Race Thread

[Barkintheeye]

So the division between Alpecin-Deceuninck and Fenix-Deceuninck is men and women squads? But they do cooperate and share coaches?

Both Pieterse and Alvarado belong to the WT team but only PP to the CX squad? Then oddly Kastelijn also looks to be both at the WT and CX teams. Thought she were racing CX for another team or had entirely stopped cross racing.

 

[Gwbert]

Puck actually used to be registered for Alpecin, for this season she's switched to Fenix. It all seems to be quite random. With the Roodhoofts I'm surprised they're able to keep track themselves.

Can someone explain how the Roodhoofts came to play such a big part in cx? What teams do they not own? I watch cx a lot but come from a road background where a team may have feeder/dev team but not multiple teams/riders in each race.

 

[pmcg76]

So the division between Alpecin-Deceuninck and Fenix-Deceuninck is men and women squads? But they do cooperate and share coaches?

Both Pieterse and Alvarado belong to the WT team but only PP to the CX squad? Then oddly Kastelijn also looks to be both at the WT and CX teams. Thought she were racing CX for another team or had entirely stopped cross racing.

Last winter Kastelijn did cross for Crelan-Fristads, despite being on the Plantur-Pura team on the road in 22, but now riding for Fenix on the road and in cross, mind she has only done 2-3 Cross races this winter. She has cut right back on the Cross racing. It is very confusing.

 

[awavey]

So the division between Alpecin-Deceuninck and Fenix-Deceuninck is men and women squads? But they do cooperate and share coaches?

Both Pieterse and Alvarado belong to the WT team but only PP to the CX squad? Then oddly Kastelijn also looks to be both at the WT and CX teams. Thought she were racing CX for another team or had entirely stopped cross racing.

Fenix Deceuninck are a partner of Alpecin-Deceuninck, theyre both managed or owned by the Roodhoofts though, and obviously do co-operate at some level even if its not clear to us how it all works sometimes.

it kind of made more sense when the Dr Wolff group were sponsoring both the men and womens teams at the same time with their brands, Alpecin is really only a male shampoo brand, Plantur were the female equivalent, but when Deceuninck came on board, Fenix stayed as a partner to the mens team, but went to focus more on the womens team to replace Plantur.

weirdly at that time I think you had the likes of Anna Kay and Annemarie Worst riding road for Plantur & then Fenix, but doing and still riding cyclocross for 777/cyclocross reds, who are another team in the Roodhoofts stable

Kastelijn rode Zolder last week in Fenix-Deceuninck kit.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Thanks those were good answers.

One notable thing is how large these teams are so the three (?) main sponsors should provide quite substantial support right.

BTW are PP and Alvarado more of competitors than team mates?

 

[theyoungest]

Can someone explain how the Roodhoofts came to play such a big part in cx? What teams do they not own? I watch cx a lot but come from a road background where a team may have feeder/dev team but not multiple teams/riders in each race.

Everyone needs a bit of luck, and their luck was signing MVDP when they were just starting out as team directors and he was still very young. They've built an entire empire around him. They're very good at attracting sponsors in Belgium, and having multiple teams is a way to give all these sponsors their due.

The main teams not owned by the brothers are Baloise-Trek and Pauwels Sauzen.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Something that confused me for a bitwas Vincent Baestaens didn't get his contract renewed with one of the Roodhooft brothers teams, so he set up his own privateer team. That took on a couple of riders including Tom Meeusen and became what is now Deshacht Hens Maes. Then the team didn't renew the contract of the guy who kind of came up with the team. So once he left he then set up another independent privateer team.

 

[RedheadDane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1742499832839774660

 

[TourOfSardinia]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1742499832839774660

Gullegem that definitely should be an X²0 circuit

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Gullegem that definitely should be an X²0 circuit

A couple of giant rubber ducks would complement that photo beautifully.

 

[JR1012]

Is there a restriction how many riders from one nation can participate at the World Championship?

 

[awavey]

Pidcock has pulled out of Koksidje due to illness, so maybe explains the performance in the last race.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Is there a restriction how many riders from one nation can participate at the World Championship?

There undoubtedly is, but boringly I ploughed through the UCI cross regs a while ago and don't recall any mention. It was heavy going and I may well have missed it.
Hopefully someone will come along and enlighten us.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Everyone needs a bit of luck, and their luck was signing MVDP when they were just starting out as team directors and he was still very young. They've built an entire empire around him. They're very good at attracting sponsors in Belgium, and having multiple teams is a way to give all these sponsors their due.

