Race Thread

[ChewbaccaDefense]

NYS!!!!!

 

[Coffeeplanter]

Wout, with a full on grimace, can't drop Van der Haar.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Wout not even on the podium...going to be a long spring for him.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Very Nys win

 

[KZD]

While this Benidorm track might not be the most exciting at least it ensures action until the last moments unlike more demanding ones.

Nys looked brilliant today, always in control until he unleashed the attack that dropped Iserbyt in the last lap. Van Aert made the mistake of letting the gap open before the climb but didn't look that he could match Nys anyway.

 

[theyoungest]

Wout not even on the podium...going to be a long spring for him.

Ah, we're back to the doom and gloom about Wout again, I see. Let me remind you that he beat Nys by three minutes in Dendermonde. This course didn't suit the current Wout at all.

And also, don't expect miracles from him, he's not in the Pogi-MVDP-Remco God tier. He's the best (or one of the best) of the normal humans.

 

[JR1012]

A bid sad that Vas lost contact because Schreiber (teammate) attacked. But I suposse there is not much team tactics anyway in cyclocross + SD Worx is not known for good team tactics.

Btw. almost all members of SD Worx where in Benidorm to cheer for Vas and Schreiber.

 

[Sciatic]

After the mud in Belgium the past two weekends I thought I was watching a road race today.

 

[Barkintheeye]

Ah, we're back to the doom and gloom about Wout again, I see. Let me remind you that he beat Nys by three minutes in Dendermonde. This course didn't suit the current Wout at all.

And also, don't expect miracles from him, he's not in the Pogi-MVDP-Remco God tier. He's the best (or one of the best) of the normal humans.

Well the (maybe) worrying news is that he lacks that anaerobic punch that is essential on the road. He still has that massive aerobic diesel power but that’s not enough. I really wish Wout a strong season on the road and that he can occasionally beat that demi-God trio.

Ps he had a very bad start today and had to expend lots of energy to catch the front so still a relatively good result but I guess much is expected of him

 

[jono]

Well the (maybe) worrying news is that he lacks that anaerobic punch that is essential on the road. He still has that massive aerobic diesel power but that’s not enough. I really wish Wout a strong season on the road and that he can occasionally beat that demi-God trio.

Ps he had a very bad start today and had to expend lots of energy to catch the front so still a relatively good result but I guess much is expected of him

Wout was well integrated into the lead group before the race was half over and basically sat in the rest of the way, except for closing one gap on lap 7 to Iserbyt and van der Haar, probably more emphatically than was required. The pace wasn't all that high as dropped riders kept coming back. I was surprised when he couldn't even drop van der Haar on his final ascent of the climb.

 

[jmdirt]

NYS!

 

[Axel Hangleck]

This course is so frigging boring.

The long road climb needs binning off, and replacing with an off-road climb if possible; CX is meant to be an off-road discipline......

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Ah, we're back to the doom and gloom about Wout again, I see. Let me remind you that he beat Nys by three minutes in Dendermonde. This course didn't suit the current Wout at all.

And also, don't expect miracles from him, he's not in the Pogi-MVDP-Remco God tier. He's the best (or one of the best) of the normal humans.

That was more my point. Mathieu is showing no signs of weakness, and he and Wout want to win the same races this spring. I'd love to be wrong, but something tells me that podiums are his reality, but not wins.

Of course, Remco is also not looking like a big spring challenge, either.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Wout was well integrated into the lead group before the race was half over and basically sat in the rest of the way, except for closing one gap on lap 7 to Iserbyt and van der Haar, probably more emphatically than was required. The pace wasn't all that high as dropped riders kept coming back. I was surprised when he couldn't even drop van der Haar on his final ascent of the climb.

There was a point, after he made contact, where he was in 7th, moved into 6th, and then let Ronhar come by, then he moved up again, ran the barriers, and was back to 7th or 8th again. I kept thinking he was just biding his time, but he just didn't have it...and yeah, not being able to drop van der Haar is not a good sign. I believe he was at altitude training for a week, and that does sometimes have a delayed effect, it's just that if Mathieu were there, regardless of what he'd done the week before, he would have won my over a minute, and the race would have been over by mid race.

 

[theyoungest]

Btw. almost all members of SD Worx where in Benidorm to cheer for Vas and Schreiber.

Probably similar for most (women's) teams, since most of them are training in the region.

Best supporter costumes go to Margaux Vigié and Marion Bunel of Visma Women, who came dressed as a beekeeper and a bee, respectively.

That was more my point. Mathieu is showing no signs of weakness, and he and Wout want to win the same races this spring. I'd love to be wrong, but something tells me that podiums are his reality, but not wins.

Of course, Remco is also not looking like a big spring challenge, either.

Currently Van Aert is probably better than Remco, sure. But if all of them are healthy I think Wout is just a level below in terms of talent. I think by now you can conclude that, there's always an excuse but if at age 30 you've won one Monument, and the others have won a bunch, probably you're not a member of the elite club. So he should be judged accordingly.

 

[Wvv]

There was a point, after he made contact, where he was in 7th, moved into 6th, and then let Ronhar come by, then he moved up again, ran the barriers, and was back to 7th or 8th again. I kept thinking he was just biding his time, but he just didn't have it...and yeah, not being able to drop van der Haar is not a good sign. I believe he was at altitude training for a week, and that does sometimes have a delayed effect, it's just that if Mathieu were there, regardless of what he'd done the week before, he would have won my over a minute, and the race would have been over by mid race.

