Race Thread

[theyoungest]

I don't think it does anything for cyclocross in the heartland of the sport (Belgium), but in many countries participating in the Olympics comes with increased attention and often funding for athletes in otherwise obscure sports.

But this isn't really cyclocross. It's only organized to conform to the IOC's narrow idea of a winter sport. None of the regular crosses are anything like this. Even if it were to get Olympic status this way, you'd have the Olympics on a kind of course that doesn't really represent your sport and that doesn't favour the actual best cross riders (for a large part).

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

There is a thread for desirability of cyclo-cross in the winter olympics already (and according to the second post there, there was one before that, but it seems to have disapppeared.

 

[Sciatic]

My mother's bridge club operates mainly in the winter. If they put the tables outside the hall during a blizzard once a year, would that mean it has a valid claim to be included in the Winter Olympics?

Well, they are going to introduce flag football as a medal event in summer 2028, so bridge isn’t out of the question 🙃

 

[Wyndbrook]

It is a sport that takes place primarily in the winter: it is not a sport founded on the principle that snow and ice are slippery, which is the point of the matter as far as the IOC are concerned. (Hence my bridge club analogy above)

It's not, it was founded as France ( and probably lots of other conntries ) as something to do in winter.
But it snows in winter, or at least it used to, and therefore its one of the weather conditions that are all just part of the sport.
If racing racing on snow it a requirement for being in the Olympics one every four years then so be it.
What happened in Italy at the weekend is part of a big race calendar problem wholely created by the UCI and administered by Flanders Classics.
Yes there were crashes yesterday, but nothing untoward, as riders, support crew and tyre manufacturers learn to optimise the conditions.
Get the calendar sorted and with full field of entrants and its all good.

 

[jono]

But this isn't really cyclocross. It's only organized to conform to the IOC's narrow idea of a winter sport. None of the regular crosses are anything like this. Even if it were to get Olympic status this way, you'd have the Olympics on a kind of course that doesn't really represent your sport and that doesn't favour the actual best cross riders (for a large part).

I'm not prepared to argue that CX should be a winter (or summer) olympic sport, but if it was, it would be easier for elite Canadian cyclocross athletes, for example, to pursue the discipline as a career rather than moving to MTB or track where there is more funding available.

 

[Sciatic]

I'm not prepared to argue that CX should be a winter (or summer) olympic sport, but if it was, it would be easier for elite Canadian cyclocross athletes, for example, to pursue the discipline as a career rather than moving to MTB or track where there is more funding available.

Okay, last I’ll post in this thread about Olympics (there is the other thread). I don’t think becoming an Olympic sport for a niche sport like cyclocross will do much to lift the sport economically. A few of the winners might see a bump in their profiles and financial gains ( getting a sponsorship from Redbull or whomever), but not much more than that. New winter Olympic entries that get some traction are the XGames & YouTube sports. Which, for me, are much lesser sports than cyclocross but they bring spectacle and Instagram moments for broadcasters.

 

[Gwbert]

Back to racing chat - with pidcock & a bonus mvdp back in play should be a good weekend!

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Back to racing chat - with pidcock & a bonus mvdp back in play should be a good weekend!

Well Van der Poel might come out all guns blazing, but I doubt Pidcock will. In the last four seasons he's finished 7th three times. The other he finished 17th. Consistency around the number 7 at least. He takes at least a weekend to warm up and get the feeling back and even then he's still not been that far ahead of Iserbyt, Vanthourenhout, Van der Haar.

As you say, should be quite a good racing 1 minute after van der Poel between Baloise Trek and the Sauces, with Pidcock and Mason cleaning up behind them.

 

[senna6541]

Just an FYI, it looks like Flo has picked up the X2O, Exact, and Superprestige series races (along with already having the World Cup). All of those races are now listed as upcoming events on Flo.

F'ing awesome! - for us hacks here in the US that watch absolutely nothing on TV (or whatever it's called now) other than bike racing. And cyclocross during the Christmas period is the best viewing of the year. Only having the WC races via Flo and missing races like Deigem would've sucked.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Back to racing chat - with pidcock & a bonus mvdp back in play should be a good weekend!

So, the reigning Road, CX & XCO World champions in a top level CX race.....quite a rarity, especially on the men's side.

 

[theyoungest]

I'm not prepared to argue that CX should be a winter (or summer) olympic sport, but if it was, it would be easier for elite Canadian cyclocross athletes, for example, to pursue the discipline as a career rather than moving to MTB or track where there is more funding available.

Yes, I understand the funding argument, but as long as the fundamental flaw lies in the IOC's basic definition of winter sports, any effort to make cyclocross Olympic will be artificial and far fetched. Like speedskating on a square rink because Olympic sports require square rinks rather than oval ones.

As far as funding goes, even in the Netherlands there isn't any funding for cyclocross. Maybe there's even an argument to be made that this in some way motivates the non-Belgian riders to do well, because if they don't there simply isn't any future for them in the sport.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Back to racing chat - with pidcock & a bonus mvdp back in play should be a good weekend!

Back to racing chat - with pidcock & a bonus mvdp back in play should be a good weekend!

And Namur on Sunday, my favourite course.
For the first time this season all the top Dutch women will be there.

 

[Gwbert]

Well Van der Poel might come out all guns blazing, but I doubt Pidcock will. In the last four seasons he's finished 7th three times. The other he finished 17th. Consistency around the number 7 at least. He takes at least a weekend to warm up and get the feeling back and even then he's still not been that far ahead of Iserbyt, Vanthourenhout, Van der Haar.

As you say, should be quite a good racing 1 minute after van der Poel between Baloise Trek and the Sauces, with Pidcock and Mason cleaning up behind them.

