Race Thread

[pmcg76]

No commentary either, but at this stage I don't care.

Not liking the fact that Brand is starting to really dominate the Womens side. Glad to see Inge hold on for 2nd, but a fantastic effort from Betsema after her mechanical. Another good race from Rochette, Worst seems to have lost a bit of form since her WC Win. Alvarado srtills seems to lack her normal level as she always starts good, but then fades. Anyways, take out Brand and the races would be very competitive.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Wow Wout

 

[Axel Hangleck]

In these conditions, Brand is going to be hard to beat; she has loads of power, and in deep mud that is what matters. On less wet, more technical courses, the others can compete with her.

 

[Spine Concept]

I truly hope that Eli and co. can catch up to Wout otherwise all the talk about the level being higher than last year and that the big three won't hit the ground winning go right out the window. Wout got a great course to kick off his CX season though, laying out the power.

 

[Mick Dundee]

Super Wout... king of the tractor pull! very impressive so far

 

[Axel Hangleck]

The perfect Wout course/conditions.......even if it is his first race of the season.

 

[tobydawq]

Lol, Wout.

At least I said a few weeks back that I didn't see any signs at all that the second-best riders would be closer to the best this season. But a 2-minute win in his first race back?

 

[Mick Dundee]

Yeah but still.... looks strong as !
Iserbyt will not want Pidders get the better of him today!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Pidcok falls and still keeps his jersey clean

 

[Mick Dundee]

LOL... dirtier jersey now!

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

There is money for whoever can invent hydrophobic cyclocross kit

 

[Spine Concept]

Welp. Reduced to amateurs. Kinda sad to see tbh, even if Wout got a course that's perfectly suited to his strengths, 2 minutes in his first race back is just nuts.

Edit: As I type that, Wout takes a tumble. Takes nothing away from his performance though.

 

[Mick Dundee]

Yep, Vdp will be watching on with interest no doubt

 

[Spine Concept]

Yep, Vdp will be watching on with interest no doubt

At least now we can hope for a two-way battle with Wout coming in this strong.

 

[Mick Dundee]

lol... Piddy hunting down Iserbyt!

 

[Mick Dundee]

Not sure why Wout was patting his bike there... he could've won a bmx with that power

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Last year Wout put mins into MVdP in similar race conditions (where ?)
- so our regulars shouldn't feel so bad

 

[Spine Concept]

Last year Wout put mins into MVdP in similar race conditions (where ?)
- so our regulars shouldn't feel so bad

Dendermonde, but that was even more extreme with much more running. Today would have been a great battle with Mathieu IMO.

 

[KZD]

Amazing win from Van Aert today, Toon Aerts the best of the rest which is no surprise given that he also likes these deep muddy conditions.

 

[jmdirt]

Wout looks like a mud man! Wow domination!

 

[Bolder]

Amazing win from Van Aert today, Toon Aerts the best of the rest which is no surprise given that he also likes these deep muddy conditions.

Yep, the "field" hasn't made much progress on Wout, at least. I expect Pidcock to only improve; he did set expectations low for his first race back.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

So, some context.

1/ Daddypoel already noticed Van Aert was doing much bigger training sessions than last year before coming into CX, so he predicted Van Aert would be better than the rest from the start. I must have missed his prediction, but it is clear that Van Aert is immediately better than last year in his first few races.

2/ The course really suited him.

3/ The other guys are now nearing the end of their first block. Their level is declining and they will take some rest and go on training camp somewhere in the next few weeks to get ready for the second block of the season.

4/ Hadn't Aerts crashed/fallen as often as he did, he would have been a lot closer to Van Aert. I think he might have finished at around 1 minute without his additional tumbles.

 

[stonerider]

Not sure why Wout was patting his bike there... he could've won a bmx with that power

Because it was his first race on a new CX bike that was designed just for him. He had input to the design details of the new Cervelo CX bike.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Great rides by both winners and good battles behind in both races.

Someone mentioned that they visited a race in person and the riders in the women's race were smaller than they expected. I had the opposite opinion when visiting Boom today. There were riders that after seeing on TV I didn't expect to be as tall as they actually are. Alot of the younger riders at the front like Backstedt, van Empel and Schreiber were taller than I would've thought and others like Bakker and Norbert Riberolle who loom pretty tall compared to others on the tv were more average than I was expecting.

The course is tougher than I expected. Ive never appreciated the steepness of the sides of the amphitheatre but they are properly steep. Especially the drop from the top to the bottom where alot the men were sliding about, and the climb before it.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Look at the size of Backstedt's father.........it should be no surprise she's tall.