Kategoriearchiv: International 2015

European Championships Lorsch

FLorsch is well known as a place of excellent cyclocross races for a long time now. Algis „Olek“ Oleknavicius and his team have proven so often that they are perfect to get a well organized cyclocross event up and running in a german town. Therefore it was more than logical that Lorsch was selected to be the host for thist years european championships after Sankt Wendel dropped.

In 2011 Lorsch was hosting the german national championships. After more than a week of constant rain, the crucial part of the track on the grassland became an ocean of mud, some racers were in fear a simmilar mud-wrestling competition than back in 2011 could happen. But this time the weather was fine and the grassland stayed mainly dry. Therefore this weekend showed us some fast but still energy sapping races. Especially those thousands of changes in direction were a demanding challenge for the condition of the athletes.

 

Without any doubt Eli Iserbyt  was the one and onyl favorite in the race of the juniors. This season the belgian champion won every singe race he started in, therefore it was no suprise that he passed the finish line ahead of all competitors. Swiss champion Johan Jacobs ran on second place for most of the rae, but had to leave the silver medal to Jappe Jaspers. Jaspers grew stronger an stronger towards the end of the race and manged to pass Jacobs during the last lap. Johan Jacobs seemed to be a bit disappointed, since he would have won if the race was finished one lap earlier. The jury set the duration of this race to fifty minutes instead of fourty minutes which is the normal duration.

Lorsch-16

Eli Iserbyt on his way to victory

‚The race of the females U23 was much more open and showed a close match between a whole bunch of riders. At the end  Sabrina Stultiens from the Netherlands had the better end in a the final sprint against Martina Mikulaskova from the Czech Republik who was racing very strong as well. The bronze medal went to Alice Maria Arzuffi from Italy.

Happyness

Happyness

Since dutch champion Mathieu van der Poel was not about to start, no one was in doubt that all contenders could only fight for the remaining places behind the reigning world champion Wout van Aert. It came up as supposed, after roundabaout half time of the race van Aert whispered a soft good bye to his competitors and took a clear victory. Last years belgian champion Laurens Sweeck completed the second belgian double victory of the day. Czech rider Jakub Skala finished in third place. The defending champion Michael Vanthourenhout had to bury all hopes afte technical problems.

Lorsch-27The ladies race should provide another belgian victory. This race was the tightest one of the day. For a long time the result was totally open since a large bunch of girls was leading the race. Two british riders Nikki Harris and Helen Wyman, three belgian women Sanne Cant, Elen van Loy und Jolien Verschueren, dutch rider Sanne van Paasen and the czech  Pavla Havlikova were competing within some few seconds. On the finish line the belgian champion Sanne Cant managed to cross the finish line first ahead of Pavla Havlikova who aprreciated the win of a silver medal nearly as much as if she had won the race. Nikki Harris gained bronze whereas her compatriot Helen Wyman could not defend her title and finished fourth.

Sanne Cant wird Europameisterin Lorsch-37

UCI Worldcup – Valkenburg 2014

Just like the years before Valkenburg aan der Geul was the opening race of the UCI cyclocross worldcup series. Bright sunshine and warm temperatures made the spectators think of a summer day instead of a typical weather for cyclocross. Located below the casino on top  of the famous Cauberg, the race track proved once more that it was more than worthy to host a worldcup race.

The race day started with the race of the mens juniors. And once again the man of the race was the belgian champion Eli Iserbyt. Right from the Start he took the lead and immediately produced a mentionable gap between him and the rest of the peloton. Soon it was evitable, that the remaining cyclist were only competing for the title „best of the rest“. At the end Max Gulickx finished second and the swiss champion Johan Jacob secured his third place in front of french rider Thomas Bonnet.

Uphill wheelie of Johan Jacob

The race of the U23 should be the first clash of all U23 drivers with Mathieu van der Poel riding in this category. Just after he managed to impressive results in Gieten and Ronse the youn dutch talent was the main favorite for this race. Everything seemed to work out fine, when the dutch champion was leading the race in the middle of the first lap. But things are never as easy as it seems. European champion Michael Vanthourenhout who won the race last year, was not willing to give up without fighting. Both were running head to head, when entering the second lap. When Mathieu van der Poel had to face some mechanical problems, the young belgian managed to take the lead and continued a race on his own. Van der Poel might have been a victim of his own nerviosity had to pay tribute to the high speed in the beginning and finished seventh at the end. Fabien Doubet tried to chase the leader, but did not manage to close the gap to Michael Vanthourenhout. Reigning world champion took a bad start and hat to fight hard to get a chance for a position on the podium. It took until the last round to pass the french driver and finish second.

Hop weg met de fiets

The second half of the day was opened with the womens race. Meanwhile tempertures exceed 20 degrees celsius and the jury allowed feeding in the material zone. Before the womens race was to start, there was a minute’s silence in commemoration of Annefleur Kalvenhaar who died after a crash during the XCE qualiciations race in Montafleur earlier this year.