Last year he started with a double header and was 7th on the Saturday in Merksplas and then 2nd on the Sunday in Overijse before winning in Kortrijk a week later, so he does get up to speed quite quickly.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

Last year he started with a double header and was 7th on the Saturday in Merksplas and then 2nd on the Sunday in Overijse before winning in Kortrijk a week later, so he does get up to speed quite quickly.

Yes. I still don't expect him to be yonks in front even if he comes into it better than previous. He was beaten by Vanthourenhout due to technical rustyness with a crash (I think?) in Overijse and Iserbyt and Van derHaar were not far behind him in Kortrijk.
I'm not trying to knock him or anything. I think, and can clearly see, he's a really good rider. Yet I never agree with this big 3 stuff. He's the same generation of riders that have come through as Iserbyt (and I guess you could also say Nieuwenhuis) and on his best days is a stepping stone between the likes of Iserbyt, Sweeck, Vanthourenhout et al and the Van der Poel and Van Aert. I just don't think in the field he'll ever be close or consistent as van Aert or van der Poel unless he severely reduces the road and focuses properly on cx. At that point there is a potential he'll be unbeatable until the 'Big 2' start their seasons; at which point some great intergenerational battles would go down.

 

[Gwbert]

Yes. I still don't expect him to be yonks in front even if he comes into it better than previous. He was beaten by Vanthourenhout due to technical rustyness with a crash (I think?) in Overijse and Iserbyt and Van derHaar were not far behind him in Kortrijk.
I'm not trying to knock him or anything. I think, and can clearly see, he's a really good rider. Yet I never agree with this big 3 stuff. He's the same generation of riders that have come through as Iserbyt (and I guess you could also say Nieuwenhuis) and on his best days is a stepping stone between the likes of Iserbyt, Sweeck, Vanthourenhout et al and the Van der Poel and Van Aert. I just don't think in the field he'll ever be close or consistent as van Aert or van der Poel unless he severely reduces the road and focuses properly on cx. At that point there is a potential he'll be unbeatable until the 'Big 2' start their seasons; at which point some great intergenerational battles would go down.

Yeah he’s never quite been up there all the time with the other two, despite being closer than anyone else. Having won a cx and xco world champs i wonder what he really wants from his career now. Defending his Olympic Gold, but after that? Road worlds? GC rider?

 

[jono]

Yes. I still don't expect him to be yonks in front even if he comes into it better than previous. He was beaten by Vanthourenhout due to technical rustyness with a crash (I think?) in Overijse and Iserbyt and Van derHaar were not far behind him in Kortrijk.
I'm not trying to knock him or anything. I think, and can clearly see, he's a really good rider. Yet I never agree with this big 3 stuff. He's the same generation of riders that have come through as Iserbyt (and I guess you could also say Nieuwenhuis) and on his best days is a stepping stone between the likes of Iserbyt, Sweeck, Vanthourenhout et al and the Van der Poel and Van Aert. I just don't think in the field he'll ever be close or consistent as van Aert or van der Poel unless he severely reduces the road and focuses properly on cx. At that point there is a potential he'll be unbeatable until the 'Big 2' start their seasons; at which point some great intergenerational battles would go down.

I know he races cross a bit more than Pidcock, but Iserbyt has finished ahead of van Aert and van der Poel more times (13) than Pidcock has done (8).

 

[stonerider]

I don't expect Pidcock to be charging to the front as fast as MvdP. MvdP has stated his base condition is really good right now and that should be scary for the other riders if his skills aren't too rusty. Is Saturday going to be a real mud bog like the rest of the races have been? The more running required may be better for the journeymen CX racers who have been dealing with more mud this season. I doubt MvdP has been training in the mud in sunny Spain.

 

[Wyndbrook]

Yeah he’s never quite been up there all the time with the other two, despite being closer than anyone else. Having won a cx and xco world champs i wonder what he really wants from his career now. Defending his Olympic Gold, but after that? Road worlds? GC rider?

If he could it would mountain biking, but I doubt that will happen.

 

[Barkintheeye]

H

I know he races cross a bit more than Pidcock, but Iserbyt has finished ahead of van Aert and van der Poel more times (13) than Pidcock has done (8).

Has Iserbyt really beaten Van der Poel 13 times? I didn’t know. I would have guessed a couple of times, no more than that

 

[lemon cheese cake]

H

Has Iserbyt really beaten Van der Poel 13 times? I didn’t know. I would have guessed a couple of times, no more than that

3.
https://cyclocross24.com/nl/rider/eli-iserbyt/h2h/mathieu-van-der-poel/

 

[Barkintheeye]

3.
https://cyclocross24.com/nl/rider/eli-iserbyt/h2h/mathieu-van-der-poel/

So 4 vs 74. Quite decisive numbers

 

[andrew_s]

So 4 vs 74. Quite decisive numbers

and 9-65 vs WVA.

So Iserbyt has finished ahead of Wout OR Mathieu 13 times.
On the other hand, he's finished ahead of Wout and Mathieu no times at all.

 

[Bolder]

But this isn't really cyclocross. It's only organized to conform to the IOC's narrow idea of a winter sport. None of the regular crosses are anything like this. Even if it were to get Olympic status this way, you'd have the Olympics on a kind of course that doesn't really represent your sport and that doesn't favour the actual best cross riders (for a large part).

I present to you Speed Climbing.

 

[Gwbert]

and 9-65 vs WVA.

So Iserbyt has finished ahead of Wout OR Mathieu 13 times.
On the other hand, he's finished ahead of Wout and Mathieu no times at all.

and yet he’s an amazing racer and has won countless races. Tough sport!

 

[senna6541]

Without even looking at cyclocrossresults.com, I doubt anyone other than Wout has beaten MVDP 13 times. MVDP's cross record is insane - including his H2H against Wout.