Cyclocross season 2024/2025
Comments
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Absolutely comedy mud. It’s hard to work out who is who.
Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.0 -
Two uninspiring 'races' - but fully expected. Dendermonde needs binning off, or moving to a drier period.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."1 -
Or they just bite the bullet and turn it into the tractor pulling venue it clearly is.
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I like a bit of mud but when the majority of the course is unrideable it gets boring. It felt like the women were having to carry their bikes for about 80% of the course and that about the only rideable sections were the road and sand descent.
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Ah c'mon, it's Flanders, in the first week of January. Vlaanderen has a wee bit of a historical reputation for mud. Were you looking for Benidorm type conditions?
Anyroads, I quite enjoyed both the races.
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Between Gullegem and Koksijde, Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado's disappointment was palpable. I don't know if that played on her confidence but she was no where in Dendermonde.
She's only 1 point behind Brand in the Superprestige yet you would think she was out of it. She has every chance but only if she can think that way.
Brand is on fire and i'm happy for her. Puck Pieterse is forever pragmatic and optimistic. FvE is way behind last years form. When she looses it always seems a bit of a chore.
Check Puck's Youtube recce's. She so affable and chatting away to people as she goes round.
seanoconn - gruagach craic!1 -
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Alvarado had been in superb form but it seems to be dropping off and / or others are improving at just the wrong time. Hope she gets it back as I'm a bit of a fan.
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I read somewhere that MVDP is charging/receiving €50k for each start this season, but this doesn't include World Cups as they don't pay start fees.
Helen Wyman mentioned Looenhout "has a lot of money" which was why they had MVDP, WVA and Tim Merlier, amongst the rest of the "dedicated" crossers
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Are any of the National championship races on the TV this weekend. Discovery had the French one advertised early in the week but that’s now disappeared.
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Came to ask the same thing
No mention of the British champs being streamed in the preview on the BC website
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Marion Norbert Riberole wins the Belgian national champs
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Just worth mentioning that Sanne Cant didn't ride this year - after 15 Belgian titles in a row - she's retiring so thought the jersey should go to someone who could wear it. In 2009 she rode her first Belgian nat champs as elite and came second. The woman who beat her is the only person to have beaten Cant in a Belgian nat champs. She rode today as well, aged 40!
Trivia answer who that woman is:
Joyce Vanderbeken
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Accidental double post
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Riberolle who is actually French, but swapped nationality as the French weren't giving her the support she thought she should get. I think they were probably right......
In all honesty, she had very little to beat, which is ironic, seeing as Belgium is the "Home of 'Cross", but not on the women's side.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."0 -
Xan Crees wins the British title
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Puck Pieterse takes the Dutch title by over a minute from Alvarado, Betsema third
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Watched a video of the British champs” The world of cycling according to Kirsty” Given Kirsty is wandering round the course filming on her phone and giving a live commentary. She does better than some who are paid for doing this.
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A bit too much 'em' 'em' 'em' but fair play to her, she can't be much more than14 or 15? She managed to get an interview with Laura Verdonschot in another event.
seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
What are British Cycling spending their Shell, Lloyds money on? It's their National champs, so own it, and pay the TV/Filming costs....leaving it to local organisers is cop out. And they're not the only national sports governing body in the UK to do similar.
And then you've got the Dutch.....absolutely nothing, not even a You Tube stream.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."1 -
It was a frustrating weekend, so much cross going on but nothing to watch
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The French Nationals are usually on Eurosport - but there didn't appear to be anything listed on Discovery.......
It seems their policy is, if it's not Belgian, or World Cup, then they're not interested.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."0 -
The French nationals were showing on the Discovery/ Eurosport schedule but disappeared just before the weekend.
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Yes, somebody on Twitter had said that the French National were listed on Discovery - but then disappeared into thin air.
And none of the commentators had actually mentioned anything about any CX Nationals coverage last week during the World Cup.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."0 -
An 'interesting' team selection for GB for the CX Worlds; no Elite women, nor U23 Men........
So newly crowned National champion, Xan Crees gets to watch it on TV......as does previous winner Anna Kay.
U23 Women is the strongest category, with Backstedt, Ferguson & Wolff; XC MTB-er Ella Maclean-Howell is also included.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."0 -
Why bother sending riders to simply make up the numbers? Neither of the two you mentioned will trouble the top ten, so surely it’s right for BC to send younger riders who will benefit from the experience and, possibly, bring back medals?
I think classifying Ella Maclean-Howell as simply an elite MTB rider is harsh, she’s had some very solid cross results this season, especially over the Christmas period.
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The reasoning does make sense - however, if every country took that view, we'd have a field of about 15, mainly Dutch riders. It comes across as penny pinching, and would they do similar for Road or Track Worlds??
You have to feel for Xan, wins the National title, and can't represent her country at the Worlds; it's not often that happens.
Ella has had some very good results but MTB is her main discipline (British Cycling thinks a lot of her, which is why she went to the Olympics, and not Short or Last). She's now on a UCI MTB team (Cube Factory XC Team).....and not unlike Evie Richards a few years ago; did CX in the winter for fun & training - and was rather good as it turns out.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."0 -
Of course they wouldn’t do the same for the track or road Worlds, because those are both Olympic sports so their funding is directly dependent on how they perform at those events. As long as CX isn’t an Olympic event, it’ll get second class treatment by BC.
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It’s just a quirk where the best UK female CX riders happen to also be U23
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The women’s race in today’s World Cup at Maasmechelen had lots of incidents and competitive racing – well worth watching (fast forwarded most of the men's race).
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