Race Thread

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Mathieu 1st
Michael 2nd
Korné 3rd
Wout 4th

 

[sir fly]

Thanks for the updates, people.
Tomorrow won't be a problem watching the race, and hopefully more competitive.

 

[Mavic]

How many times the past year has he needed more than one? Did you look at the competition today?

It’s just a hope, relax, it’s not that serious.

Should all of his competitors lose hope too? I’m sure you watch every race too and hope against all odds that he doesn’t win as easily as he has been doing. That’s all it is.

 

[christopherrowe]

Did Worst ride in the women's race today?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Wout says he has nothing to lose at the Belgian champs. q

It’s just a hope, relax, it’s not that serious.

Should all of his competitors lose hope too? I’m sure you watch every race too and hope against all odds that he doesn’t win as easily as he has been doing. That’s all it is.

It just wasn't very realistic. Wout is coming back from a career threatening injury. Toon wasn't there, and neither was Eli. For those have been the only three to have shown (or proven) that they might be able to beat him or make things difficult. But to answer your question, I don't think Korné van Kessel got out of bed today, thinking he was going to beat Mathieu.

Best you can hope for is that by the time the WC comes, that Toon's ribs will have healed and he's in top shape, that Wout has improved considerably, and that Eli can keep his current form. And then, who know, by some stroke of luck or tactical racing (assuming they can hold on for more than one acceleration) they can make the race interesting.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

well at least this year they have been able to withstand more than last year.. at least there's that. But with VDP not even having done specific interval training which is coming for the worlds I don't think there is much hope of an interesting worlds

 

[RedheadDane]

Must be interesting being Tim Merlier these days. Goes to hang out with the Alpecin-Fenix guys at the team presentation, then - as a Cerafin-Tüv Süd rider - battles against them in cross.
But, I suppose not much different than when riders switch between trade teams and national teams.

 

[Ricco']

Impossible to find a stream for me

I don't know if I can share links here, probably not, but took me quite a while to find a working stream for today but there were at least one (with crappy quality).

It should still be up for the other "exclusive" Play Sports crosses of the season (Otegem on the 13th and Zonnebeke on the 25th of January). Search for a facebook page called "Planète Cyclo Cross" (french page about the sport) and this morning they made a post about the various sources where someone could watch today's race).

 

[Mavic]

Wout says he has nothing to lose at the Belgian champs. q

It just wasn't very realistic. Wout is coming back from a career threatening injury. Toon wasn't there, and neither was Eli. For those have been the only three to have shown (or proven) that they might be able to beat him or make things difficult. But to answer your question, I don't think Korné van Kessel got out of bed today, thinking he was going to beat Mathieu.

Best you can hope for is that by the time the WC comes, that Toon's ribs will have healed and he's in top shape, that Wout has improved considerably, and that Eli can keep his current form. And then, who know, by some stroke of luck or tactical racing (assuming they can hold on for more than one acceleration) they can make the race interesting.

It’s not realistic to hope that he needs more than just one acceleration to make the decisive move? Might as well stop watching CX altogether, then. Everyone can hope, even against all odds and I will certainly continue to do so.

Moreover, you’re putting words in my mouth with the whole van Kessel argument. I never said they were hoping to win, just not to be dropped at the first acceleration. If they can’t hope for that either than I don’t know anymore.

I do share your sentiments in the last paragraph, though it’s also a hope, just with better odds.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

well at least this year they have been able to withstand more than last year.. at least there's that. But with VDP not even having done specific interval training which is coming for the worlds I don't think there is much hope of an interesting worlds

Or dogsh*t weather should throw him off, catch him off-guard. And the reason he hasn't been as dominant, isn't because the opposition improved (except Iserbyt), but because he simply isn't as good as last year (but still too good). I mean, they didn't close the gap, he simply had enough headroom to focus less on cross specific training.

It’s not realistic to hope that he needs more than just one acceleration to make the decisive move? Might as well stop watching CX altogether, then. Everyone can hope, even against all odds and I will certainly continue to do so.

I'm not looking to have an argument here, but considering he's been riding away when and where he pleases for the most of 2 years now, and considering the opposition he was up against today it was wishful thinking imho, yes. But no big deal, i understand what you mean.

