Race Thread

[Kwibus]

No. Van Aert simply has more power.
Van Aert has made another jump this season. He is now definately a lot stronger than VD Poel. He was already at hard crosses, now he is also stronger in easy crosses.

Vd Poel better focus on the road, there is no chance he can do anything against Van Aert anymore. The roles of the juniors has been reversed

It's still a bit early to say this, but yes van Aert is better this year so far.

V.d. Poel seemed to sprint on a small gear compared to van Aert.

 

[Echoes]

V.d. Poel seemed to sprint on a small gear compared to van Aert.

Exactly. I think Mathieu is not in top form at the moment.

In the hilly crosses, he's actually proved better than Van Aert (see Ronse), so far, so D-T's post is just wishful thinking.

Last week he clearly said in the short pre-race programme on Vier that there was no question of his leaving cross in a near future and that he finds cross so pleasant that he wouldn't like to. Hope he never will!

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

That was not a CX race at all today. More a road crit with some grassy stretches. I wouldn't read too much into this.

 

[Flamin]

Awesome cross. I don't mind these super fast races a few times a year.

In the hilly crosses, he's actually proved better than Van Aert (see Ronse), so far, so D-T's post is just wishful thinking.

Van Aert broke his collarbone just 4 weeks before Ronse, so that's not really a fair comparison. D-T's right, Van Aert beat VDP on his own playground today, which I'm sure will be tough to handle for him, mentally.

Edit: btw, Milton Keynes really was a great success yesterday. Didn't expect that, but it was a very nice parcours and the crowds were huge as well. Excellent addition to the WC calendar.

 

[Echoes]

Okay for Ronse. But it's the only really hard cross that the two had raced together with the pros.

D-T despises cyclocross because "too Belgian" and hence he would like Mathieu out of it. But Mathieu has kept saying he wouldn't leave cyclocross any time soon.

I keep thinking that Mathieu was not at his best, yesterday. He's clearly lacking power. Normally, he shouldn't have been remounted by Van Aert that way. He lost the race more than Van Aert won it.

..and I'm still worrying about his heavy agenda with the pros. At the start of the season, he only planned to race the Superprestige with the pros (+ a few non ranking events). Now he's raced Ronse & Hamme (B-Post) and Koksijde (World Cup) while Van Aert has only planned to race the B-Post (+ non-ranking events) and stick to it, except for Koksijde.

When was the last time Mathieu raced a U23 event?

This being said, what he's showing with the pros, nobody has shown before at that age since Albert but Van Aert, so I guess he still has a future in cross!

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Ughhhh I wanted to be there in Overijse today. Should've been no problem because a bus to Overijse stops almost literally in front of my door. Was there on time, but the bus randomly didn't show up. Long live Belgian public transportation.

Thank you Sporza though! Belgian covering of everything related to cycling is excellent!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Typical Meeusen win.. follow all race long, and then a fast final lap.

I wish Van der Poel would've been a little more reserved earlier in the race, he could've taken this with smarter racing. Then again, winning while wheelsucking 90% of the race isn't much fun either

 

[nayr497]

Ughhhh I wanted to be there in Overijse today. Should've been no problem because a bus to Overijse stops almost literally in front of my door. Was there on time, but the bus randomly didn't show up. Long live Belgian public transportation.

Thank you Sporza though! Belgian covering of everything related to cycling is excellent!

I enjoy watching Sporza for road and cx races...and I don't know any Flemish! I like their announcers better than Paul and Phil.

And, I could listen to their main road guy pronounce Sep VanMarcke thousands of times.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Mathieu practicing his TT skills today.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Bina looks as though he hasn't missed a meal in awhile.

Sweek is looking strong lately.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Van Aert looks like the Sven Nys of old.

 

[De Snelle Duif]

Van Kasteren is being pretty harsh for Wellens

[quick translation: The manager of Telenet-Fidea says that Wellens should better quit right now because his results aren't worth anything anymore.]

I think this is quite disrespectful towards one of their most popular riders. I agree Wellens is not in the best shape but he's still not the worst rider up there. On a good day he can still reach the top.

 

[Der Effe]

Van Kasteren is being pretty harsh for Wellens

[quick translation: The manager of Telenet-Fidea says that Wellens should better quit right now because his results aren't worth anything anymore.]

I think this is quite disrespectful towards one of their most popular riders. I agree Wellens is not in the best shape but he's still not the worst rider up there. On a good day he can still reach the top.

Wellens his prime results are as credible as the existence of Santa Claus. All round cyclocross has become a bit of a joke, as v/d Poel and especially van Aert have put everything into perspective.

 

[Echoes]

I don't really know what you are implying but even though I'm far from being a fan of his, Wellens at Van Aert's age was already doing what Van Aert is doing now, winning the Koppenberg and a Superprestige event in Hoogstraeten. Nys did the same too, of course.

The royal trio of Zeddam 2006 - Stybar, Boom and Albert - could all win elite races while being U23 1st year, which Van Aert has never been able to do [verification: not true for Stybar, actually; only in his 2nd year].

Cyclocross is an early-flowering maturity sport. Vantornout who is now 32 admitted that he no longer had the explosivity to counter attacks from the youngsters like Van Aert or Van der Poel while he used to.

 

[Echoes]

Sylvain Chavanel won the cyclocross of Poitiers for the 2nd time in a row and announced he will take part in the French nationals on January 11!

http://www.sudgirondecyclisme.fr/20...porte-le-cyclo-cross-de-la-ville-de-poitiers/

http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/...2/Chavanel-au-nom-du-pere-et-des-fils-2162610

Sylvain in Pontchâteau, 2012.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Cyclocross is less of an endurance thing than road and mtb. No surprise riders reach top level at younger age.
The same can be seen in track racing.

