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Race Thread

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I'm a bit more optimistic about the Dutch dominance being challenged in the women's events. Honsinger and Vas should improve comparatively well, both being relative newcomers. And if Evie Richards can carry this year's progression from MTB over to cross, she could be a major force?

For my sins, I'm a Kastelijn fan so really enjoyed watching her win in Beringen. I've never been able to watch the early season races before. Is this a course she usualy does well on (i.e. no mud:)?

And a question for native dutch speakers. After watching her interview, does Van Anrooij have a particular accent?
 
Kastelijn is good on courses with lots of climbing - and not too technical.....that's were she tends to fall down (quite often literally).

I must admit, I'll be fascinated by how Evie will go on her return to CX; if she makes similar progress that she has on the MTB, then she will be right there. I think she only did about 5-6 races last season, and still finished top 7 in the Worlds, on a course that was not suited to her skills.
 
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What's the general view on the Beringen circuit? I know that many people like it, but for me it's a bit of a lull. Not enough cross, not enough mountain biking. And I admit I haven't seen the whole men's race yet, but generally it gets decided pretty quickly. The best climbers make the difference in the beginning and then they keep the margins.

And I think this year being earlier it was even worse. In muddy conditions it would probably be a bit better (although in some parts very dangerous).
 
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What's the general view on the Beringen circuit? I know that many people like it, but for me it's a bit of a lull. Not enough cross, not enough mountain biking. And I admit I haven't seen the whole men's race yet, but generally it gets decided pretty quickly. The best climbers make the difference in the beginning and then they keep the margins.

And I think this year being earlier it was even worse. In muddy conditions it would probably be a bit better (although in some parts very dangerous).
The highlighted sentence is definitely how i'd look at it. With the way races seem to be changing in belgium (partly through Erwin Vervecken being involved with the Trofee Veldrijden, Ethias Cross and formally Soudal Classics) i'm not sure what one defines as a typical CX course now, but I think this is far from one. Whereas I do like some of the new courses we've seen over the past three or four seasons, i'm not too keen on this one.
 
..................i've seen some good racing there previously...not last weekend though...parcours
just too dry and dusty.....

Mark L
It's always been dry and dusty I think, but this year the ground seemed to be a nit looser than in the past. I think changing the time of year would result in either no change to the course as it's something used all year round as an mtb facility and therefore fully compacted ground or would end up a bit like in Bieles. That's where the ground was churned up slightly and stones are brought to the surface, meaning you either had sharp bits floating around in the mud or sharp bits hidden in the mud. It caused many damaged wheels and/or punctures.
 
The highlighted sentence is definitely how i'd look at it. With the way races seem to be changing in Belgium (partly through Erwin Vervecken being involved with the Trofee Veldrijden, Ethias Cross and formally Soudal Classics) i'm not sure what one defines as a typical CX course now, but I think this is far from one. Whereas I do like some of the new courses we've seen over the past three or four seasons, i'm not too keen on this one.

I think courses have to change; as we've seen in MTB, courses have become more technical, and the sport is better for it. A constant run of flat CX courses held in fields isn't great, and becomes boring. Anything that mixes it up has got to be good. The more variety of courses, the better. I actually don't mind Beringen, as it's different from most of the other courses.

All they have to do now is start holding the Worlds in different venues, instead of returning to the same courses, which tend to be mainly flat - favouring the powerful riders.
 
I think courses have to change; as we've seen in MTB, courses have become more technical, and the sport is better for it. A constant run of flat CX courses held in fields isn't great, and becomes boring. Anything that mixes it up has got to be good. The more variety of courses, the better. I actually don't mind Beringen, as it's different from most of the other courses.

All they have to do now is start holding the Worlds in different venues, instead of returning to the same courses, which tend to be mainly flat - favouring the powerful riders.
Yes, all venues of the past few worlds seem to have had a simialr format pretty flat course with a couple of main features focused on one part of the course. Same with the European's. Twice in 's Hertogenbosch in the last three years, with the Italian Euros still being on a similar course. Hopefully this season is different for both euros and worlds with the VAMberg obviously having quite alot of elevation change and Fayettville looks to have a decent couple of hills judging by videos on Kerry Werner's youtube from the test event a couple of years ago, and riding round the venue this year.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing the Fayettville World Cup in a few weeks; I've seen that Kerry Warner video, and it looks quite a good course, with some elevation changes. One assumes it will be quite firm and fast in October, but quite different in January, with more wet (maybe wintry) conditions.
 
