Race Thread

[lemon cheese cake]

She also jumped the planks once. Trying to unleash her inner Puck?

The more people at the front that do it regularly, the better I think. Plus Fem probably wants to lower the amount of times Puck can try and use it as an advantage. Maybe next season it'll only be somewhere like Tabor (unfortunately for Fem the world champs) where Puck might have an advantage

 

[theyoungest]

The more people at the front that do it regularly, the better I think. Plus Fem probably wants to lower the amount of times Puck can try and use it as an advantage. Maybe next season it'll only be somewhere like Tabor (unfortunately for Fem the world champs) where Puck might have an advantage

I'm not too sure jumping the planks is that much of an advantage for Puck over Fem at this point. Fem has neutered it with her explosiveness and some clever blocking here and there. Yesterday I think she noticed that she wasn't even that much faster jumping them, so she didn't bother anymore.

I mean, I expected the planks to be somewhat decisive in Hoogerheide, but they weren't. At all. Maybe for Puck vs. Brand or Persico, but certainly not vs. Fem.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

I'm not too sure jumping the planks is that much of an advantage for Puck over Fem at this point. Fem has neutered it with her explosiveness and some clever blocking here and there. Yesterday I think she noticed that she wasn't even that much faster jumping them, so she didn't bother anymore.

I mean, I expected the planks to be somewhat decisive in Hoogerheide, but they weren't. At all. Maybe for Puck vs. Brand or Persico, but certainly not vs. Fem.

But not having to do that explosive sprint after the hurdles will save energy. Although saying that she hasn't seemed to need that extra bit of energy at places like Maasmechelen and Benidorm where they were particularly close to the finish.

 

[davidsonduke]

I thought I had heard, perhaps from Puck, that Fem was jumping them prior to the season and then backed off when the racing started.

 

[theyoungest]

Interesting podcast with Ceylin Alvarado (in Dutch) where she says that her watts this season are higher than when she became world champion. But it's the three youngsters who have completely changed the sport, riding the first lap like it's the last and riding at a higher level overall. In this respect Ceylin sounds almost like a veteran, even though she's only 24 years old. Last season she suffered from some kind of glandular fever, causing her to never really being fully fit and never really recover. This season she feels she's back to her best, although shortly before worlds she got sick so she reached her form peak one week too late.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOwWNyveotA

 

[davidsonduke]

Interesting podcast with Ceylin Alvarado (in Dutch) where she says that her watts this season are higher than when she became world champion. But it's the three youngsters who have completely changed the sport, riding the first lap like it's the last and riding at a higher level overall. In this respect Ceylin sounds almost like a veteran, even though she's only 24 years old. Last season she suffered from some kind of glandular fever, causing her to never really being fully fit and never really recover. This season she feels she's back to her best, although shortly before worlds she got sick so she reached her form peak one week too late.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOwWNyveotA

That was my impression. Interesting to learn there is reality behind it. If you take out the 3 U23s in every race, you see finishes that look exactly like one would have expected the last few years. They have just upended everything.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Give the guy a break. He can't help being born with a face only a mother can love.

Nice win for Fem today.. nearly botched the Superwoman at the end but fun to see

He had a relationship with Puck Noonan a few years ago!

 

[Barkintheeye]

Interesting podcast with Ceylin Alvarado (in Dutch) where she says that her watts this season are higher than when she became world champion. But it's the three youngsters who have completely changed the sport, riding the first lap like it's the last and riding at a higher level overall. In this respect Ceylin sounds almost like a veteran, even though she's only 24 years old. Last season she suffered from some kind of glandular fever, causing her to never really being fully fit and never really recover. This season she feels she's back to her best, although shortly before worlds she got sick so she reached her form peak one week too late.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOwWNyveotA

Shows that there is a lot of catching up in women's cycling in general and quite in particular in CX. Also that good things are likely to come in the women's CX divisions.

On the topic of CX skills and jumping barriers I would say that it's absolutely one of the coolest skills and a one that will command the awe of every other fellow rider. Yet among the many skills a top CX rider needs to master jumping barriers comes low on the list (cornering, off-camber riding, on/off bike transitions etc).

 

[davidsonduke]

help me with the younger male riders. Seems like some strong ones, but outside of Pidcock, I haven’t seen any of the other young riders (Nys, Ronhaar, etc) with the goods to challenge the Vans. They seem more like the next generation of Sweek and Iserbyt. I’d love to be wrong.

 

[theyoungest]

help me with the younger male riders. Seems like some strong ones, but outside of Pidcock, I haven’t seen any of the other young riders (Nys, Ronhaar, etc) with the goods to challenge the Vans. They seem more like the next generation of Sweek and Iserbyt. I’d love to be wrong.

Van der Poel and Van Aert are two of the biggest talents cycling has seen in the last decade. You can't expect every generation of crossers to deliver a Mathieu or Wout. You're right, none of them has that potential. At that age Mathieu and Wout were already world beaters.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Van der Poel and Van Aert are two of the biggest talents cycling has seen in the last decade. You can't expect every generation of crossers to deliver a Mathieu or Wout. You're right, none of them has that potential. At that age Mathieu and Wout were already world beaters.

