Race Thread

[Moose McKnuckles]

Great news for cyclocross fans as Mathieu extends his contract with BKCP until 2018.

The cyclocross haters who want him to switch to the road will have to wait.

That is great news!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

That was a super exciting superprestige final.

I thought Vd Poel had lost it after that nasty fall. But somehow he still finished 2nd.
Pauwels the smartest by just following wheels until the final laps

 

[Echoes]

Sh*t Wout!

Pauwels attacked in the aforelast lap. He can't be accused of wheelsucking...

So whenever he wins a ranking, Mathieu wins the last race and whenever he wins the final race, Mathieu wins the ranking!

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Sh*t Wout!

Pauwels attacked in the aforelast lap. He can't be accused of wheelsucking...

So whenever he wins a ranking, Mathieu wins the last race and whenever he wins the final race, Mathieu wins the ranking!

Bad crash by Mathieu when he was leading. It looked like he was going to run away with the victory like he's done for the past three races (Worlds, Lille and Hoogstraten).

 

[jaylew]

That was a super exciting superprestige final.

I thought Vd Poel had lost it after that nasty fall. But somehow he still finished 2nd.
Pauwels the smartest by just following wheels until the final laps

Yeah, that was a great race. Looked like he might run away with it 3 different times, but then he would have a bobble or a crash. I was surprised he made it back to 2nd after that endo as he looked like he was in some pain. Van Aert not hopping the ditch and the barriers hurt him all race.

 

[Echoes]

Bad crash by Mathieu when he was leading. It looked like he was going to run away with the victory like he's done for the past three races (Worlds, Lille and Hoogstraten).

Mathieu is an honest guy. I think it was in Antwerp that he made a mistake in the sand and so lost to Van Aert and he said "it's was my mistake, so it's my mistake if I lose and I apologise to those I've hindered." So I guess here he'd be the first to say that the crash was his mistake, too.

Besides, he admitted that he did not have a super day.

 

[Echoes]

Oh and I can't get enough of the way Niels trapped his rider Wout van Aert with a candid camera.

http://vier.be/veldrijden/videos/wout-van-aert-beleeft-de-schrik-van-zijn-leven/542464 (for speakers of Dutch).

So he took him to a sport centre by car, on a karting circuit but they fraudulently entered it and so the owner was there and had "called" the police.

They went inside to settle a few things. And Niels says he's got to go to the toilet to leave Wout alone with the cop.

The dialogue then is just great.

Cop: "Whose idea was it to get to the circuit for racing?"
Wout: "As much mine as Niels, I think."

That's where you see how much of a decent and loyal person, Woutje is because it definitely was Niels' idea. Much to his credit, I think.

Cop: "What's your job?"
Wout: "Professional cyclist"
Cop: "That's no publicity for the sport of cycling then."

Cop: "It rings a bell, this name: Wout Van Aert"
Wout: "Yeah, that might be."

Cop: "What were your last performances?"
Wout: "in cycling?"
Cop: "Yeah"
Wout: "I was 2nd at the Worlds."
Cop: "Second? So, just missed the first place? Had bad luck or so?"
Wout: "The way you are saying it sounds like you've seen it. So there's no need to explain, I think."

Then the cop says he was to check the issue with the prosecutor and the chance is real that Wout's driving licence can be taken away for a fortnight.

And then comes Niels dressed like a cop and then a cameraman comes. Wout's reaction is just love-able.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Didn't see the first part of the Sluitingsprijs in Oostmalle as I was trying to find a stream, but it seemed like Wout dominated this race. What happened to Van der Poel? He came in nearly two minutes down.

 

[Echoes]

Lol we might have tuned in at the same moment. I even first thought it was on Sporza and so I was just watching the telly but it was just volleyball and then the track worlds...

Mathieu claimed he had back problems. Cool for Wout, I'm a real fan now, since the candid camera. And Niels is a good commentator, I think he was honest because he could have been biased towards Wout but remained kind of neutral.

So now, just Waregem but it's like some sort of an Espace Crupelandt of the season. I'm really feeling depressed and as much as I like the Volk/Nieuwsblad, every year when cross season ends, I feel a bit the way road cycling fan feel after Lombardy.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Lol we might have tuned in at the same moment. I even first thought it was on Sporza and so I was just watching the telly but it was just volleyball and then the track worlds...

Mathieu claimed he had back problems. Cool for Wout, I'm a real fan now, since the candid camera. And Niels is a good commentator, I think he was honest because he could have been biased towards Wout but remained kind of neutral.

So now, just Waregem but it's like some sort of an Espace Crupelandt of the season. I'm really feeling depressed and as much as I like the Volk/Nieuwsblad, every year when cross season ends, I feel a bit the way road cycling fan feel after Lombardy.

Do you mean the camera in the woods? That was some quality broadcsting considering it wasn't part of the Bpost, Superprestige or World Cup.

 

[Echoes]

No, no, lol, just what I've described in post 305. Oh the right term in English is "hidden camera", perhaps. Or "spy camera"

He was trapped like a novice but in the end it's pretty much in his favour because we can really see how polite and courteous he is, irl.