Not in a hundred years would even MvdP win this specific race with over a minute advantage. Not on this course and not with this Nys.

Wout wasn't stellar today, but that doesn't really worry me. Didn't touch his CX bike since Dendermonde, is in full on training mode for spring endurance so didn't sharpen his interval efforts, and everyone can have a day with lesser legs. Still fought for victory though, despite a bad start.

Also, don't underestimate Van der Haar when it comes to uphill sprinting. And he obviously had one of his best days of the season.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Not in a hundred years would even MvdP win this specific race with over a minute advantage. Not on this course and not with this Nys.

Wout wasn't stellar today, but that doesn't really worry me. Didn't touch his CX bike since Dendermonde, is in full on training mode for spring endurance so didn't sharpen his interval efforts, and everyone can have a day with lesser legs. Still fought for victory though, despite a bad start.

Also, don't underestimate Van der Haar when it comes to uphill sprinting. And he obviously had one of his best days of the season.

Fair points.

 

[theyoungest]

The long road climb needs binning off, and replacing with an off-road climb if possible; CX is meant to be an off-road discipline......

The road climb is the only interesting part of the course, where the past three years we've seen some epic accelerations by MVDP, Van Empel, and now Nys. On the rest you can barely make a difference. Maybe they could take the course the other way round, that could be an option.

 

[awavey]

Team GB announce their worlds teams, but arent sending anyone to race in the Elite womens or under 23mens categories 🤔 which means the most recent Elite women's national champion Xan Crees gets to watch the race at home.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/g...or-2025-UCI-Cyclo-cross-World-Championships-0

 

[TourOfSardinia]

which means the most recent Elite women's national champion Xan Crees gets to watch the race at home.

hardly fair

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Team GB announce their worlds teams, but aren't sending anyone to race in the Elite womens or under 23mens categories 🤔 which means the most recent Elite women's national champion Xan Crees gets to watch the race at home.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/g...or-2025-UCI-Cyclo-cross-World-Championships-0

Ah, British Cycling - covering themselves in glory again. I'm trying to compute why you'd not send Crees or Kay, and I can only think of one; they don't think they can get a Top 10, which is probably correct. But lots of other countries won't finish high, but will still send riders.

It should be a wake up call, but probably won't be. The cupboard isn't exactly full on the men's side - after Mason, Amey is the only decent Junior.
At least with the women there will be Backstedt, Ferguson & Wolff; Maclean-Howell is a XC MTB-er so you'd expect that to take her priority.

We're not producing the riders we should be with the amount of talent in British cycling; both CX & XC MTB are struggling to attract talent, whereas Road & Track are.

 

[theyoungest]

It will be interesting to see whether Schreiber can finally offer up any sort of challenge to Backstedt in the U23 race. Based on this season you'd say that she's simply the better rider, but somehow in championships she always falls short. Even managed to lose in the Euro champs against Celia Gery... unbelievable if you look at their respective level now.

 

[awavey]

Ah, British Cycling - covering themselves in glory again. I'm trying to compute why you'd not send Crees or Kay, and I can only think of one; they don't think they can get a Top 10, which is probably correct. But lots of other countries won't finish high, but will still send riders.

It should be a wake up call, but probably won't be. The cupboard isn't exactly full on the men's side - after Mason, Amey is the only decent Junior.
At least with the women there will be Backstedt, Ferguson & Wolff; Maclean-Howell is a XC MTB-er so you'd expect that to take her priority.

We're not producing the riders we should be with the amount of talent in British cycling; both CX & XC MTB are struggling to attract talent, whereas Road & Track are.

Kay's omission I get, because her best results this season, some might say last too but she was national champion, have been nothing to write home about, and were against very limited fields of riders. In a world champ elite level race she's going to be battling to make top 30.

Crees arguably has the same problem, too old to be u23, so at best going to finish against a world class elite field top 30 and given BCs funding model relies on success at world championship events, it's never going to be good enough just to compete for the experience

but absolutely that's because we're not developing world class elite riders in cross, the national trophy series has all the feel of a club race series thesedays, actually some of those have stronger support from riders,at least they post race updates.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

It's interesting you mention Kay, as I saw a comment on social media that she's been as good as Mason/Mein, with some Top10 results.....Problem is, they weren't World Cups, and the big hitters were absent, so a Top10 isn't as good as it seems.
Crees is a fine national level rider, and her National title is richly deserved - but has done nothing internationally.

For all the criticism we give them, if they think a promising rider is worth sending to a major event for experience, they'll send them; both Last & Short were passed over for Olympic MTB selection, in favour of Maclean-Howell, who a month later split the Holmgren twins in the XCC Worlds.

They get lots wrong, but occasionally, they give the impression they know what they're doing.

 

[Wyndbrook]

I fully understand the selection criteria and grudgingly agree with it, but I'm probably a softie and my heart says give Xan a chance.
Maybe, just maybe, if cross does obtain olympic status there may be some money to invest in the sport.
British Cycling has a pretty empty kitty with little for cross.
The sport in the UK is doing very well at the younger age groups, but once past junior age groups there's no money and very limited opportunities for pure crossers.
Ferguson and Wolff are both products of BC track cycling and Fergusons dads road team. Maclean Howell gets BC mtb funding.