That’s a tough comparison, that eg Ronhaar and Nys should beat Van Aert and Van der Poel since the latter beat eg Kevin Pauwels, Sven Nys, Tom Meusen etc. Those top riders of that generation were not at all at the same level as WVA/MVDP. If Ronhaar, Nys, Vandeputte would go up against the prime KP, SN etc it would have been much closer. Maybe winning albeit not like the Vans but close.

Yet as you say it’s unlikely that we will see two cross riders at this level in a long time to come. Or maybe we are? Pieterse and Van Empel.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

help me with the younger male riders. Seems like some strong ones, but outside of Pidcock, I haven’t seen any of the other young riders (Nys, Ronhaar, etc) with the goods to challenge the Vans. They seem more like the next generation of Sweek and Iserbyt. I’d love to be wrong.

The simple answer is probably not. However, I wonder how much CX Nys will actually do; will it be as fitness for the Road season. He's going to be the only male rider on Trek-Segafredo doing CX.....Simmons had an off-road background, but has left it behind since joining the team.

Any promising youngsters who aren't Belgian/ Dutch will likely give it up after moving to a road team.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Any promising youngsters who aren't Belgian/ Dutch will likely give it up after moving to a road team.

Fortunately for now Leo Bisiaux said he wants to continue with cx alongside the road. If he's successful on the road as a junior and u23, hopefully he sticks to cx like Venturini did earlier when he was at Cofidis.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

With the "big three" doing a limited, and probably reducing, number of races each year, the last thing we need is Nys or Ronhaar becoming as good as them: we'll be back to most races being over by the end of lap 1. If, however, they settle in at about the Vantourenhout/Sweeck/Iserbyt/van der Haar level, then we could have 6 or more guys who are genuinely competitive with each other.

The MvdP/WvA battles were a real treat, but aside from them, the Kasteelcross (day befor Benidorm, none of the big names present) was about the most entertaining race I have seen for a while, with a fluctuating group of up to 8 at the front for at least 50 minutes of the hour. A few more names in the top 'mere humans group' as above, and that could be the front of most races.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Fortunately for now Leo Bisiaux said he wants to continue with cx alongside the road. If he's successful on the road as a junior and u23, hopefully he sticks to cx like Venturini did earlier when he was at Cofidis.

Yes, i read that, and was pleased. CX can't afford it's promising youngsters dropping it. I wonder what happens next to the Holmgren sisters......

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Yes, i read that, and was pleased. CX can't afford it's promising youngsters dropping it. I wonder what happens next to the Holmgren sisters......

Hopefully they continue, but I'd say it's unknown. Maybe even for them. Isabella seemed to only do XC last summer, while Ava mixed road and XC and I saw something about her joining a Dutch junior development team based where DSM, Jumbo Visma seem to have their u23 and womens teams based and USAC and Cycling Canada also use as a base when they come over to Europe.

 

[theyoungest]

Hopefully they continue, but I'd say it's unknown. Maybe even for them. Isabella seemed to only do XC last summer, while Ava mixed road and XC and I saw something about her joining a Dutch junior development team based where DSM, Jumbo Visma seem to have their u23 and womens teams based and USAC and Cycling Canada also use as a base when they come over to Europe.

That's the Watersley team, sponsored by the accomodation where Maghalie Rochette stays during cyclocross season. They're located in Sittard where indeed USA Cycling have their European base as well.

 

[RedheadDane]

Those hills look quite fun going down.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Nice to see old-school Brand taking it to Fem today

 

[theyoungest]

Nice to see old-school Brand taking it to Fem today

Well, for one lap maybe... this is the most 'training mode' I've seen Van Empel on. She said in the post race interview that she's had two weeks of rest and her trainer told her to take it easy today.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Game over
for this season,

 

[Axel Hangleck]

One race next weekend, not covered by GCN I believe.

 

[davidsonduke]

Well, for one lap maybe... this is the most 'training mode' I've seen Van Empel on. She said in the post race interview that she's had two weeks of rest and her trainer told her to take it easy today.

Announcers kept saying that Brand had to feel good about where she ended up, and all I could think was that Brand had totally gone for it against van Empel for a lap or so and then Fem just rode away without a care.

 

[logeardaddy]

Well, for one lap maybe... this is the most 'training mode' I've seen Van Empel on. She said in the post race interview that she's had two weeks of rest and her trainer told her to take it easy today.

Brand, on the other hand, had her aggro race face on, and came back twice, only to fade away. Worst had a good second day after her victory. Apparently Alvarado had a bad start as a result of the organisation's bad start, but still came back to place fourth. She and Worst look like they're coming back as the best of the talented non-phenomena.

Iserbyt just turned 25. Which generation does he belong to?

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Alvarado looked livid, and quite rightly - it was a false start. Appalling organisation......