It seems mostly Thibau Nys that is being complained about for skipping the races. There hasn't really been any mention of the fact Van der Haar plans to not ride Dublin or Val di Sole, and then not really anything at all about how Van Anrooij, Pieterse and Van Empel are all skipping World Cups. I guess whereas those 3 in the womens side are also missing the other big series races, Van der Haar will probably race in Kortrijk*, although maybe not Essen.
If it happens, where do you draw a line? It would pretty much rule out all north american riders as most in Waterloo were not in Maasmechelen. Last year the KNWU (and I think also Belgian cycling) mixed it up quite a bit with the selection of lower ranked riders for different races, so do those then not get to compete further in WCs and World Championships? Then those who can't afford to travel to every round, do they also get struck off the list. Would this apply to the U23 ranks as well with some U23 riders riding up with the Elites in races like today when there wasn't a specific U23 WC? And someone like Vanthourenhout today who was going to start but pulled out after issues from yesterday. Before long you have a field of maybe 10 riders, all of whom are probably Belgian or Dutch, which is hardly world cup worthy at all.
*On a separate thing, the way the calendar is this year, the calendar falls differently to last year and the 'non-series' race of Essen doesn't fall on the same weekend as Dublin this year, but with Val di Sole. I'd expect most big riders to skip Essen for Val di Sole, but do they really risk automatically losing 5 minutes by not going to the X20 Trofee in Kortrijk? That'll be an interesting transfer between the Kortrijk and Dublin even if Adams did both Essen and Dublin last season.
If it happens, where do you draw a line? It would pretty much rule out all north american riders as most in Waterloo were not in Maasmechelen. Last year the KNWU (and I think also Belgian cycling) mixed it up quite a bit with the selection of lower ranked riders for different races, so do those then not get to compete further in WCs and World Championships? Then those who can't afford to travel to every round, do they also get struck off the list. Would this apply to the U23 ranks as well with some U23 riders riding up with the Elites in races like today when there wasn't a specific U23 WC? And someone like Vanthourenhout today who was going to start but pulled out after issues from yesterday. Before long you have a field of maybe 10 riders, all of whom are probably Belgian or Dutch, which is hardly world cup worthy at all.
*On a separate thing, the way the calendar is this year, the calendar falls differently to last year and the 'non-series' race of Essen doesn't fall on the same weekend as Dublin this year, but with Val di Sole. I'd expect most big riders to skip Essen for Val di Sole, but do they really risk automatically losing 5 minutes by not going to the X20 Trofee in Kortrijk? That'll be an interesting transfer between the Kortrijk and Dublin even if Adams did both Essen and Dublin last season.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram