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Men’s Cyclocross Worlds – Nys to see you Štybar

Derek Troy — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 21:26:00 +0000

Belguim expected, but it was late arrival Zdenek Štybar that delivered the knock-out blow to take the coveted rainbow title home to the Czech Republic. You always hope that when it comes to a final, whatever sport, that the two favourites are there, and there’s a competition, not some negative “I’m not going to make a mistake” option taken. And this race was a toe-to-toe Titan vs. Titan battle.

When I say it was a Titan vs. Titan battle, there was the interloper of the course conditions to keep things interesting. “It was a very hard race,” said Štybar. “I crashed one time and I thought it was over. From the beginning I thought, let’s race hard, I have nothing to lose. Now I have to go, I have to give it everything. I was fourth line, I had to brake full gas on the start and come back, which was a big effort for me. We were three, then two and then I thought we were just going to fight for the podium.”

Štybar had the disadvantage of starting further back on the grid than he would have liked, giving the other favourites at least three rows. French Rocket Francis Mourey took the green light and repeated his fast start that gave him the win at the WC event in Namur, but it was all to no avail as a bit of a wobble dropped him back into the chasing pack, looking like eventually he’d burnt his matches too quickly fading to finish eighth.

The main protagonists had at this stage almost formed up, with Štybar bridging across eventually to the group; it looked we had choice of winner from here. Over the next couple of laps Štybar and Nys were trading blows, sensing each other, while the casualties were the rest of the group, as Van Der Haar and Mourey faded fast.

With two to go, it looked like a body blow had been landed, and it was Štybar who had taken to the canvas or mud if you will. He lost the bike on a soft-angled descent that had taken out Bina early doors. Nys, not even batting an eyelid, dismounted and jumped over his fallen comrade in mud and was away. Daylight had finally emerged between the two. But what happened next, maybe it was a brain fart on Nys’s behalf or just tiredness, while grabbing the end of a barrier/fence to whip round a bend he lost a wheel. It was enough for Štybar to get back on level pegging.

You’d have thought with the last lap they’d have maybe one attack/one counter in them, I was thinking that with the course going south so quickly it would have been Nys’s technical abilities that could have won the day, but it’s the pure power of Štybar that caused the decisive blow. The attack was brutal, sustained, and final from Štybar pushing home the advantage as he gapped Nys. Game, Set and World Champioship title for Mr. Štybar.

Enjoy the exclusive photo gallery by our man in Hoogerheide, Wei Yuet, above.

Rank	Name	Nat.	Age*	Result
1	Zdenek STYBAR	CZE	29	1:05:29
2	Sven NYS	BEL	38	1:05:41
3	Kevin PAUWELS	BEL	30	1:06:09
4	Klaas VANTORNOUT	BEL	32	1:06:28
5	Tom MEEUSEN	BEL	26	1:06:36
6	Lars VAN DER HAAR	NED	23	1:06:51
7	Rob PEETERS	BEL	29	1:07:12
8	Francis MOUREY	FRA	34	1:07:22
9	Radomir SIMUNEK	CZE	31	1:07:33
10	Wietse BOSMANS	BEL	23	1:07:40

Women’s Cyclocross Worlds – Gaan Vos !

Derek Troy — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 20:33:57 +0000

Queen of Women’s Cycling Marianne Vos showed a clean pair of heels to the field – in a style we have become more than accustomed to. Vos stamped an unchallenged authority over the race with an escape on the first lap and blitzed the field to claim Gold. From there on, the fight was for the remaining podium places.

Italy’s Eva Lechner did extremely well to take the Silver medal, the main interest for the neutral was the ding dong battle between Helen Wyman and Sanne Cant for Bronze. Cant’s superior technical skills on the fast deteriorating course against Wyman’s physical strength was the battle of the day, Wyman eventually moving clear on the last lap with a searing attack that Cant couldn’t handle.