The main teams not owned by the brothers are Baloise-Trek and Pauwels Sauzen.

they might have had luck with VD Poel. But later they also had Merlier turning into a topsprinter. Philipsen obviously a good signing. Jay Vine in lesser sense. Alvarado... Puck Pieterse obviously. Sanne Cant not to forget. MVDP was the ignition but a lot of other signings were a sign of a good eye for talent in general. And they do manage to get the maximum out of a lot of them

 

[Barkintheeye]

they might have had luck with VD Poel. But later they also had Merlier turning into a topsprinter. Philipsen obviously a good signing. Jay Vine in lesser sense. Alvarado... Puck Pieterse obviously. Sanne Cant not to forget. MVDP was the ignition but a lot of other signings were a sign of a good eye for talent in general. And they do manage to get the maximum out of a lot of them

Vandeputte, Vandenbosch and Tibor del Grosso also look very promising, both for CX and the road

 

[awavey]

Is there a restriction how many riders from one nation can participate at the World Championship?

Yes but depends on the nation ranking taken from the world cup standings. The top 3 nations max 7, the next 3 nations max 6, every one else max 5 in the race.

But they can nominate more riders in a squad to pick from to attend the championships, to account for illness, injury etc before the races, so then it goes 10, 9 and 8 on the same ranking basis.

So Belgium, Holland & Switzerland could each send a squad of 10 for the Men's Elite race, but would only be allowed 7 riders each in that race

 

[jono]

Yes but depends on the nation ranking taken from the world cup standings. The top 3 nations max 7, the next 3 nations max 6, every one else max 5 in the race.

But they can nominate more riders in a squad to pick from to attend the championships, to account for illness, injury etc before the races, so then it goes 10, 9 and 8 on the same ranking basis.

So Belgium, Holland & Switzerland could each send a squad of 10 for the Men's Elite race, but would only be allowed 7 riders each in that race

Are there exceptions to this? Belgium had 9 riders in the men's elite race at least year's world championship. Netherlands had 8 in the women's race.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Gullegem that definitely should be an X²0 circuit

It looks more like an H²O circuit.

 

[Hugh Januss]

It looks more like an H²O circuit.

Where X=H

 

[Samu Cuenca]

No more CX for Van Anrooij this season due to a broken rib. Hopefully she'll have better luck on the road.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

also pidcock misses today, gullegem and zonhoven (all races that don't really suit him, barring the startlist in gullegem) due to illness - explains his collapse on nyd. Only Benidorm left, unless he fances the nationals to make up for it. Although I think that might be another ineos training camp.

 

[awavey]

Are there exceptions to this? Belgium had 9 riders in the men's elite race at least year's world championship. Netherlands had 8 in the women's race.

those are the current basic rules as I understood them, theyre aligned across all UCI WC events I thought, which means they might have changed since last year, though ISTR at previous events there is UCI thing that says if not all the federations nominate full teams, they reallocate those spare spaces again based on the rankings, to ensure a competitive sized field, there would be nothing worse than having a race with only 10 riders in total in it, but youve got a bunch of spare riders sat around on the sidelines.

so like TeamGB are on course it seems to get 6 spaces, theyre only likely to send 2, 3 at most, so there might become 3 spots available, they dont just ditch those spots and say those were TeamGBs no-one else can have them, they can get reallocated back into a pool and so Belgium or Netherlands might pick up an extra spot or two because of things like that.

but thats probably way hidden in some UCI tech detail or down to the race commissaires on the day depending on who actually turns up to sign on

 

[Axel Hangleck]

so like TeamGB are on course it seems to get 6 spaces, they're only likely to send 2, 3 at most, so there might become 3 spots available, they dont just ditch those spots and say those were TeamGBs no-one else can have them, they can get reallocated back into a pool and so Belgium or Netherlands might pick up an extra spot or two because of things like that.

Considering the success GB have had at CX Worlds over recent years, it's not great the number of riders we'll send, particularly in the Elites.....most likely just Kay, Mason & Mein.

In men's, take Pidcock & Mason away, and the GB cupboard is bare; the U23 & Juniors don't appear to be anywhere near good enough - as yet.

 

[theyoungest]

Van Empel: "I'll need a set of new knees after this cross season". Luckily she can still laugh about it. She fell again today on her knee, this time in the pit.

 

[KZD]

It seems Van der Poel is trying to lead this cross from the first until the last lap.