Race Thread

[Monte Serra]

Van Aert says that his preparation has been less than ideal, owing to a persistent cold. He therefore won't line up in Hulst this Sunday. And he expects that he won't be in flying form at his first appearance of the season, in Antwerp December 4.

https://sporza.be/nl/2022/11/23/wout-van-aert-zag-voorbereiding-verstoord-door-ziekte-ik-sta-minder-ver-dan-ik-zou-willen~1669220034974/

 

[Armchair cyclist]

As i explained in the Jay Vine thread, i know people who used to swap the first letters of names around for comic effect.

I am old enough to have been at school when teachers referred to students by their surnames, apart from one Maths teacher who, when it was possible, would integrate the initial into the name, so Dennis Reidy became Dreidy. He particularly enjoyed the presence of my late classmate, Simon Maxwell, as Smaxwell suited his enthusiasm for corporal punishment. He dropped the habit when Paul Hucker joined the school a couple of years after me.

But Smaxwell came to mind when watching the race the other day (says he, desperately trying to get the subject back on track) and saw trackside advertisements for 'Slaap Adviseur': I hope someone can reassure me that this is not a service offering technical expertise on domestic abuse.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I am old enough to have been at school when teachers referred to students by their surnames, apart from one Maths teacher who, when it was possible, would integrate the initial into the name, so Dennis Reidy became Dreidy. He particularly enjoyed the presence of my late classmate, Simon Maxwell, as Smaxwell suited his enthusiasm for corporal punishment. He dropped the habit when Paul Hucker joined the school a couple of years after me.

But Smaxwell came to mind when watching the race the other day (says he, desperately trying to get the subject back on track) and saw trackside advertisements for 'Slaap Adviseur': I hope someone can reassure me that this is not a service offering technical expertise on domestic abuse.

Slaap means sleep, not slap. Crisis averted.

I am thinking the same but I hope I will be proven wrong. It would be nice if there would be a big tussle between the top riders. Then again given how Pidcock just swept through the whole field in just about one lap...

I think best you can hope for is a threeway battle with TP, WvA and MvdP when they are participating, and a fourway battle between the others, when they aren't. It appears Van Aert won't be flying out the gates though, and we don't know how long Iserbyt will need to get rid of his injury. I would hope Iserbyt could also offer some resistance to the road guys, but for the moment it doesn't look like it. Maybe on a good day, Hermans has a bigger shot.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Really enjoyable and refreshing to be able to read an active and lively cross debate.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

The thing is van Aert said last year he was sick coming into his first race in Boom... And then promptly beat everyone by a massive margin that could've possibly have been more if he didn't use his bike as a surf board on a downhill.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

I can't see gcn listing the Hulst round on the player. How does one watch it in the netherlands? I was guessing NPO/NOS but I can't see anything suggesting it in the schedule as it's just football, football, football.

 

[Monte Serra]

I can't see gcn listing the Hulst round on the player. How does one watch it in the netherlands? I was guessing NPO/NOS but I can't see anything suggesting it in the schedule as it's just football, football, football.

I'm pretty sure it will be on Eurosport. Or you could watch Sporza, which is also pretty widely available in NL, and for many the preferred option when it comes to watching cycling.

Wielerflits has a handy listing of all the races:
https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/veldrijden-op-tv/

 

[Gwbert]

I can't see gcn listing the Hulst round on the player. How does one watch it in the netherlands? I was guessing NPO/NOS but I can't see anything suggesting it in the schedule as it's just football, football, football.

I can see Hulst listed in the UK GCN app - is this the one where they ride through the windmill and where Van Aert dropped his chain on the first lap?

 

[lemon cheese cake]

I'm pretty sure it will be on Eurosport. Or you could watch Sporza, which is also pretty widely available in NL, and for many the preferred option when it comes to watching cycling.

Wielerflits has a handy listing of all the races:
https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/veldrijden-op-tv/

Ah that's a nice tv guide thankyou. It just doesn't show up on the app or then the Netherlands "what can I watch" page. I know last year the dutch races in Rucphen and Hoogerheide were only available on NOS. Sporza doesn't seem to work without a vpn which I'm not prepared to pay for.

@Gwbert You are correct. It is the windmill race.

 

[stonerider]

This year there has been a clear divide between the four top riders (LvdH, MVanth, LSweeck and EIserbyt) and the rest. First few laps other riders have been up there but in the end these four have showed superior endurance and ultimately that's what counts.

Last weekend Pidcock's performance seems to indicate that there is yet another level. What's your take on this and the return of MVDP and WVA? Will they (once again) crush it or has Sweeck and the others raised the level and we shall see some even races with +7 riders?

If Wout shows up with this years TdF form...ain't nobody gonna be able to beat him barring mechanical or crash. But I don't believe he will have his July form this time around.

