Many racers who are not racing for the series title are using this time to top off their base fitness before the heavy Christmas period. I know MvdP is back in Spain doing some base rides with his road team. Who thought it was a good idea to have a WC race every weekend?
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pidcock's remaining schedule:
WC Dublin
EX Mol
WC Gavere
SP Heusden-Zolder
SP Diegem
EX Loenhout
X2O Baal
X2O Herentals
(ineos pre-season camp)
WC Benidorm
WC Dublin
EX Mol
WC Gavere
SP Heusden-Zolder
SP Diegem
EX Loenhout
X2O Baal
X2O Herentals
(ineos pre-season camp)
WC Benidorm
If we do get a round, you know it will be a park course with very little climbing - and due to our weather a muddy fest. You can surely make a CX course out of a MTB venue, minus the large rocks & roots. Short track is almost CX, so it can be done, if the will is there. In my opinion, it isn't.
Simple answer - Flanders Classics; the more rounds the more hosting fees they get. Unfortunately, CX isn't big enough to support 14 rounds. Compare with the MTB World Cup; 6-9 rounds in a 5-6 month season, and with massive fields.
It should be about 8-10 rounds spread across the season with the other weekends left for other series races.
And I've always been against Flanders Classics running both SuperPrestige and the World Cup; it should be one or the other, not both. When the contract is up, I'd hope a more international company gets the World Cup; maybe the new MTB World Cup right holders could do something better.
It will be nice to see Pidcock tackle the sand in Mol. Maybe not the best course for his abilities but he will probably do well anyways.
Who are the promoters for the MTB world cups? Is that Discovery like the Vhampions league track league or are they only taking over the broadcasting from Red bull?
Discovery, and their company ESO Sports will do the whole lot; organise, promote, produce & televise everything.
Enduro Sports Organisation and Discovery to run the UCI MTB World Cup - MBR
The UCI MTB World Cup is almost synonymous with Red Bull, so it was quite a shock to a lot of fans when news broke that 2022 would be the last year the global action sports and drinks brand would be working on the event. Speculation has been rife as to who would take over the reins, and it’s now...
www.mbr.co.uk
I feel there would be good organisation of the events if they took over from flanders classics, but I feel one would also see a monopolisation with EWS, MTB WC, CX WC, UCI TCL, etc all being organised by the same group that the UCI are effectively outsourcing to.Discovery, and their company ESO Sports will do the whole lot; organise, promote, produce & televise everything.
Enduro Sports Organisation and Discovery to run the UCI MTB World Cup - MBR
The UCI MTB World Cup is almost synonymous with Red Bull, so it was quite a shock to a lot of fans when news broke that 2022 would be the last year the global action sports and drinks brand would be working on the event. Speculation has been rife as to who would take over the reins, and it’s now...
For comparison, in motorsport, WRC Promoter Gmbh have control of WRC, ERC & World RX - and do a similar job.
Going to this on Sunday and as someone who enjoys the Women's race as much as the men, I am disappointed that so many names are missing. Yes, totally cool to have the big 2 plus Betsema and Van der Heyden. Bakker and Schreiber are typically places 10-20. PFP is a big name, but still not in full cyclo-cross form, but the rest are usually found outside the Top 20 in WC Races. So many riders missing.
In contrast, the mens entry has a way deeper field with only a handful of the usual Top 20 guys missing. Just weird that there is such a difference in the quality of the two races.
I guess it just shows how difficult it is to develop outside the core countries if riders will not attend those events, but then with a much better mens field, it might be more important as more road or casual fans will recognise the likes of Pidcock/Van Aert. I just thought when Dublin got the slot in December, that most of the top riders would be coming.
Well it was originally rumoured to be in London, which I guess may have had more people inclined to travel as it's a fairly short trip on the ferry or eurotunnel to get there compared to either a flight or two ferries/one ferry and the eurotunnel plus crossing England and Wales. If the Dublin race is a success, and it sticks around next year, hopefully somewhere in the UK can get enough support or whatever's neccesary to hold a world cup the week before or after to make travelling off mainland Europe more worthwhile.
