It’s already underway but I thought I’d get a thread together for related punditry and Monday morning analytics.
The expected Wout vs MvdP battles are excellent
JPows has stumbled but has many races to come
Hyde is flying
Look for Lars vdH to get real quick as the season progresses and when he makes the team switch post 1st Jan
KfC is smiling more than I’ve seen for a while… I think she could finally have great late season. Especially if she keeps getting good racing in locally,
Am hoping this is also Sophie vdBs years again
Cant wait for Vos to return either…
Keen to see LvdH get a win. He is cute like a dachshund.
Sophie de Boer has already shown promise especially when the going gets technical.
Thalita de Jong dipped out of the road season early so she can do a full cross season plus she has a team switch coming up on Jan 1st.
Sanne Cant has had a slow start but I think she might be holding back and leaving something for the World Champs. Every other season she’s dominated the early season and then tapered.
Wout (Woot? Wu Tang Clan?) has really been showing everyone he’s the boss. I think he’ll start to see more pressure later in the season.
Lars under the guidance of Sven is going to be awesome. Can’t wait to see.
Hopefully Kevin Pauwels will win a WC again. It’s always nice to see a little smile on that stoic face of his and his supporters club chanting his name while he’s on the podium is amazing.
“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough!” - Mathieu Van der Poel
Domination by Wout again. Would have been interesting to see what would of happened if he crashed a lap earlier.
I was hoping Lars would go four from four at Valkenburg. Unfortunately the cross gods didn’t see things that way. Strong performance from MvdP though. He was already well away when Wout crashed and if he had another lap probably would’ve stayed away. It’s one thing chasing down Michael Vanthournout, trying to catch a leading Mathieu in motion would be very hard.
Impressed by the form Sophie de Boer is showing this season. Staying ahead of Sanne Cant, someone who was unceremoniously dropping her last season, is really impressive.
The replay of yesterdays European CX Championships in Pont Chateau, France.
Womens race starts around 11:00
Mens race starts around 1:26:00
[video=youtube_share;fI72I7nU_84]http://youtu.be/fI72I7nU_84[/video]
Hup oranje!
Some interesting results in both that race. Not shocking by any means… but definitely a couple of twists that make me think that maybe its not as much as a target race than it is in the US.
Especially with koppenburgcross so close by. I guess series points and WCs are worth more in the long run. Plus from the looks of it… Toon got some good ‘team’ assistance from Wout et al.
Thalita and Brand definitely showed their road legs in the dry conditions… would have been interesting to see if Brammier-Harris could have added further proof to that theory if she hadnt recreated Jamie Thomas’ famous Welcome to Hell slam
But in the US everyone maxes out on C2s, C1 points are harder to come by and good WC points are near impossible to get. This is great chance to get some more. If you are KfC and not travelling as much its even more important.
Toon was a gracious winner which I like. Speaking of assistance I have a theory about the crew of Telenet-Fidea riders that seems to be at the pointy end of every race lately and the role they may play once Lars van der Haar makes the move in January.
Thalita seems to have the complete (or close to) skillset. She excelled in the technical stuff last season, obviously did well at the speedway/dirt crit that was the Euro Champs and kept up with Verschueren (who weighs nothing) spinning her way to victory at the Koppenberg cross. Impressive.
yes. indeed.
Shout out to one of my favourite US domestic racers, one-half of the ‘Tall Timbers’, a man known as much for his stubborness as his fast legs… Big ups ‘Tre-boo-hoo’