Race Thread

[KZD]

The king of CX is back!

Pidcock rode really smart to get second.

 

[theyoungest]

Matje honors his nickname by growing an actual matje (the Dutch word for mullet). Pidcock rode the fastest race, except for the first lap

 

[Tim Cahill]

Bit of an unexpected comeback given how second hand he looked at the start, legs fine obviously but he usually takes a bit to get going technique-wise.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Pidcock puts in a late bid for the 2023 Chris Horner services to international linguistics award (co-sponsored by Steve McLaren)

 

[stonerider]

I am surprised Pidcock finished 2nd. It usually takes him a couple weekends before he's the best of the rest.

 

[samhocking]

Me too. Why is Pidcock already going so well? Understandable MVP would be with Worlds coming up for him and this course, but Pidcock clearly hasn't enjoyed himself enough in the off season haha!

 

[RedheadDane]

Looking at the result for the U23 race, and I definitely wasn't expecting to see a Peruvian.

Pablo Escajadillo

Pablo Escajadillo (born 2004-08-08) is a road racing cyclist from Peru, active between 2023 and 2023. His best results are 43rd place in X²O Badkamers Trofee Urban Cross, and .

cx.procyclingstats.com

 

[jmdirt]

MvdP!

 

[theyoungest]

No Van Empel in Namur tomorrow. Probably a wise decision, she won but clearly her fitness is far from 100%.

 

[pastronef]

MvdP!

meh, race over after 5 minutes

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

meh, race over after 5 minutes

Did it even last that long? Seemed to be over so fast. After that first climb, everyone was racing for second.

 

[jmdirt]

meh, race over after 5 minutes

Because, like I typed...MvdP!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Tomorrows course preview by PP

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHfkv2V7_ag

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

It seems abundantly clear that after the separate debuts of both WvA and MVdP, a massive gap remains between them and the rest of the field even though they're barely racing. For me at least, it makes watching 'cross far less appealing when they're not competing.

 

[pastronef]

au contraire, if they weren't competing we'd see more entertaining races. instead they go away and bye bye

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Outside of MvdP & Pidcock, I thought Hermans & Vermeersch both rode good races first time out; I'm more convinced than ever that being on a WT team is a massive benefit; a far bigger training base, and better training camps in sunnier climes.


As for tomorrow, Namur, the closest CX comes to XC MTB; after today, I think Brand can maintain her winning run there, Alvarado may push her - and maybe Puck will find her MTB legs at last.

As for the men's, if Pidcock has recovered, then it's a course that should suit him, but Lars, and MVTH may challenge; Eli has never really gone well there - and Cam's starts are becoming a problem.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

No Van Empel in Namur tomorrow. Probably a wise decision, she won but clearly her fitness is far from 100%.

Is her main priority now maintaining the winning streak, I wonder.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Is her main priority now maintaining the winning streak, I wonder.

I'd think it's more of a case of a busy Christmas period starting and not wanting to affect that and other races further down the line like worlds by over doing it when she's visibly injured and then got sick

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Matje honors his nickname by growing an actual matje (the Dutch word for mullet). Pidcock rode the fastest race, except for the first lap

uh, i mean by the time Pidcock started his race Mathieu was almost a minute ahead of him. Likely Mathieu wasn;t even trying anymore after lap 2. This was vintage VDP more like his 17/18/19 crosses. Just go hard lap 1 and cruise the rest of the race

 

[theyoungest]

uh, i mean by the time Pidcock started his race Mathieu was almost a minute ahead of him. Likely Mathieu wasn;t even trying anymore after lap 2. This was vintage VDP more like his 17/18/19 crosses. Just go hard lap 1 and cruise the rest of the race

Well doh. Hence the

Is her main priority now maintaining the winning streak, I wonder.

I think, as lemon cheese cake says, it's more a decision for the long term. She might be able to race, she might still be able to win (after all Lucinda Brand is probably the toughest competitor at the moment) but at what cost.

 

[Hugh Januss]

It seems abundantly clear that after the separate debuts of both WvA and MVdP, a massive gap remains between them and the rest of the field even though they're barely racing. For me at least, it makes watching 'cross far less appealing when they're not competing.

I feel like the races are more exciting when the "big 2 1/2" are not racing. What with the resurgence of Van der Haar and the continued rise of Nieuwenhuis and Kuypers and the coming of age of Ronhaar and the rest of the recent crop of U23's and Nys until he blew a head gasket this years racing has been close and unpredictable.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

I feel like the races are more exciting when the "big 2 1/2" are not racing. What with the resurgence of Van der Haar and the continued rise of Nieuwenhuis and Kuypers and the coming of age of Ronhaar and the rest of the recent crop of U23's and Nys until he blew a head gasket this years racing has been close and unpredictable.

Yes, once they let MvdP disappear they could resume normal racing and it was pretty decent. Probably more would have been contention if there hadn't been the crazy dutchman ripping it up on lap 1.

Well Pidcock surprised me, and it sounds like he surprised himself.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I just finished watching the rest of the race, and the battle for 2nd was quite good. I think had Pidcock not started so poorly, he would have ridden away with 2nd.
Lars rode a great race - he measured his efforts and waited to outsprint Iserbyt. Always happy to see LVdH do well.

 

[senna6541]

MVDP looks fully healthy. Been a long while since you could say that. In CX, when MVDP is healthy it's really the Big 1.5, then Piddy, then everyone else. Too explosive and too much of handle for Wout to deal with on anything other than an extremely heavy course. Wout is smooth in his own way, but MVDP is on a whole different level in terms of carrying speed in an out of corners, over the barriers, etc., etc. It all adds up...The dude looks like Secretariat on bike when he's on form.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

It seems abundantly clear that after the separate debuts of both WvA and MVdP, a massive gap remains between them and the rest of the field even though they're barely racing. For me at least, it makes watching 'cross far less appealing when they're not competing.

I felt that way last year, but feel the opposite this year. It's more interesting racing when they're not there. I don't think Wout will challenge MVdP this year. It's going to be more like FvE in the women's field, though with her being a bit sick, Brand put on a great show. I'd rather watch a competitive race than what happened today.