Pavla Havlikova made a real good start and led the peloton into the field. But she was not able to gain a sufficient advance. So she was caught quicky. The race unfolded with a new leading group containing the reigning european champion Helen Wyman, the belgian champion Sanne Cant, two riders from Telenet-Fidea Ellen van Loy and Nikki Harris. The group was completed by young dutch rider Sophie de Boer who once again performed excellently. So mostly all favorites showed up in the front, but one rider was missing. Katie Compton who arrived from the US short time ago was missing. The reigning american champion, who won the world cup last year was stuck in the peloton and had to face some technical problems. At the end of the first lap, she passed the finish line having roundabout half a minute lag towards the head of the race. But there was no reason for panic for the american. Steadily she shortened the gap and just after two thirds of the race distance she managed to join the leading group. Without any hesitation she moved on an with just two laps to go, she took the lead from Helen Wyman. Beeing in the lead there was no chance to stop Katie Compton. Without any problems she finished first in front of Helen Wyman. Just like the last couple of races young Sophie de Boer performed impressingly well and managed to finish on the last remaining place on the podium.

Sophie de Boer and Nikki Harris struggle in the climb

The last race of the day had one big favorite. Last years winner of the worldcup series Lars van der Haar was expected to show a good race in front of his own people. Lucy Garner female road racer of Team Giant-Shimano was to watch as her boy friend started fastest as usual and managed to enter the field in front of the race. Since everybody tries to be in front, the race started a bit nervously. For Jonathan Page the race was nearly over before it really had begun. His rear mech hanger was torn off the frame and he had to take a short run to the pits with his rear wheel in one hand and the frame in the other. Meanwhile Lars van der Haar fired off his first attack and immediatly opened a gap to the rest of the peloton. He reduced his speed for short so that Kevin Pauwels and Tom Meeusen managed to close in. But this should not last for long, the dutch champion attacked once more. This time Kevin Pauwels managed to keep his wheel and both drove away from Meeusen.  As Pauwels got caught by a lane groove an touched ground, Lars van der Haar was on his own again. This should not be changed to the finish line.

Nevertheless the race was still thrilling, since a real thrilling competition for the remaining places on the podium was about to start. After his crash Kevin Pauwels was caught again by Tom Meeusen. Shortly behind those both rode Klaas Vantornout and Philipp Walsleben. Soon these two drivers managed to close the gap to the two pusuers and from now on a group of four chased van der Haar. Only a few seconds behind the quarted two drivers of Telenet-Fidea, Thijs van Amerongen and Corne van Kessel rode in within an eyeshot but were not able to close the gap for a long time. Only when the quartlett started some tactical games for the last lap,  they managed to join the group. While Kevin Pauwels manged to drive away from the rest of the pack, a hard fight for the last place on the podium was to start. Right at the end a happy Corne van Kessel had the better end on his side and managed to finish on third place.

Lars van der Haar impressive

Exhausted

Superprestige Gieten 2014

This race has allways been on the last sunday of november. This year the dutch province Drenthe was about to host the opening race of the Hans Grohe Superprestige. So this was to be the first of the big races for this season. Due to the long distance to Belgium some of the big riders skipped this event in former times, but now nearly all of them showed up at the track in Gieten.

Last year the  race returned to it’s original location around a small lake of a former sandmine. Even though the drizzling rain produced a typical fall feeling, the track was not too much influenced by the humidity. Therefore both riders and spectators had to face a real high speed race.

Allready having two wins on his palmares Eli Yserbit was the great favorite in the race of the juniors. As expected he took the initiative and managed a secure win in front of his teammate Max Gulickx. Johan Jacobs from Switzerland finished third.

The ladies race was dominated by a trio of Ellen van Loy, Sophie de Boer and Sanne Cant. For long it looked as if Ellen van Loy can take a profit of her running abilities, but at the end Sanne Cant outsprint van Loy and took the win. Sophie de Boer who started for her new team NNOF Kallas managed to take the last place on the podium. Sanne van Paassen who had to quit last years season early due to illness made her comeback to cross today and was totally happy to finish fourth after such a long time.

At the race of the U23 Wout van Aert showed his old strength and managed to take a clear win in front of Laurens and Diether Sweeck.

Before the main event was about to start, a minute of silence was held in commemoration of the late Marc van Landeghem who passed away during a visit at the road worlds in Ponferrada last Monday. Marc was the well respected press officer of all great belgian races an cross series.

Beeing asked about the main rivals, Sven Nys mentioned Mathieu van der Poel and Lars van der Haar. And as many times before he was about to be right in his guess.  Nys had a really bad start and entered the field in 35th position while van der Poel an van der Haar led the peloton. Even though Mathieu van der Poel had some problems with his chain during the second round, he was about to write history on dutch ground.

Meanwhile Lars van der Haar and Kevin Pauwels took the lead while Mathieu van der Poel was thrown back to the region where Sven Nys was struggeling to gain positions. Now both, the belgian champion and the young dutchman fought together and soon the gained one position after the other. On the front Pauwels Power started to fade and van der Haar managed to increase the gap.  It looked as if the dutch champion would be the undisputed winner of this race, but no one should ever praise a day before the end. While his young opponent managed to reduce the gap to the front, two laps before finish van der Haar still lead by half a minute. But when the last lap was about to start, the dutch champion looked around and realized that  Mathieu van der Poel was sitting right in his wheel. Out of the sudden the race was open again. On the last but one climb in the sand section the young van der Poel emerged a last attack and rode away from van der Haar which seemed to get a bit tired. Even though the elder one tried to squeeze everything out of his body reach his young contender, he had to take second place behind Mathieu van der Poel. Sven Nys managed to take the last place of the podium by passing both Pauwels and his teammate Klaas Vantornout.