 

[Echoes]

Mathieu Van der Poel wins the Cyclocross Masters in Waregem ahead of Wout Van Aert and Kevin Pauwels.

Nys had to pull out after hitting a spectator who crossed the street. It wasn't his season ...


Most fun part of the day was the cyclocross jumping event. http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/v_opvallend/veldrijden_opvallend/1.2251427?playlist=7.51343

Apparently only four guys could pass 50cm, among whom Mathieu who passed 55cm. But only Meeusen could pass 60cm. Actually, he even went up to 75cm:

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/cnt/dmf20150225_01549005/

 

[Echoes]

Apparently, Wietse Bosmans and Michael Vanthourenhout were the other two who could pass 60cm (along with Mathieu & Tom): http://www.grinta.be/nl/nieuws/4050/acrobaat-meeusen-springt-over-balkje-van-75-centimeter

Looking forward to seeing Tom in Cameroon. Hope the course is safe now with Boko Haram who entered the country. I would miss his trips to Senegal though.. And I hope it all ends well with that stupid doping affair (Tom has my support for this).

 

[Echoes]

RIP Patrick Gaudy.

The only Walloon cyclocrosser was killed while training last Tuesday on the Côte des Trois Burette in Mons-Saint-Guibert (Walloon Brabant).

Gaudy was 3rd at the Nats for contractless elite and 11th at the Koppenberg. He was aged 38. His brother Cedric is also a cyclist.

Patrick deserved a lot of credit for his daily calendar completely full when he started training early in the morning, getting back home to get a shower and be ready to get to work in his bike shop at 9.00 am

For speakers of French, nice doco about him, that was aired last December on the day of the Namur cyclocross: http://www.rtbf.be/video/detail_rencontre-avec-patrick-gaudy?id=1980445

 

[TMP402]

Less than a week til CrossVegas.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

A bit of information to the european cx season.

Here is a link to the sporza ticker for a calendar of all the World Cup's, Super Prestige's and Bpost Bank Trofee's.

Plus a list of all the Soudal Classics:
GP Neerpelt - 26/9/2015
Jaarmaarkt Cross Niel - 11/11/2015
GP Hasselt - 21/11/15
Namur World Cup round 4 - 20/12/2015
GP Leuven - 03/01/2016
Cyclocross masters Waregem - 24/02/2016

It looks like the organisers of the Bpost troffee and Soudal classics have swapped the Scheldecross and Hasselt from one to another.

Other events:
World Champs @ Zolder - 30-31/01/2016
Sluitingprijs Oostmalle : 21/02/2016

If you want streams for the cx races I tend to look over at Procycling live

 

[Ricco']

Well, Wietse Bosmans is in great form at the moment. After winning both races of the Qiansen Trophy, yesterday we won the first race Nittany Lion Cross in the US. Because Vincent Baestaens won a C2 race last weekend in the US that's 4 wins for BKCP - Corendon in 5 UCI races (Jeremy Powers won the other).

 

[lemon cheese cake]

A number of the top teams are changing names/jerseys for this season.

Telenet Fidea to Telenet Fidea:

BKCP Powerplus to BKCP Corendon:

Corendon Kwadro to ERA Murprotec:

Vastgoed Golden Palace to Vastgoed Golden Palace:

Crelan AA drink to Crelan AA drink:

Although they will combine with Vastgoed to become the single sponsor from 01/01/2016

And finally Sunweb Napoleon Games to Sunweb Napoleon Games:

Although they will become Marlux Napoleon Games in 2016


So it looks like Sven Nys will complete his career alongside Wout Van Aert. The BKCP teams will once again home world champion Mathieu van der Poel and Phillip Walsleben while the sister team Enerthrm BKCP will have female Sanne Cant. Sunweb will have Klaas Vantornout and Kevin Pauwels riding for them. Telenet Fidea will have Tom Meusen and Corne van Kessel in the elites, Eli Iserbyt in the U23's and Nikki Harris & Ellen van Loy in the womens sqaud. Team ERA have Simunek and Taramarcaz while I think the Sweeck brothers are staying in the U23 ranks

 

[Ricco']

Laurens Sweeck was born in 1993, he is an elite rider now in cyclo-cross.

And he started very well his season with a win in the first race of EKZ CrossTour in Baden, Switzerland, beating Walsleben and Mourey for the first place.

1st Laurens Sweeck
2nd Philipp Walsleben
3rd Francis Mourey
4th Dieter Vanthourenhout
5th Clément Venturini

 

[avanti]

Vegas Cross 2015

The 2015 Vegas Cross occurs Sat, 19 Sept 2015.
I see the UCI live feed is not available in the USA :-(
I checked various USA networks and found Universal Sports will broadcast the event (possibly not live).
So once again people with Comcast service will not be able to see this event.

 

[Sasquatch]

I'm going to try and follow cyclo-cross this season. Didn't realise the first race starts this week. Sven Nys to start his final season on a high?

 

[Sasquatch]

They're racing at night? Awesome.

 

[Sasquatch]

Dominant win to Van Aert

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Apparently Wout Van Aert and Katerina Nash have won the the first world cup jersey/skinsuit on for the world cup in Valkenburg, the Netherlands.

 

[TMP402]

Anyone have video of the race?