CXpreX Ann Arbor

 

Placings in the PrepRaces

Just thought I'd let you know who placed in the top 5 in the A and B races last night and top 3 women (I forgot to mention this during the swag session). 

B top 5

1.Rick Morris 2.David Zeman 3.Ryan McKinnie 4.Randy Arellano 5.Jay Ellis

A top 5 

1.Rich Stark 2.Andy Weir 3.Richard Rainville 4.Ken O'Day 5.Will Cawthorn...

Women top 3 

1.Wendy Caldwell 2.Adrienne O'Day 3.Anna Edmonds. 

Way to go gang!

Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne 2011

Live Stream
Sunday, February 27, 2011
8:30am EST

Be There!


Sporza Live Stream
Channel 3
Channel 5
Channel 8

Veemi Live Stream

Start List

Past Winners/Podiums

If all goes haywire, check out Cycling Fans to see if they have any ideas about where to go.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2011

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Live Stream
Sporza
Channel 3
Channel 5
Channel 6
Channel 7

Course Layout PDF

List of Racers/Teams

Cold, rainy, Belgium on a winter's day. Perfect!
Spring Classics. Enjoy.

Oostmalle & the GVA Final CX

Telenet Fidea vs. Sven Nys

Looking back! Notice all the Telenet Fidea jerseys.

I'm going to work on my Flemish for next year. I know that Pauwels was having a couple of serious bike problems out there, but all I could do was look at his frustrated gesticulations with no clarifying commentary to fill in the gaps. He'd stopped to fix the bike in one of the early laps, and then, in the last lap his arm went up after he vainly tried to fend off an attack by Nys, and Pauwel's pit stop shortly thereafter was an indication of bike malfunction. Otherwise it would have been foolish to change bikes at such a crucial moment in the race.

But what a race, huh? Telenet Fidea against Nys, basically. And the indomitable Nys came out on top. What a cap to a great season for one of the legends of the sport. He never ceases to amaze.

When Pauwels struggled, for whatever reason, to stay at the front of the bike race in the early laps, the wily Nys accelerated in an attempt to create enough of a gap to make it race over with seven to go. But the chips were all in Pauwels favor in the form of his teammates either working to rein Nys in, or to draft Pauwels back into the race.

It was primarily Stybar trying to get in front of Nys to slow him down, or Wellens (with a touch of Meeusen and Peeters) carving clean lines and blocking the wind in order to allow Pauwels to recover enough to get back to the front. And it worked! When Pauwels got back on Nys's wheel with still half of the race to go, it looked like Nys had burnt himself out and Pauwels was just starting to get charged up, but lap after lap the two stayed together.

Celebration!

When Albert took off no one cared because he had no affect on the overall standings. Albert's impact was more on Wellens with a fourth or fifth place GVA overall, not the podium. By the final lap, it was obvious that the Telenet Fidea guys were trying to figure out a way to temper Nys's fire and get their guy to the finish line first. Stybar in particular kept looking back, trying to find Pauwels so he could perhaps block Nys at a strategic moment, or lead Pauwels out in the inevitable sprint.

A somber Pauwels after the race getting support from Stybar.

But the sprint didn't happen. Something went haywire on Pauwels' bike and his detour into the pits ended his chances. Sven had time to savor his victory long before he got to the line. That takes nothing away from Pauwels, who rode a great race and was unfortunately beset by circumstances beyond his control.

Nys
Who else, with all that talent matched against him, could still pull off such a commanding victory? Nys may not have the all out firepower he had in his earlier years, but that's now replaced with cagy wisdom and it's making for some of the most exciting racing you'll ever want to see.

Overall GVA Results 2010-2011

There are a couple of interesting side notes to mention as well. Jonathan Page stormed off the start and rode hard with the leaders for the first few laps, dropping a short ways back for the rest of the race to finish in 11th place overall. And Bart Aernouts had one of the best races of his season with a second place finish. You always felt he had it in him, but for whatever reason he'd been far off the podium for most of the season.

Okay, it's on to the Spring Classics and another great year of bike racing in all its forms. It will be exciting to watch Lars Boom in the road races. I think he has a great chance for some high placings and wins in many races to come. It will be interesting as well to watch Zdenek Stybar branch off into other venues. A man of such great talents can't be held down. And next year in cyclocross the jerseys will be mixed around a bit with top racers on different teams. I'm looking forward to watching all of that unfold.

I only hope that we can get better television coverage of both international and domestic cyclocross racing here in the US. Or, at the very least, better--and more--live stream feeds.

CX is good. Keep up the support.

Screenshots courtesy Sporza

Cyclocross Livestream - Cauberg & GVA-Troffee Oostmalle

Cauberg Cyclocross
Saturday, February 19, 2011
9am EST
Channel 3
Channel 7
Channel 8
Awful feeds, unfortunately. The downside of live stream!

