Race Thread

[Mick Dundee]

Quite right in terms of close Vdp & Wva finishes in CX. Vdp (when on form) makes good use of his blitz/recover capacity in the last lap to more often than not, edge out Wout. Most probably to avoid a drag race to the line for obvious reasons. I was just hoping for something special today as the circuit suited them both but Vdp had sunken eyes in the interview before the race even started! I sincerely hope it’s just the knee and nothing else.

Wout, on the other hand, clearly had an excellent off season and planets have aligned for him. Hoping he can manage it with decent recovery for the classics this year and beyond. He’s clearly in a good place with the family situation too.. it was nice to see in the post race footage today.

 

[senna6541]

The Wout fans are clearly enjoying this little period - and rightfully so. We'll see how things go. My money is still on MVDP come the USA. MVDP definitely looks to be struggling physically, but remember, it wasn't too long ago that he buried Wout and pretty much everyone else in a much more brutal race than anything CX will offer up - even then when clearly not at 100%.

 

[Bonimenier]

The Wout fans are clearly enjoying this little period - and rightfully so. We'll see how things go. My money is still on MVDP come the USA. MVDP definitely looks to be struggling physically, but remember, it wasn't too long ago that he buried Wout and pretty much everyone else in a much more brutal race than anything CX will offer up - even then when clearly not at 100%.

'Pretty much everyone else' means absolutely nothing though. And the not 100% excuse is ridiculous. No need to make up excuses every time he doesn't win.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

A race is a race and i wouldn't expect any gifts between the two of them as they have a bit of history in sprint finishes. Like Pidcock said in the interview, Iserbyt looked stronger but he was slightly more tactically aware in the finale.

This has nothing to do with tactics, at least not as far as Iserbyt is concerned . Iserbyt is in the lead in the standings, and has to go all the way to leave the second in the standings, Aerts, behind. So Iserbyt can't play tactical games with Pidcock. Pidcock has no standings to defend, and can fully speculate on second place. Especially by sitting in the wheel.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

The Wout fans are clearly enjoying this little period - and rightfully so. We'll see how things go. My money is still on MVDP come the USA. MVDP definitely looks to be struggling physically, but remember, it wasn't too long ago that he buried Wout and pretty much everyone else in a much more brutal race than anything CX will offer up - even then when clearly not at 100%.

if Vdp gets rid of his physical complaints soon, he will still be ready for the world championship. And is he the favorite there.
I suspect that Van Aert will then not participate in the world championship, as planned. Not to compromise his spring on the road. If Vdp is not 100%, and/or the course has become heavy due to rainfall, Van Aert could still decide to go to Fayteville.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Well, he's pulled the plug on Loenhout & Hulst......back issues are causing problems.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Bad news for MVDP, clearly the WC is at risk and given Wout’s fantastic form Fayetteville looks like an easy choice for him and his team. It would probably only marginally affect the start of the road season.

On another note it’s quite amazing to see the totally different level between on the one hand Wout/Vdp and on the other hand the best of the rest of the CXers like TA, MV, EI, QH etc. Tough to be born in the Wout/VDP era of CX.

 

[Barkintheeye]

A few short clips of Pogacar's CX race in Slovenia. Looks good on the bike but hard to tell given the brevity of the filming and possibly somewhat slower speed than the top CXers

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqbjBdnWr4k


Would rather have seen him start with the rest in Dendermonde / Namur.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

It's never going to happen, is it? A current GT winner doing a World Cup CX race.......I'd love to see it, but they'd have nothing to gain, especially on a flat, muddy course. We can't even get many classics riders to have a go.....

 

[Barkintheeye]

Then all the more kudos to the likes of Lars Boom, Stybar and Haussler. Surely they do it for fun and the love of the sport and most likely not to prove anything but still. Hats off to them!

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Yeah, Haussler wishes he had discovered it years ago - he loves it, and reckons it has benefited him.....

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Hup Hup Hup

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Hup Hup Hup

Well, at least they made a race of it this time. He didn’t just ride off into the distance…

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Well that tangling with one of the Desacht Hens Maes bikes definitely rattled Iserbyt.

Nice performance by Orts as well.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Well, at least they made a race of it this time. He didn’t just ride off into the distance…

He didn't want to waste too much energy and waited fairly long before riding off.

 

[Ricco']

Rob Hatch should do more crosses, it was a good group of commentators today, he knows how to give enthusiasm to the narration and to bring more diverse themes of conversation.

With Marty and Jeremy the commentary goes always to the same places: "bending the tape", "he went over the track's speed limit", "look at rider putting that road power", etc.

Just a shame that the audio and mixing problems in Eurosport continue day after day. It seems like an amateur production, not something coming from an international channel with decades of experience.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

You need to watch mountain biking; their skills are another level compared to Cyclocross.

What I known, most of the mounainebikeriders, who tried to participate in cyclocross races , were driven in minutes, almost lapped. They had a very difficult time both technically and physically. And "they" were worldchampions and olympic champions. The reverse is also true, but to a much lesser extent .

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

The Wout fans are clearly enjoying this little period - and rightfully so. We'll see how things go. My money is still on MVDP come the USA. MVDP definitely looks to be struggling physically, but remember, it wasn't too long ago that he buried Wout and pretty much everyone else in a much more brutal race than anything CX will offer up - even then when clearly not at 100%.