 

[Echoes]

My pics from Namur!

A former Milan-Sanremo and dual Paris-Nice winner in flesh & blood to visit his two grandsons.

Marcel Meisen, Jonathan Page & Gert-Jan Bosman

Gert-Jan Bosman making a small mistake, there. Just before I cheered "Komaan Gert-Jan" ! I hope I wasn't responsible for the manoeuvre. :-D

Sascha Weber (Edit: no it's Marcel Wildhaber of course, sorry for the mistake) took an early lead, ahead of Meeusen and Van Kessel

http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/150668DSCN0432.jpg

Martin Bina looking like Dario Pieri, lol: http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/359790DSCN0475.jpg

Bart Aernouts chatting (in French) with a kid!
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/235313DSCN0522.jpg

Angus Edmonds in his usual "Malteni" (sic) kit [a Kiwi based in Copenhagen]
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/803533DSCN0451.jpg

Kevin Pauwels alone chasing Van der Haar, early in the race!
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/115825DSCN0444.jpg

Sascha Weber (Edit: it's Marcel Wildhaber!!)
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/825301DSCN0431.jpg

Two pics of Tom Meeusen before the start:
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/786514DSCN0417.jpg
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/881501DSCN0418.jpg

Philipp Walsleben before the start. Nice to see how popular he is in Belgium. Lol those fans of his, they were dealt with some paella :-D
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/437974DSCN0402.jpg

Gert-Jan Bosman before the start:
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/652555DSCN0393.jpg

Anyone to help me identify this Dutch U23 rider (?)
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/891929DSCN0383.jpg

Lars Van der Haar:
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/229697DSCN0463.jpg

David Van der Poel (who did an awesome race!!):
http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/283906DSCN0469.jpg


These are my Christmas presents, for you.

By the way, this 4 picture limit is starting to bore me.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Very impressive solo by Van Der Haar and David van der Poel did a good ride again. Hopefully these strong rides are a sign of things to come for David.

But this weekend snow and cold is predicted in Belgium. Hopefully Loenhout will be a good test for Tabor. We've had a very varied season with lots of different winners. A couple of crosses in snow and freezing cold would be fitting so that our Czech friends can come to the front as well.

 

[Echoes]

David definitely has the potential to be a decent rider in the years to come.

He does not have his brother's talent but has the intelligence and humility not to mirror himself after Mathieu, which would impair his performances. In Namur, he was really great. Every lap, I saw him in the same group around the 10th spot. That's the advantage of being on the spot because I get on the telly, we didn't get to see him that often, so you couldn't see how good he was. Wuyts even said that yesterday, I think.


By the way, only sickness can stop Kevin from a 2nd World Cup win, now. And it seems like the year or never for him to become World Champion with the elite.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

David showed again that he has the potential today. 5th in a big cross is a nice result for a first year pro.

Pauwels very strong again today apparently. I missed the beginning of the race, but the going by what the commentators said, he made quite the comeback.

And nice that Mathieu won again off course.

(Also where were the Czechs now that we have some snow?! I missed Bina a bit.)

 

[lemon cheese cake]

David showed again that he has the potential today. 5th in a big cross is a nice result for a first year pro.

Pauwels very strong again today apparently. I missed the beginning of the race, but the going by what the commentators said, he made quite the comeback.

And nice that Mathieu won again off course.

(Also where were the Czechs now that we have some snow?! I missed Bina a bit.)

Mathieu second this time, behind Van Aert. Shame Van der Poel crashed though, I was looking forward to a two up sprint.

 

[Echoes]

Pauwels crashed in the 1st lap in Diegem, was 45th at some point, 40" behind. It was an amazing come-back.

I'm still scared at how much Mathieu is racing with the elite. Van Aert races a lot less. He's sticking to his schedule. Only B-Post and non-ranking races (+ Koksijde). Mathieu was scheduled to just Superprestige but here he is again racing a B-Post event. I hope he knows what he's doing.

Potential to beat Van Aert still is, I think. However his crash was his mistake. He already made a couple of mistake just before.

By the way, Mathieu, please, no wheelies !!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Van Aert was always stronger in this type of cross, the harder ones.

What was more frightening was the way Van Aert won that high speed cross a few weeks back when he even outsprinted VdP...

Van Aert is a new Nys in the making. Vd Poel will probably chose to Boom road sooner or later. I don't think he will like coming 2nd all the time

 

[Flamin]

I wonder how far Van Aert could get on the road. He definitely has a lot of potential there too.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

By the way, Mathieu, please, no wheelies !!

Indeed

Van Aert was always stronger in this type of cross, the harder ones.

What was more frightening was the way Van Aert won that high speed cross a few weeks back when he even outsprinted VdP...

Van Aert is a new Nys in the making. Vd Poel will probably chose to Boom road sooner or later. I don't think he will like coming 2nd all the time

I think we shouldn't draw conclusions too soon though. Both of them are still so young; who knows how they will develop?

Certainly at the beginning of the season, I think Mathieu and Adrie affirmed that Mathieu wasn't in his best shape. I mean, he was in a good shape, but they felt he wasn't riding at his highest level. I actually thought Mathieu was looking better yesterday than in the beginning of the season in difficult crosses. And as Echoes has been saying, he's doing a pretty heavy schedule for a 19 year old.

Yesterday was a really awesome cross in general by the way. I thought it was one of the most entertaining crosses I've seen this year and it's amazing that two 19/20 year olds dominated all the others so hard.