GVA-Troffee Oostmalle
Sunday, February 20, 2011
8:40am EST

Channel 3
Channel 7
Channel 8

This is the last weekend of CX for the year.
Spring classics are up next.

GVA Elite standings to date:

1 (1)		Sven Nys	Landbouwkrediet	150
2 (2)		Kevin Pauwels	Telenet Fidea Cycling Team	148
3 (3)		Zdenek Stybar	Telenet Fidea Cycling Team	138
4 (4)		Niels Albert	BKCP-Powerplus	116
5 (5)		Bart Wellens	Telenet Fidea Cycling Team	113
6 (6)		Klaas Vantornout	Sunweb Revor	108
7 (8)		Tom Meeusen	Telenet Fidea Cycling Team	75
8 (7)		Bart Aernouts	Rabo - Giant Offroad Team.	71
9 (10)		Rob Peeters	Telenet Fidea Cycling Team	65
10 (9)		Enrico Franzoi	BKCP-Powerplus	59
11 (13)		Sven Vanthourenhout	Sunweb Revor	55
12 (11)		Gerben De Knegt	Rabo - Giant Offroad Team.	52
13 (14)		Dieter Vanthourenhout	BKCP-Powerplus	44
14 (12)		Philipp Walsleben	BKCP-Powerplus	43
15 (15)		Jan Denuwelaere	Style & Concept Cycling Team	41
16 (16)		Christian Heule	Champion System LBS Team	28
17 (18)		Jonathan Page	Planet Bike	28
18 (17)		Thijs Van Amerongen	AA Drink Cycling Team	24
19 (26)		Kenneth Van Compernolle	Style & Concept Cycling Team	21
20 (19)		Tom Van Den Bosch	AA Drink Cycling Team	20

The battle is between Sven Nys and Keven Pauwels to take the overall. Nys has taken the overall for the past six years running. Can he do it again? (He's won 7 GVA's total.) Also, notice all those Belgian flags, especially in the top ten.

Women

1 (2)		Sanne Cant	BKCP-Powerplus	83
2 (4)		Helen Wyman		72
3 (3)		Daphny Van Den Brand	ZZPR.NL	69
4 (1)		Sanne Van Paassen	Brainwash wielerploeg	60
5 (6)		Pavla Havlikova	APB cycling team	56
6 (7)		Nikki Harris	APB cycling team	53
7 (5)		Sophie De Boer	ZZPR.NL	48
8 (12)		Marianne Vos		47
9 (8)		Reza Hormes-Ravenstijn	ZZPR.NL	46
10 (13)		Hanka Kupfernagel		41

Superprestige Middelkerke

Middelkerke
Saturday, February 12th
9:30am EST


Klaus Vantornout! Who'da thunk? Nice to see, though.

Live Stream
Channel 3
Channel 7
Channel 8

Superprestige
Top 5 in each race
Ruddervoorde 10.10.10
Stybar Aernouts Nys Chainel Wellens
Zonhoven 10.31.10
Stybar Pauwels Nys Aernouts Albert
Hamme-Zogge 11.14.10
Nys K.Vantornout Albert Wellens Peeters
Asper-Gavere 11.21.10
Nys Pauwels Albert Wellens Stybar
Gieten 11.28.10
Meeusen Simunek D.Vanthourenhout Nys Pauwels
Diegem 12.27.10
Albert Nys Stybar Peeters Wellens
Hoogstraten 2.6.11
Nys Albert Pauwels K.Vantornout D.Vanthourenhout
Middelkerke 2.12.11

Overall Standings to Date
Points Accrued (15 for 1st, 14 for 2nd, 13 for 3rd...)

97 Nys
78 Pauwels
75 Albert
74 Stybar
64 Wellens
49 Aernouts
47 Vantornout
44 Meeusen
41 de Knegt
35 Peeters

Nys has already won the series with 97 points. He doesn't even have to race Middelkerke. The closest to him is Pauwels and the best he can do is get 93 total points with a win.

The race is really on for the rest of the podium, which will be a battle among Pauwels, Albert, and Stybar, and, with a little luck, Wellens.

There are two racers from the USA in the top 25: Page at 21st and Johnson at 24th. Page has only received points in three races and Johnson in one. Interestingly, the official Superprestige website has given Johnson citizenship from Great Britain (unless there's another Timothy Johnson who is from GBR).

GVA-Troffee Lille & Superprestige Hoogstraten 2-5&6-11

GVA & Superprestige all in one weekend!

