win a race. She's long overdue. If everyone can win, as seems to be the case this season, surely Aniek can as well.

Women's elite race decided by which Dutch woman gets a gap first. Van Empel, Pieterse, Van Anrooij, Alvarado aren't there? No problem, still a fully Dutch podium.

Supposedly she's still recovering from illness, but I have the feeling the team is protecting her. I don't want to dabble in amateur psychology but obviously there's some kind of mental block going on.

I think if you ask them most will say that they prefer cyclocross to road cycling. I think even Pogacar would gladly be able to compete in cyclocross.

Home Alone wins the women's race in Overijse! It's an unusually open field in the women's races so far. Van Alphen has consistenly been close, but no cigar.

Van Empel has done it before, if the planks aren't too high and it actually makes a difference. For instance in Antwerp where she won because she could hop the planks and Brand couldn't. Most of the time she's just as fast running them though.

Usually the choice of which nation to represent depends more on the chances they have of making the Dutch team at championships. You have the Kopecky siblings, who represent the Czech Republic but are as Dutch as Gouda cheese (albeit with a Czech father). They don't make that choice because the...

Her top-10 on GC in the Tour was just last year... I haven't read anything about this year, but last winter she had surgery on her iliac artery. I would assume now she's back to full fitness she'll want to race cyclocross again.

I don't think it's hostility on the part of Dutch drivers. It's indifference. They just don't care that there's a cycling race going on.

There's a certain intellectual laziness that comes with being a native English speaker. There's just not the need nor the will to learn any foreign languages. That's why when people actually try to pronounce words correctly they come off as pretentious snobs. Conversely when they pretend to do...

Younger riders already are better than Brand. In a head to head battle Van Empel usually beats her. Similarly on the more technical courses Puck Pieterse is clearly better... when she's on form, that is. Shirin van Anrooij should be back at a good level this year as well. Also, calling Brand...

Your say your surname is originally French, but who tells you the original bearer of that name pronounced it the same way you do? Do you have any recordings? Your arguments simply don't stand the test of any logical or linguistic scrutiny. Julia Kopecky pronounces her name the Czech way for a...

Men's cyclocross is fairly competitive until Van der Poel shows up, then it's Pogacar-type domination. Nobody even comes close. In women's cross you have no such rider... but if you had to name one it's certainly not Brand.