It was a bad day at the mud office for America’s hope, as Katie Compton first suffered a poor start, then a spill similar to that in the Junior Men, the combination of which put her far in arrears of the leaders. Though she fought hard, and at one point looked to be back in podium contention, the effort – and perhaps a continuation of the breathing problems that saw her pull out of the final round of the World Cup last weekend – was too much, and she faded back to finish in ninth.

Enjoy the exclusive photo gallery by our man in Hoogerheide, Wei Yuet, above.

Rank	Name	Nat.	Age*	Result
1	Marianne VOS	NED	27	39:25
2	Eva LECHNER	ITA	29	40:32
3	Helen WYMAN	GBR	33	40:42
4	Sanne CANT	BEL	24	40:45
5	Nikki HARRIS	GBR	28	41:58
6	Lucie CHAINEL-LEFEVRE	FRA	31	42:09
7	Loes SELS	BEL	29	42:12
8	Thalita DE JONG	NED	21	42:17
9	Katherine COMPTON	USA	36	42:23
10	Caroline MANI	FRA	27	42:24

Junior Men Cyclocross Worlds – Belgian Mudsweep

Derek Troy — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 13:41:49 +0000

The Junior Men’s World Cyclocross race laid down a lot of markers for the weekend at Hoogerheide where we saw Belgian domination with a fearsome display of teamwork to lock out the podium places. We also saw two important things that would affect how the weekend would develop – a pile up out of the gate and how the course cut up and rutted just after one lap.

The slick conditions brought technical skills to the forefront, and slips and crashes played a large role in the outcome of the race, as did a large start line crash. Although Dutch favourite Joris Nieuwenhuis made an impressive effort to claim the win, the Belgian phalanx of Thijs Aerts, Yannick Peeters, and Jelle Schuermans proved too strong a defence to crack, and took the podium in that order after Aerts attacked on the final bell, and held his lead until the end.

Enjoy the exclusive photo gallery by our man in Hoogerheide, Wei Yuet, above.

Results

Rank	Name	Nat.	Age*	Result
1	Thijs AERTS	BEL	18	45:55:00
2	Yannick PEETERS	BEL	18	46:05:00
3	Jelle SCHUERMANS	BEL	18	46:07:00
4	Joris NIEUWENHUIS	NED	18	46:08:00
5	Kobe GOOSSENS	BEL	18	46:17:00
6	Johan JACOBS	SUI	17	46:30:00
7	Eli ISERBYT	BEL	17	46:37:00
8	Yan GRAS	FRA	18	46:53:00
9	Sieben WOUTERS	NED	18	47:05:00
10	Hugo PIGEON	FRA	18	47:14:00

Giro dell’Emilia 2013 – photography by Wei Yuet

Lesli Cohen — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:24:27 +0000

Our man with a camera, Wei Yuet, was on hand to photograph the 2013 Giro dell’Emilia, one of the most beautiful and oft-overlooked of races. Enjoy this collection of images from one of the important classics of the late season.

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2013 UCI Elite Women’s Road Race Championships from Florence

Lesli Cohen — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 15:12:48 +0000

Our man in Florence, Wei Yuet, was on hand to capture some striking images of the Women’s Road World Championships.

Check out his tumblr here. You can also follow Wei on Twitter @wyuet

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2013 Road Worlds Men’s Race

Lesli Cohen — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 19:18:05 +0000

Our man in Florence, Wei Yuet, was on hand to capture some striking images of the Men’s Road World Championships.

Check out his tumblr here. You can also follow Wei on Twitter @wyuet

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2013 Road Worlds Junior Women’s Race

Lesli Cohen — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 07:49:39 +0000

Our man in Florence, Wei Yuet, drops another photoset – this time of the Junior Women’s Road Race.

Check out his tumblr here. You can also follow Wei on Twitter @wyuet

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UCI meets to discuss Kimmage case

admin — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:29:05 +0000

Today’s press release from the UCI regarding the ongoing status of their case against Paul Kimmage was the result of a long and complicated meeting between Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen. The crack reporting team from Cyclismas was able to capture the beginning of that meeting.