Have seen a few videos of the course for Dublin and looks rather uninspiring to say the least, one section of sand through a horse-training facility and that's about it. The course looks pretty flat with very little in the way of the typical steep ascents/descents so common in cyclo-cross. Now maybe obstacles like hurdles or bridges will be added, otherwise there won't be much getting off the bike.
I was expecting this tbh. For me the best thing about cyclocross is the unique elements of each course and then fun design features. If the UCI are looking to expand surely they should lend some course organisers to make sure these “foreign courses” aren’t boring and flat?
I think the course is designed by a Belgian from the organisers Flanders promotions or whatever. Some parts do look quite dug up already and if it rained, it could be a potential muddy affair, but weather given to be very cold in Ireland next few days so more likely to be a hard/frozen surface. Maybe we will have a better idea if Puck does her usual pre-race video.
In current shape it looks completely uninspiring. Very flat, no real technical sections and if the ground stays dry it will be terrible to ride and not really fun to watch. With lots of rain it might turn out very muddy and then be somewhat of a Dendermonde course. Not really my favorite type of race to watch but good for some riders. Hope it doesn’t stay dry, then it most likely will be a dreary history.
View: https://youtu.be/G7zDV3X5jDk
Looks bland, flat and uninspiring, which was what I expected when I looked it up on Google maps. A course for those with big engines.....Not the greatest advert for CX.
Armchair cyclist
Moderator
I was at the venue on the equivalent weekend last year for the European cross country championships (athletics) : the first part of this route is around the largely flat main parkland area that was the route for that. There is one steep sided mound (about 4:30 in the video) in that otherwise featureless zone: the equestrian area in the second part of the lap looks more interesting: it was behind the athletes' warm-up area last year, so I didn't really see it.
But I won't be watching, I'll be at the Euro Cross again, hoping my nephew can go one better than last year. But this year's cross country, in La Mondria park in Turin, looks like it would make a better cyclo-cross route than Abbotstown.
But I won't be watching, I'll be at the Euro Cross again, hoping my nephew can go one better than last year. But this year's cross country, in La Mondria park in Turin, looks like it would make a better cyclo-cross route than Abbotstown.
I take it he finished second last year then? Speaking of XC running venues, Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill would probably be able to have a good CX course.
That’s what really bothers me - there must be so many good places in Dublin and London and yet this is what we get…
Maybe that's the problem; they can't get any interesting venues. Others may want a lot more £££££ for using a venue, and Flanders Classics can't/won't pay.
But as I've said before, I wish they'd drop the London obsession.....
For purely selfish reasons, I was hoping the World Cup would return to Milton Keynes one day. The 2014 event had a challenging course and big turnout, probably due to good road and rail access, north and south of England.
Not to say the Dublin event wont be well attended – hope you have a great time pmcg76.
Not to say the Dublin event wont be well attended – hope you have a great time pmcg76.
The initial startlist for Essen looks a bit short of big names to the least, but might give a chance to the likes of Bentveld to get a result, as Backstedt did last year.
Notable though for the Belgian season debuts of Magalie Rochette and Ben Turner. And also apparently, the first CX race for Ben Tullet since 2020.
Notable though for the Belgian season debuts of Magalie Rochette and Ben Turner. And also apparently, the first CX race for Ben Tullet since 2020.
Yes, it has to be wrong if it's still the one I saw from a couple of days ago. It also had riders such as Kaitlin Keogh on it who retired part way through last season. Ben Turner said he wasn't doing CX this season and Ben Tullett obviously doesn't ride for Beeline Bicycles anymore. Ruby West replied to someone on twitter saying she's not doing it and then other anomalies include having Thomas Mein, Thijs Aerts, Toon Vandebosch, Niels Vandeputte and Jens Adams racing this and the Dublin WC which I hardly think is likely.
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