 

[Ricco']

I don't know if I can post this here (and if I can't please delete the post) and I'm in no way paid by the company to advertise it, but if anyone is in need of a VPN to watch cross due to geoblocked races, I recommend a swedish service (M**lvad) which is the cheaper I found (5 € month, no questions asked, no hassles to end the subscription), which works very fine and it's easy to setup to watch Sporza. I had a lot of troubles last year to end the subscription with another company (it was a surfing Nibali, let's put it that way) and wasn't fond of getting in the same troubles again but this one is top notch.

And now has the ability to let me watch all the FIFA World Cup matches, which are aired for free by Sporza and are under a hefty pay per view price in my country.

 

[Barkintheeye]

I had to rewatch last outing between the "three big" at Overijse in January 2021. It was a very tough battle between MVDP and WVA until MVDP punctured and lost 30 seconds. After that Wout could relatively "easy" hold off MVDP. Piddles dropped back and had his own outing with Vanthourenhout. Later that same season MVDP bested WVA at the WC in Oostende and Pidcock had to give way to Toon Aerts.

 

[stonerider]

I had to rewatch last outing between the "three big" at Overijse in January 2021. It was a very tough battle between MVDP and WVA until MVDP punctured and lost 30 seconds. After that Wout could relatively "easy" hold off MVDP. Piddles dropped back and had his own outing with Vanthourenhout. Later that same season MVDP bested WVA at the WC in Oostende and Pidcock had to give way to Toon Aerts.

Pidcock should be much stronger than he was in 2021...he's just now reaching his physical peak years.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I don't know if I can post this here (and if I can't please delete the post) and I'm in no way paid by the company to advertise it, but if anyone is in need of a VPN to watch cross due to geoblocked races, I recommend a swedish service (M**lvad) which is the cheaper I found (5 € month, no questions asked, no hassles to end the subscription), which works very fine and it's easy to setup to watch Sporza. I had a lot of troubles last year to end the subscription with another company (it was a surfing Nibali, let's put it that way) and wasn't fond of getting in the same troubles again but this one is top notch.

And now has the ability to let me watch all the FIFA World Cup matches, which are aired for free by Sporza and are under a hefty pay per view price in my country.

Windscribe has a €1 p.m. VPN option if you only need 1 country. Basically €1 per country, until it's cheaper to get a full option.
EDIT: Just checked, they altered their plan and you now have to have a $3 minimum in total. So still cheap, but you need to pick a plan with at least 2 countries and the unlimited data option.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Pidcock should be much stronger than he was in 2021...he's just now reaching his physical peak years.

Probably yes

 

[Black Betsy]

Too many gears and derailleurs for my liking... also heavy, ugly and expensive rotors...hope for the sanity of the mechanics that they are not 6 fookin bolt ones... I guess the model name "crossIIsta" stands for II 000 euro

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Betsema may have been going for the overall as Macdonald and Field were saying, but she was showing once again she only really has one tactic, which works until it fails.

Macdonald was also saying this is a geniusly designed course. While it has some good features I'm really not a fan of courses like this an Diegem. The only redeeming factor about Diegem is it's at night an extremely established competition.

I think also Golazo need to redistribute the races in the X20 and Exact series. Having the Koppenbergcross first now really breaks the competition up really early compared to having another race before it.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Vos winning a sprint on this type of course isn't exactly a surprise; she did the same most of last season - and with the Worlds at Hoogerheide, which is usually a fast course, you wouldn't bet against her.

 

[DNP-Old]

Pidders just crashed during reckon and he was launched so hard his frontwheel got stuck on top of those safety poles.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Pidcock pretty much on rails once he got to the front. Nice fight for second, but the gap really opened up to Vanthourenhout and Nys fell back considerably by the end and was only a second ahead of Ronhaar who was stuck behind Kuypers crash. Kuypers himself finishing in front of Nys!

 

[jmdirt]

Congrats Vos and TP!

 

[stonerider]

Congrats Vos and TP!

Both World Champions get their first win of the CX season today!

 

[Ricco']

This course needs to disappear, tbh. It used to have at least two nice features, the off-camber after the bridge which was very technical and slippy, and the off-camber descent where they went by foot to the bridge this year which have both disappeared. I remember in the first edition it also had a nice feature after the area which hold the barriers this year which has also dispparead since then.

And the sandpit. It is nice when it is challenging to ride and can provide an advantage to the riders who can ride longer or completely. This sandpit with this entrance and with so many turns isn't rideable by anyone, in any kind of conditions.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Pidcock pretty much on rails once he got to the front. Nice fight for second, but the gap really opened up to Vanthourenhout and Nys fell back considerably by the end and was only a second ahead of Ronhaar who was stuck behind Kuypers crash. Kuypers himself finishing in front of Nys!

What are you expecting of Nys exactly? The kid turned 20 last week. It'll be a while before he 'll show consistency. Kuypers and Ronhaar are quite a bit older.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

What are you expecting of Nys exactly? The kid turned 20 last week. It'll be a while before he 'll show consistency. Kuypers and Ronhaar are quite a bit older.

Nothing really, other than stating the facts of the results sheet in comparison to the early laps of the race.