World Cyclo Cross

[Peter]

That Marianne Vos!  Just watched her win the World Cyclo Cross, and Nederland place fifteen riders in the first ten, or something.  But really I think cyclo-cross is a misnomer - it was a road race with a bit of mud and a few steps.  Still rivetting!

[Nuncio]

and That Tom Pidcock!

[JonBuoy]

That Zoe Bäckstedt did OK too.

[Peter]

Yes, indeed, though I've only just seen those results.  But Vos's results are astonishing: first won it in 2006 and has won it 8 times in all, with a further 4 finishes in the top 3.  That's an incredible 12 top threes over seventeen years.  Absolutely amazing.

[drgannet]

Enjoyed watching that over the weekend.

One hopes Pidcock would not be tempted to try this at road races...

(click to show/hide)

[Karla]

He's got form for that celebration.



(British nationals, 2018)

[DuncanM]

The bbc report had some throwaway line about how the Belgians got their tactics wrong. Nonsense - they got their tactics right and attacked Pidcock with a variety of riders (and then sat up when he dragged the rest of the pack to the leader's back wheel). The problem was, Pidcock was just faster than them, even when they were trying to chase him down with 3 people swapping turns. What a ride.

I wanted to watch Cam Mason in the U23s, but they didn't show that on the bbc.

[Flite]

Interested that Tom P can do that Superman trick with either arm leading
Makes my core muscles ache to watch.
And indeed a stunningly good ride - physically and tactically.
Confident enough to let the Belgians do their stuff, and then just ride off.

[rafletcher]

Interested that Tom P can do that Superman trick with either arm leading
Makes my core muscles ache to watch.

OT, but last night on Ski Sunday it showed a brief clip of Dave Ryding doing a core exercise - hanging from a bar, trunk held horizontal, leg bent at 90 degrees at the hip, and roatating thru 180. 

[fimm]

...  But really I think cyclo-cross is a misnomer - it was a road race with a bit of mud and a few steps.  Still rivetting!

Yes, it was not very muddy, compared with the races we've been enjoying watching in Europe. Also lacked boards to jump, which was more surprising (not all races have them, but most do). The odd person slipped out on dust/loose soil.

They're attempting to get cyclocross into the Winter Olympics - I do not know if anything will come of this, but they are trying. However, any event to be included in the Winter Olympics has to take place on snow or ice, by definition. So they ran a race on snow in Italy earlier this year, to show it could be done.

[psyclist]

During the men's race there was a solitary guy stood with his back to a tree, facing the camera, wearing dungarees with only one side fastened. I don't think he moved for the whole race. Although he stood next to the track, he wasn't watching the race. Did anybody else spot him?

[fimm]

During the men's race there was a solitary guy stood with his back to a tree, facing the camera, wearing dungarees with only one side fastened. I don't think he moved for the whole race. Although he stood next to the track, he wasn't watching the race. Did anybody else spot him?

I didn't but I did see a photo of him on Twitter...
(but I have just been reminded that I did see someone holding (safely, and well away from the race) a small sign reading "Allez Opi Omi")