I just finished listening to the latest CXHairs Media Pit podcast, so some of the themes touched on by Bill and Micheal are heavily influencing what I have to say about Sunday.
As they mentioned, the venue was huge. So, even with a big crowd, much bigger than Saturday, there was still plenty of room to maneuver. But there were also enough people to fill up the backgrounds. (I, like Bill, also did not get the classic shot with the sea of fans behind the riders at the far end of the course … C’est la vie.)
I think we now have Worlds locations virtually locked down through 2030. Many of these are Belgian and Dutch courses. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it would be nice to see more cycling hotbeds like Northern France get their moment: Eastern France, the Basque Country, Switzerland, Britain, and Northern Italy. Then again, other than Eastern France, they don’t even have World Cups currently, so maybe we start there.
Anyway, rant over/fin de coup de gueule.
And they’re off! Sort of.
Eventual winner Mattia Agostinacchio hits the throttle.
Aidan Vollmuth cresting one of the many short, steep berms on the course.
Americans Garrett Beshore and Dylan Haynes.
American Ben Bravman possibly re-thinking his line with this Belgian rider fixing his bike.
A Spanish rider having a bit of an issue on the off-camber.
Top Canadian finisher in the U19 men (11th), Emilien Belzile.
Katherine Sarkisov is attacked by her own bicycle at the bottom of a frozen, rutted drop.
Célia Gery gets an earful of encouragement. At least, I hope that’s what it is.
Vida Lopez de San Roman was the top US finisher in 14th place.
Isabella Holmgren. Top North American with an impressive 5th place.
Lauren Zoerner, navigating the icy, rutted off-camber
Marie Schreiber. If anyone knows why the Luxembourg kit is this color, please let me know.
Zoe Backstedt takes the win.
Kaya Musgrave left it all on the field.
Faces in the crowd. I always forget as I’m running around the venue how many people are actually watching the race on the big screens.
Eric Brunner on one of the fly-overs. An early mechanical led to Brunner spending his race running with a broken bike and then chasing, chasing, chasing.
Joris Nieuwenhuis followed by Michael Vanthrouenhout. Nieuwenhuis had impressive late-season results after a long illness and recovery.
Wout sandwiched between Thibau and Laurens. Van Aert fought hard, possibly hit a pole, and rode through the field to finish second.
MVDP had a classic MVDP race. Went to the front super early and never looked back.
More faces in the crowd, including some that will be familiar to a lot of privateer CXers.
Oooh. Nice watch.
Wout is going all-in to hold on to that silver medal spot.
Third place in the Elites for Thibau Nys.
Scott Funston turned in a great ride to place inside the top 20 and was overcome with emotion at the finish.
Huge kudos to Scott Funston for a great season - I think his best ever. Unfortunately, its a damning commentary on the state of US cycling that he has to stop racing CX as it isn’t sustainable anymore.
Re the Luxembourg kit, apart from the red section of the flag, the Red Lion is a big symbol of Luxembourg so perhaps that is the origin. The national football team plays in red as well.
Huge kudos to Scott Funston for a great season - I think his best ever. Unfortunately, its a damning commentary on the state of US cycling that he has to stop racing CX as it isn’t sustainable anymore.
Re the Luxembourg kit, apart from the red section of the flag, the Red Lion is a big symbol of Luxembourg so perhaps that is the origin. The national football team plays in red as well.