Cyclocross Worldchampionships:

2015 - Liévin
2016 - Hulst
2017 - Oostende (again? bah)

Is the translation I used bad or will the 2016 WCH be held in spring time?
I don't know about spring time, but it appears we're going back in time! Hulst was good, and as you say the course on the city battlements is great but not really a WC course. Does anyone know anything about Liévin?

Ugh, Oostende. Not a fan of that. It was a bit of a novelty for the Belgian Champs and this year's Worlds, but I feel the novelty has worn off. Maybe it was the lack of crowds compared to when Wout van Aert won and the reduction in the number of races over the weekend, but the whole event felt a bit rubbish this year.

As for Team relays, that is interesting. I assume it's going to run like the XC relays with a rider from each category completing a lap. Will be interesting to see how it's played out. Will teams use their best rider (i.e MVDP and WVA, Pidcock etc.), or will they be rested and use a rider who isn't quite fighting for the front (e.g someone like van Kessel or Baestaens). I think it's on the Friday as well so if anyone is competing in this and doing Hoogerheide the weekend before, the recovery, travelling and acclimatisation is even smaller than it would have been. I think atleast between Hoogerheide and Louisville it was two weekends.
 
I don't know about spring time, but it appears we're going back in time! Hulst was good, and as you say the course on the city battlements is great but not really a WC course. Does anyone know anything about Liévin?

Ugh, Oostende. Not a fan of that. It was a bit of a novelty for the Belgian Champs and this year's Worlds, but I feel the novelty has worn off. Maybe it was the lack of crowds compared to when Wout van Aert won and the reduction in the number of races over the weekend, but the whole event felt a bit rubbish this year.

As for Team relays, that is interesting. I assume it's going to run like the XC relays with a rider from each category completing a lap. Will be interesting to see how it's played out. Will teams use their best rider (i.e MVDP and WVA, Pidcock etc.), or will they be rested and use a rider who isn't quite fighting for the front (e.g someone like van Kessel or Baestaens). I think it's on the Friday as well so if anyone is competing in this and doing Hoogerheide the weekend before, the recovery, travelling and acclimatisation is even smaller than it would have been. I think atleast between Hoogerheide and Louisville it was two weekends.

Liévin may be like the old World Cup circuit, I don't know.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blvO3QB8ImE
 
It's the same old venues, on repeat; Tabor, Hoogerheide, and now Oostende....is that the best they can do? What's wrong with Namur? Too hilly for a worlds course - maybe they prefer flat courses.

On another point, there will be more Elite CX World Champions racing in both Elite road races than in the CX races this weekend,
 
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The USCX broadcast that Eurosport 1 is showing live is atrocious.

Having the sport live is great but a newcomer to the sport would be scared to see this cr*p filmed in 360p and with a PCMlike drone and would probably never be bothered to tune again. With so many better races to show, even a delayed broadcast of today's Ethias Cross would be more attractive.

And now they don't even show the final of the women's race, ffs.

This kind of coverage isn't even worthy of YouTube in 2021, let alone of TV. And if it shows like this in my 32'' tv, can't imagine how it appears in bigger setups.
 
The uscx coverage isn't the best, but as it's the first year and only two weekends so far, I guess it will develop. Although saying that, its still on par with the US cx nats coverage which hasnt been great compared to something like the world cups or Belgian CX series races and hasn't really changed for all the years I've watched it. But it's great to have more live coverage of races, especially when theyre not where we're used to having coverage.

Speaking of Gieten, both races were pretty entertaining with Brand coming flying into the CX season with form from the road and Aerts and Hermans seeming to be heading in the right direction just in time for the US world cups.
I think Marty does a good job with the CX races (better than the road) but he does seem to have favourites and doesnt come across as impartial sometimes. I did enjoy Beth Crumptons input in Gieten as she seemed fairly comfortable in the position as co-commentator.
 
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Will be interesting to see how the coverage of the World Cup is this season. I thought the coverage on Red Bull TV 2 years ago was fantastic, just like their MTB World Cup coverage. Sadly, last year the coverage was a downgrade, but there was the issue of Covid. It has to be better this year. Course previews, interviews, a proper post race show, etc anything less, I'll be disappointed.
 

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