Well, last week at Pont-Chateau was exciting, especially when it appears as if all servers broadcasting the race crashed worse than Lars Boom at Baal. With more than half the race completed, the screens went blank and left us all with only our imaginations to complete the final laps.
Niels Albert and Kevin Pauwels were battling it out at the front with an insurmountable lead, barring disaster. Sorry Kevin, but I wrongly predicted that Niels would wear you down. Nice to see that you're keeping Niels humble.
Behind was a large cluster of major contenders for 3rd and Sven Nys off the back of that group seemingly out of contention all together. With an odd crash that brought down nearly half that pack and the always miraculous Sven reeling in the rest of the group for a raging sprint for the final podium spot with a disappointed Steve Chainel settling for 4th.
Oh yes, what a race. And how cool it is that my imagined finish was so far off. I did have dreams, staring at that black screen, that Tim Johnson stood on that lowest step of the podium at the finish. Still, he was great throughout the race and should be very proud of that 12th place finish. He was right there with the major players all the way to the end.
It took a few hours, but the last two laps were finally posted on the YouTube Cyclocross Channel and there was only a lap or so of the complete race that we'd lost out on.
Hoogerheide Roster
For the final race of the World Cup season at Hoogerheide there should be a full roster from each team, including Zdenek Stybar this time. Not only that, but Radomir Simunek is also on the start roster after his recuperation from the broken collarbone at Zolder last month. Interestingly, Bart Wellens is not lining up. He walked off the course last week at Pont-Chateau and I haven't found any news reports on the reason for this. Lars Boom is not on the UCI race roster.
USA (Go guys!)
Jeremy Powers
Timothy Johnson
James Driscoll
Ryan Trebon
Jonathan Page
Canadians
Derrick St. John
Craig Richie
Shaun Adamson
In any case, it should be a great race and an indication of the racers' condition a week before the World Championships in Sankt Wendel, Germany.
Let's hope we get to see the race this Sunday from start to finish. Imagination is a wonderful thing, but in this case I'd rather watch the wheels digging into the dirt than create my own pretend scenario.
Livestream ("Cross" your fingers)
Hoogerheide
Sunday, January 23rd @ 8:40amEST(+-)
Channel 3
Channel 7
Channel 8
2 comments:
Nice blog, we're off from the UK to see the race in person. I'll let you know how it goes...
That would be great. Looking forward to it.
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