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Race Thread

Page 73 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Some videos from the 50's and 60's, worth watching:




In theory, yes. Ronde and Amstel should suit Mathieu more, Roubaix and perhaps Strade should suit Wout more. Which isn't to say either can't win these races. Had Wout started the sprint in RvV 25 meters sooner, he would have won it. And i'm sure there are plenty of scenario's where Mathieu could win Roubaix as well.
Thanks. Their matchup (though of course other riders will have their play as well) makes all those races even more enticing to watch in the years to come!
 
Is the Ostende race course the same every year?
As far as I can recall, it's only been used for the Belgian Champs in 2017. Judging by the course map, it looks the same as that year with the massive and steep flyover above the road and tramway. This split the two parts of the course. The Horse Racing Circuit where the start/finish/pits are on, with a few small banks and short cut grass that looked pretty slick and hard packed; and the Beach which was a mix of hard pack sand from the tide loose sand with a couple of lumps or 'dunes' that look man made.


Is there anywhere where one can watch the BK Meulebeke for those that aren't in Belgium?
 
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Fabio (van) Aru will be at the World Champs!
16108152-0010-kycF--712x402@Gazzetta-Web_712x402.jpg

as reported in Gazzetta (in italiano)
 
Good for you. Since you continue to put words into my mouth, this is totally pointless:

"But no technical skills required on this course" according to "Flamin"
So, you denie what you quoted yourself : "Technique was very negligible on this course".
Anyway, every cx-rider knows technique is requested to negotiate short curves, going downhill, off-camber, plowing through sand, and mud. A scala of (different) technical skills are required.
 
Fabio (van) Aru will be at the World Champs!
16108152-0010-kycF--712x402@Gazzetta-Web_712x402.jpg

as reported in Gazzetta (in italiano)
He finished 10th in the nationals. I sort of see why he's going, but there again that result doesn't warrant a trip to the worlds. If we're just going on nationals results and not including international races and the Giro d'Italia CX series, then there are 9 riders ahead that should be looked at being selected for the quota of 5 riders. I don't think he's finished higher than fourth in the Giro CX, so what merits him getting a place at the world champs?
 
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^^CX is great, and all that...but when you have just 5-6 riders on the men's side (from 2 countries, plus Piddles) who are even capable of podiuming, let alone winning, any given top level race, then the sport is going to remain a sub-niche. The women's side is slightly more open, but only slightly.

Having said that, I love watching CX; just wish there was a way for more top-level road and XC pros from around the world to participate. But given the choice between 2 weeks' training in sunny Majorca or Gran Canaria -- or freezing your a** off while eating mud from MVDP....it's probably not a hard decision...
 
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^^CX is great, and all that...but when you have just 5-6 riders on the men's side (from 2 countries, plus Piddles) who are even capable of podiuming, let alone winning, any given top level race, then the sport is going to remain a sub-niche. The women's side is slightly more open, but only slightly.

So, basically like every other winter sport :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:

Sorry, i get a bit angry reading posts like this.
 
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^^CX is great, and all that...but when you have just 5-6 riders on the men's side (from 2 countries, plus Piddles) who are even capable of podiuming, let alone winning, any given top level race, then the sport is going to remain a sub-niche. The women's side is slightly more open, but only slightly.

Having said that, I love watching CX; just wish there was a way for more top-level road and XC pros from around the world to participate. But given the choice between 2 weeks' training in sunny Majorca or Gran Canaria -- or freezing your a** off while eating mud from MVDP....it's probably not a hard decision...
Yeah, but not sure there are any road pros not currently racing cross that would have to worry about eating mud from MVDP for more than a lap or two or until he decided to do a hot lap.
 
Many wintersports have been dominated by few countries, even by individual athletes throughout the past few decades. It didn't pose an issue for those sports, but somehow it's an issue for CX.

Yeah, but almost every winter sport has a circuit that goes beyond two neighboring countries and has high-level participants from a range of countries. Even when Hirscher was dominating the skiing tech events, for example, he still had strong competition from Switzerland, France, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, Scandinavia etc. and if he or Kristofferson had an off day you had 8-10 racers from those countries ready to step up. This season, you have athletes from 5-7 countries in the top 10 of every discipline. (Although I'll grant you that XC skiing tends to be dominated by one or two countries, but there again, there's a circuit all over central and northern Europe)

Now in CX, if for some reason MVDP or WvA has a bad day, you'll only get Pidcock, Iserbyt or maybe Vanthorenhout and Aerts. And...with the happy exception of Pidcock, they're from the same country.

It could just be that CX is in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, but I've really enjoyed watching it since we moved to Europe in 2012, and I'd like to see it thrive.
 
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almost every winter sport has a circuit that goes beyond two neighboring countries
Mostly down to Covid: it's hurt the World Cup the most of the three big classifications, meaning it only visited three countries instead of the originally planned seven. And even that was without the US, Italy and France which have all hosted the World Cup in recent years.
almost every winter sport has [...] has high-level participants from a range of countries.
Speed skating? Let alone the Summer Olympics where e.g. table tennis is dominated by a handful of Asian players, almost all of them born Chinese.
Now in CX, if for some reason MVDP or WvA has a bad day, you'll only get Pidcock, Iserbyt or maybe Vanthorenhout and Aerts.
Mostly down to the nature of the sport I think; MTB has a similarly narrow top level of riders. It's not really indicative of the internationality of the sport, men's gravel tennis is a good counterexample.
 
I think you can’t make a fair comparison of prospective new medal events (such as CX) to the sports that are established as Winter Olympic events (even if they are niche sports dominated by a few countries) because for a long time those sports WERE the Olmypics. 2/3 of the medals at St.Moritz in 1928 were in speed skating and Nordic events, so there wouldn’t be an Olympics back then without them. Those events are iconic elements of the Winter Games.
On the other hand, I think CX is much more deserving of inclusion in the Winter Olympics than some of the recent additions, the choice of which seems based on the number of highlight videos they can produce.
 

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