You mean Paris-Roubaix. Then, Van Aert was in a descending form curve. Vdp was in a rising form curve..... but was beaten by een non-cobbles specialist Colbrelli... and a youngster Florian Vermeersch.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Bad news for MVDP, clearly the WC is at risk and given Wout’s fantastic form Fayetteville looks like an easy choice for him and his team. It would probably only marginally affect the start of the road season.

On another note it’s quite amazing to see the totally different level between on the one hand Wout/Vdp and on the other hand the best of the rest of the CXers like TA, MV, EI, QH etc. Tough to be born in the Wout/VDP era of CX.

Only marginally affect te start of the road season ? The difference is a tough trip back and forth to the USA with jet lag and fatigue..... and missing two weeks of hard training, especially on endurance. Absolutely necessary to compete at the highest level in killer races of 260 km, Flanders and Roubaix.
Maybe Van Aert will decide to go after all to Fayeteville, if he is still at top level in a few weeks. Then he might still have enough form for the Strade Bianche, and later for the less long semi-classics as Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3-prijs etc. Maybe competing till the final of Flanders and Roubaix.... but not winning. Vdp is maybe the only one in the world who can still participate for the victory with a relatively short preparation. Given Vdp will be able to participate the CX Worlds. And if not (due to his back injury), Vdp, if totally recovered, and not tired from a hard CX campaign in january, will be the top favorite for the classics in March/begin April.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Rob Hatch should do more crosses, it was a good group of commentators today, he knows how to give enthusiasm to the narration and to bring more diverse themes of conversation.
....

plus he interprets in realtime the gist of the post race interviews for those of us less gifted in languages.
But RH's back-to-square-one approach to knowledge of CX rings false to me.

 

[Wyndbrook]

He didn't want to waste too much energy and waited fairly long before riding off.

Toon summed it up in his Interview when he said Wout was 'playing with them'.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Only marginally affect te start of the road season ? The difference is a tough trip back and forth to the USA with jet lag and fatigue..... and missing two weeks of hard training, especially on endurance. Absolutely necessary to compete at the highest level in killer races of 260 km, Flanders and Roubaix.
Maybe Van Aert will decide to go after all to Fayeteville, if he is still at top level in a few weeks. Then he might still have enough form for the Strade Bianche, and later for the less long semi-classics as Dwars door Vlaanderen, E3-prijs etc. Maybe competing till the final of Flanders and Roubaix.... but not winning. Vdp is maybe the only one in the world who can still participate for the victory with a relatively short preparation. Given Vdp will be able to participate the CX Worlds. And if not (due to his back injury), Vdp, if totally recovered, and not tired from a hard CX campaign in january, will be the top favorite for the classics in March/begin April.

My guess is that he and Jumbo Wisma believes in a clean sweep. If anyone can win it all, CX WC, Strade Bianche, RVV, PR and possibly even MSR it’s Wout with his exceptional form and extraordinary recovery. Don’t think that décalage horaire and multiple days of racing will touch him. He looks massively stronger this year.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

My guess is that he and Jumbo Wisma believes in a clean sweep. If anyone can win it all, CX WC, Strade Bianche, RVV, PR and possibly even MSR it’s Wout with his exceptional form and extraordinary recovery. Don’t think that décalage horaire and multiple days of racing will touch him. He looks massively stronger this year.

I don't agree. We've seen the past two seasons that Van Aert is vulnerable and can't keep his shape for months. During the coronaseason in summer/autumn 2020 he was incredible in august/september (Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, Dauphiné, Tour). He showed still form at the end of the season, but was not at his top level then (Worlds, Flanders). In 2021 he was top from Tirreno till Gent-Wevelgem, but not at "Flanders". Then he had another flare-up (Amstel Gold Race). In the second part of the season, Van Aert was at his best halfway through the Tour, the olympic road race (but not the timetrial), to Tour of Britain. Weakened somewhat towards world championship and totally faded in Roubaix. I hope he learned lessons from this for the upcoming road season.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

What I known, most of the mountain bikeriders, who tried to participate in cyclocross races , were driven in minutes, almost lapped. They had a very difficult time both technically and physically. And "they" were world champions and olympic champions. The reverse is also true, but to a much lesser extent .

I'm not sure that's true. The female MTBriders who do CX, tend to be better than the CX riders who do MTB. A recent example, the women's Worlds in Ostende, a mainly flat sand CX track, there were plenty of XC riders in the top 15; Richards, Lechner, Brandau, Tauber; the same isn't true when CX riders do MTB World Cups/Championships.

It's slightly different for the men as MvdP & Pidcock are really the only top riders who do both. None of the top CX riders do MTB, and none of the top 10 ranked XCO riders do any CX World Cups/Championships.

Cyclocross really isn't that technical, with short climbs, it mainly about power. You need more than that for XC; it took MvdP 3-4 seasons to finally win an XCO race, as power isn't enough, the technical side has to be there. Only 4 current riders have won World Cups in CX & XCO.....

The Downhillers/Enduro riders are a level above even the XC riders....

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Rob Hatch should do more crosses, it was a good group of commentators today, he knows how to give enthusiasm to the narration and to bring more diverse themes of conversation.

With Marty and Jeremy the commentary goes always to the same places: "bending the tape", "he went over the track's speed limit", "look at rider putting that road power", etc.

Just a shame that the audio and mixing problems in Eurosport continue day after day. It seems like an amateur production, not something coming from an international channel with decades of experience.

They should have different commentators/summarisers for each series, so it keeps it fresh. nothing against Marty & JPow, but it becomes a bit repetitive after a while. Red Bull use different summarisers for the DH/XC races......