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Race Thread

Page 117 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Some interesting racing today in the next round of the Exacta Cross in Beringen; one of the few pure climbing crosses on the calendar.
Fem looks quite impressive, and Lucinda made a good return to Cross after a summer on the road. Eli made it a double for his team, and also a 1-2, with Vantourenhout following.
 
Good finish to the women's race. What the result would've been had van Empel and Brand not dropped chains and punctured, we'll never know, but it'd probably have been a similar race.

With that Irish WC replacing the London WC it got me thinking, what ever happened to that WC that was planned a few years ago in Canada when the first us races in that series were planned?
 
Looks like Silvia Persico has signed for UAE women's team; one hopes she carries on with CX, but who knows. And Colnago doesn't have a current CX bike.....
They have that gravel bike that Nathan Haas uses... It does have a very similar head angle and also smaller BB drop than the Specialized Crux, which is fine for racing as it didn't seem to affect the likes of Vas, Rochette, Mason, etc last season. It doesn't have the same amount of frame size possibilities which makes other geometries hard to guess.
Quite literally "Fems" race
 
I'm of the view that a bad course is a bad course whether it turns muddy or not.......and we see too many of them during the season.

Anyway, some news. Looks like Blanka Vas returns today in the Czech Toi Toi Cup. And Stybar is hoping to do more CX this winter - one hopes his new team are also up for this in the new year.

Something that struck me the other day, Specialized are under represented in CX, especially compared to Road & MTB. They have Blanka Vas and Rochette for the women, but have no real consistent top 10-15 male Elite riders. Cam Mason is a top U23 rider, and the aforementioned Stybar are the only ones I can think of.
 
I saw that news on Twitter earlier today, and it's quite a surprise. His CX form has nosedived in recent years - one assumes due to his road racing. Sven and him obviously feel he still has something to offer. I may be reading this wrong, but it's also another WT team not really showing much interest in developing/helping a CX rider.....

And interestingly, it's CX only, no move to a road team - he wants to continue/ restart education.
 
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Something that struck me the other day, Specialized are under represented in CX, especially compared to Road & MTB. They have Blanka Vas and Rochette for the women, but have no real consistent top 10-15 male Elite riders. Cam Mason is a top U23 rider, and the aforementioned Stybar are the only ones I can think of.
Stybar is with Team Bike Exchange in 2023. Does that mean he will still race the Crux for CX until 12/31 and then 1/1 switch over to the Giant TCX?
 
Stybar is with Team Bike Exchange in 2023. Does that mean he will still race the Crux for CX until 12/31 and then 1/1 switch over to the Giant TCX?
A couple of team changes off the top of my head:
Last year, when Turner went to Ineos he still raced on the Crux until december 31st, but when Boom moved from Astana to Lotto Jumbo i think I remember him using the Bianchi cx bike while still in Astana colours (Celeste and the Astana went together much better than with the Lotto kit tbh). I guess it depends on the sponsor
 
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Vas has been busy winning in Czechia with the Toi Toi cup this week(end). Boros also won them both, who it'd be good to see doing more belgian races again. Toupalik also as he was looking really good a few years ago (e.g. early celebration at Zolder) but since leaving the Roodhooft brothers setup back to a Czech programme, he hasn't really done much or featured as highly.
 
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It will be an interesting season for Vas; can she 'kick on' and make progress. After her Overisje win, and 2nd in the Euros, she took a break, then came back, and was nowhere near as good. Got Covid during the Worlds.
However, her road season wasn't anything outstanding, and neither were her two XCO World Cups.....I wonder if she's been rushed into the Elites too early?
 
It will be an interesting season for Vas; can she 'kick on' and make progress. After her Overisje win, and 2nd in the Euros, she took a break, then came back, and was nowhere near as good. Got Covid during the Worlds.
However, her road season wasn't anything outstanding, and neither were her two XCO World Cups.....I wonder if she's been rushed into the Elites too early?
Is Lars Boom still her CX coach?
 

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