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A C2 in USA, ok, but Isabella Holmgren beat Clara Honsinger by a minute and a half after losing to Clara by just a second yesterday. Results like these have me thinking she might find her way into a European WC top 10 yet this season.
That seems like an attainable goal. Certainly if she gets to Europe pretty soon. Closer to Christmas a few stronger riders will return who would normally make up the top-10.

If you look at Leonie Bentveld for example, Isabella finished ahead of her in Waterloo, and Bentveld got 7th in Overijse yesterday. Not a world cup, but similar level.
 
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That seems like an attainable goal. Certainly if she gets to Europe pretty soon. Closer to Christmas a few stronger riders will return who would normally make up the top-10.

If you look at Leonie Bentveld for example, Isabella finished ahead of her in Waterloo, and Bentveld got 7th in Overijse yesterday. Not a world cup, but similar level.
Two good rides by Bentveld. Hopefully as Betsema comes back from the injury just before the season start more and more, Bentveld can also develop more alongside her. Looking at the laptimes an positions, they were often close.
 
Dutch team has been announced for the WC in Maasmechelen next weekend.
https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/v...-maasmechelen-ook-jens-dekker-in-mannenploeg/
Not many surprises. Good to see Jens Dekker back at the world cups after a good start to the season with good resutls in Spain and Portugal, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Anne Knijnenberg is also there in only her second season of doing cx, with top 10s at the races she's finished this year. She's another rider who's came from a different sport and was a top dutch distance runner in the junior and and u23 categories but made the switch to road and cx a season or so ago, which hasn't been a bad change as she became dutch u23 womens rr champ this year and then signed a pro contract with the Parkhotel Valkenberg team.
 
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Anne Knijnenberg is the girlfriend of Pim Ronhaar. That's probably how she came into contact with the sport of cyclocross. In the funny names category: her name means Rabbit Mountain.

She wasn't Dutch U23 road champ btw, she was the elite amateur champ ("elite zonder contract" in Dutch).
 
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A C2 in USA, ok, but Isabella Holmgren beat Clara Honsinger by a minute and a half after losing to Clara by just a second yesterday. Results like these have me thinking she might find her way into a European WC top 10 yet this season.

I think it's possible; Burquier managed it two seasons ago, when she also was XCO Junior World champion - and I think Isabella is probably more talented. Beating Honsinger by that much is impressive for an 18 yo.....
And completed a successful weekend for the family; brother Gunnar won the Pan-American Games XCO title in Chile...beating Vidaurre.
 

Interesting interview; it seems the other Belgian teams were also keen to sign him....but the Roodhooft's multi-discipline approach was his choice. I'd have thought Baloise-Trek could have provided something similar in partnership with Trek........
 
I think it's possible; Burquier managed it two seasons ago, when she also was XCO Junior World champion - and I think Isabella is probably more talented. Beating Honsinger by that much is impressive for an 18 yo.....
And completed a successful weekend for the family; brother Gunnar won the Pan-American Games XCO title in Chile...beating Vidaurre.
Anything known about whether Burquier will ride any cx later into the season?
 
Definitely! Next year is the Olympics so I hope Puck takes all the rest she needs and doesn't race too much this winter. As much as I love CX racing, I'd hate for it to compromise the Olympic XCO race in Summer 2024.
If she's good in December/January there's no reason why she can't be good in August. Just don't try to be good all year, like she did this year, perhaps because she still had to qualify for the Olympics. There didn't really seem to be any peak, just one long streak of form. That's kind of the opposite of what Ferrand-Prevot is doing.
 
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Anything known about whether Burquier will ride any cx later into the season?

Good question, who knows - she could probably do with a break. After a few years of success, since Namur last year, (2nd behind Pieterse in the U23 Euros) she's gone backwards. Only managed 6th in the U23 CX Worlds, and then her MTB season didn't go how you'd expect....especially when she'd beaten Pieterse on the MTB more times than not the season before.
She's also one of the few U23 talents that hasn't been snapped up by a World Tour team......which is possibly a sign she sees her future on the MTB.
 
And would you believe this, Blanka Vas did on Sunday 1 hour spin at home after the crash last Wednesday. Crazy.
She should have good guidance behind her who know what they are doing. If I remember, Pidcock crashed and broke his collarbone and was back training less than a week later. The team press release I think mentioned she had surgery at the hospital in Herentals which alot of pro riders have unfortunately visited, so I'd say they know the best way to be as unobstructive to the rider as possible while still making sure the shoulder heals properly.
 
Good question, who knows - she could probably do with a break. After a few years of success, since Namur last year, (2nd behind Pieterse in the U23 Euros) she's gone backwards. Only managed 6th in the U23 CX Worlds, and then her MTB season didn't go how you'd expect....especially when she'd beaten Pieterse on the MTB more times than not the season before.
She's also one of the few U23 talents that hasn't been snapped up by a World Tour team......which is possibly a sign she sees her future on the MTB.
I remember her showing well in the short track at Nove Mesto but didn't see her near the front in any race since. Hopefully after a year in the elites she has settled and can come back next year to be closer to Pieterse, with or without a small cx season.
 
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I went to watch the Nacht van Woerden, since it's close to where I live. It was a muddy edition of what's usually more of a fast criterium race. Fem van Empel won in her usual "evening stroll through the park" way, this time quite literally. It's difficult to express how much better than the rest she is, in person it's even more striking.

The men's race was a lot closer, with Van der Haar winning in the end (for the 7th time in a row!) in the sprint over Sweeck.
 
I was there as well and the group behind was a good race. I was busy getting lost in the side streets of Woerden so never really caught what happened to Van der Heijden. Did she have a mechanical or crash at the end?
I think I heard the speaker say something about handlebars getting caught up, or whatever, but yeah, bit surprised to see Bakker and Backstedt emerge there at the end and not Van der Heijden.
 
Round 1 is available and currently so are both Junior races and Elite womens from round 2. The coverage is decidely average and below the level of broadcast of the US CX series and the British National champs, however it's definitely a good step in the right direction. I don't know if it is British Cycling who are doing the live stream but better promotion of the coverage would be good.
Thanks:) Didn't get round to watching it in the end and probably won't now the continental season is underway. Was originally annoyed that they'd switched the main races to Saturday for round three here in Derby, as I'm working tomorrow and wanted to see Ferguson in her pre-superstar era. Luckily, she's now doing the Belgium races this weekend.

Encouraging how big the fields are for the races tomorrow. CX seems to continue growing in The UK?