LIVE STREAM
Troffee Lille
Saturday, February 5th
8:40am EST

Hoogstraten
Sunday, February 6th
8:40am EST


Channel 3
Channel 7
Channel 8

MMBA Expo 2011 - Roller Races

MMBA EXPO on Sunday, January 30th
It was a beautiful blue sky day to drive up to the Michigan State University campus and attend the MMBA Annual Meeting & Expo. When we stepped into the Pavilion, it was like wandering the back roads, with the rich aroma of cow manure wafting down the hall.

Pass by the empty animal stalls and suddenly a massive room full of bikers fills your eyes and the aroma disappears into a world of mountain bikes and bike parts displayed as far as the eye can see.

Joe Lekovish set me up with a space to sell Dirt Road Washtenaw at the MBRA tent. It turned out to be a great place to hang out.

Luke Cavendish, overall winner of the roller races.

It was the perfect spot to watch the Roller Races run by the Downtown Ferndale Bike Shop, MBRA, and officials from the Bloomer Park Velodrome. Yes, these were road and trackies infiltrating a mountain bike event.

But, judging by the crowd, mtb'ers were very much enjoying the roller races.

Joe did much of the officiating, as usual. It worked for me, since often the name of my book somehow repeatedly filled that massive hall. (Thanks, Joe.)










There were a lot of bike parts for sale.

2nd Place!

Smiling? Or is that a happy grimace?

Go! Go! Go!

I'd be glad to fill in more names here if someone sends them to me. Thanks.

2011 CX World Championships Sankt Wendel

Sankt Wendel 2011
Under 23 and Juniors
Saturday, January 29th
Juniors @ 5am EST
U-23 @ 8am EST

Elite Men & Women
Sunday, January 30th
Women @ 5am EST
Men @ 8am EST

Channel 3
Channel 7
Channel 8
Channel 9

Junior Final
He may be fourth overall in the World Cup, but Clement Venturini is the World Champion in the Junior level for 2011. In fact, it was a French sweep of the podium with the Doubey brothers Fabien and Loic taking 2nd and 3rd. Laurens Sweeck, the Junior WC Champ had to settle for 5th, and Jakob Skala of the Czech Republic took 4th.

Venturini broke away from the pack to lead by about 14 seconds, then he nearly ruined his gap with a slip on a slick off-camber in the last lap that had him tied up in the fencing. That was after a fall in the previous lap as his front wheel smacked down on a greasy turn. Even with these struggles, he still won by a wide margin over the Doubeys, who themselves won with a good buffer over the rest of the chasers.

(photo courtesy Sporza livestream)
van der Haar takes it!

U-23 Final
Whew! That was a good tight race. Any one of about 12 or 13 guys could have had the world champion's jersey right down to the last lap. And Danny Summerhill (USA) was one of them. He finished 13th, but was riding with or near the contenders throughout. Very impressive.

(photo courtesy Sporza livestream)
This was the tough spot for everyone.

It was actually an odd situation where Mike Teunissen (NED) gapped the pack by a wide margin with half a lap to go and barring a fall looked like the sure winner, but his own teammate, Tijmen Eising, reeled him in with another teammate, Lars van der Haar, on his wheel and Karel Hnik (CZE) right there as well. In the final stretch, Eising faded, van der Haar opened up a lead, and Teunissen and Hnik sprinted for second, with Teunissen taking it, and van der Haar winning overall.

(photo courtesy Sporza livestream)
This isn't mud, it's grease!

That gives the World Cup winner, van der Haar, the World Champion jersey as well. Great nail biter of a finish.

Elites
Pick your favorite.
Albert, Stybar, Pauwels, Nys, Vantornout, Meeusen, Chainel, Mourey, Walsleben?
Compton, Vos, Kupfernagle, van Paassen, Nash, Cant, Ferrand Prevot, Ferrier-Bruneau?

This should be good. And if you want to get a preview of the up and coming stars in cyclocross, watch on Saturday morning where you'll see the Juniors and the U-23 battling it out. Keep in mind, Albert, Stybar and Boom only rose into the Elite ranks in the past few years. They were the hotshots in these younger groups not long ago.

Then, get up early on Sunday for the women. The rare moments that the women are televised is at 4am on the Universal Channel (295 on my TV) and I'm not usually up at that hour for much of anything. But it happens on occasion. There's never a commentary, just crowd noises and the cameras following the leaders.

But 5am is possible and since these are the World Championships, and if we're lucky, they'll commentate on this one. Even if they don't, it will be worth watching. The top women are excellent CX'ers and it will be fun to see if Compton powers away from the pack or if the others are tired of her winning ways and able to match her skills.

Hang around until 8 and watch the wheel wrangling among the men. Albert's on a roll, but this might not be his course or his day. That's part of the fun of CX. The top guys have been passing it back and forth all year. It will be interesting to watch who brings their A game to this one.

Great weekend for CX! Get up early, put on your helmet, clip into the pedals, aim your computer screen at the handlebars, and spin along with the best. You're there!