 

[christopherrowe]

Might as well stop watching CX altogether, then.

I've found the racing on the women's side excellent this year, so there's an option.

 

[Mavic]

Or dogsh*t weather should throw him off, catch him off-guard. And the reason he hasn't been as dominant, isn't because the opposition improved (except Iserbyt), but because he simply isn't as good as last year (but still too good). I mean, they didn't close the gap, he simply had enough headroom to focus less on cross specific training.


I'm not looking to have an argument here, but considering he's been riding away when and where he pleases for the most of 2 years now, and considering the opposition he was up against today it was wishful thinking imho, yes. But no big deal, i understand what you mean.

I didn’t think that holding up hope for anything would cause an argument either, which is why I don’t know how something so simple has gone on for so long. Moreover, isn’t wishful thinking the same as hoping in some way? Hoping against all odds? So I can do that but not the other?

The thing is, he does ride away most times, but not always after the first acceleration. Sometimes some riders even stuck with him until the last lap in the past. It’s few and far between, but not unprecedented.

Those are the races I hope for every weekend, yes, even against the overwhelming odds. I think the riders do too, they all hope to be able to best Mathieu one day, or at the very least not get dropped after the first darn acceleration, even though they understand that the odds are stacked heavily against them.

Oh well, moving on.

 

[Mavic]

I've found the racing on the women's side excellent this year, so there's an option.

Oh definitely, I think I have mentioned that in here as well. Should have specified that I was aiming at men’s CX.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Found a video on youtube of those "Milwaukee Pyramids". They are just weird and dont really add anything other as you can't use them as a point of attack if you get on before the ramp down against someone who got on after the ramp, as there is a hairpin straight after the second one. Just a gimmick and another opportunity for plugging a sponsor more than just a banner in the side of the course in my opinion.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Kastelijn just turns around on the track and runs into and crashes Verdonschot

Edit: And 5 minutes later she hits the banners, crashes herself, and has 3 women crash into her

Worst and Alvarado are gone it seems, they've got a big gap already. Cant & Kay chasing at 25s.

 

[sir fly]

That hairpin can make riders nervous, we've already seen it.
So demanding course technically.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Worst has a small gap on Alvarado who had an issue with her pedal now.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Worst crashed and Alvarado is gone.

 

[sir fly]

Alvarado had her mistakes during the penultimate lap and Worst in the final... They really were equal.
And Cant third with a solid margin on Kay at the end. Didn't look like that along the way.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

UCI has disqualified Kastelijn for causing another rider to crash while backtracking on the course. As i understand it, it's the causing of the crash that was the problem, since backtracking is allowed? It was a dumb move by Kastelijn but a harsch decision.

 

[sir fly]

UCI has disqualified for causing another rider to crash while backtracking on the course. As i understand it, it's the causing of the crash that was the problem, since backtracking is allowed? It was a dumb move by Kastelijn but a harsch decision.

The rider Kastelijn brought down abandoned the race soon afterwards, so that balances the matters a bit.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Iserbyt had to get off the bike and run a bit more and Mathieu is gone.

 

[sir fly]

That was a nice battle for the second.
All the chasing cost Van Kessel a better chance, I'd say. Good ride, nevertheless.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

That was a nice battle for the second.
All the chasing cost Van Kessel a better chance, I'd say. Good ride, nevertheless.

Iserbyt lost a lot of places and energy by riding half a lap on a flat tyre. That's why, after he got back in front, he was empty when Mathieu attacked. So van Kessel wasn't the only one to burn some matches by chasing. In the end Iserbyt was stronger, and pretty aggressive in the final lap.

 

[Ricco']

As i understand it, it's the causing of the crash that was the problem, since backtracking is allowed?

Yes, backtracking is allowed between the two yellow flags on the pit lane.

So of course the rule is to blame to things like this. It must be expected that the riders are giving 110% and over they limits and cannot fully think on a situation like this. Allowing riders to reverse and go on the opposite direction of someone going 25 or 30 km/h is bound to result in disgrace. Even more in shitty pit lanes like the ones we had in Brussels, with trees on the middle of the race line and on the middle of the pit line. And if you ban backtracking completely, the amount of mechanicals happening on the pit lane must be like what, less than 1% of the total mechanicals for a year?