While it took seven Belgians to dominate the Men’s Cyclocross World Championship race on Sunday, it only took a single Dutchwoman to dominate the women’s race. That’s seven times more dominanter, if my math is correct – which it always is.
Cyclocross fascinates me, mostly because it is completely insane. But I admit: I like the idea of combining Cycling and miniature golf. Put some canti’s on your road bike, take to the mud and woods, add some water hazards, sand traps, man-made climbs and jumps, and now you’ve got a sport for people who hate the way their faces look.
Marianne Vos took her fifth World ‘Cross Championship (a record) to further crowd here palmares with rainbow bands. She’s been World Champion in every discipline involving drop bars, many of them multiple times. She’s also won La Fleche Wallone more times than I can count (I can only count to three), National road and time trial championships, and the Giro d’Italia Femminile. She was even World Champion in Mountain Biking as a Junior. One could easily argue that “V”os is the best active cyclist in the world, bar none.
To that point, we don’t pay close enough attention to Women’s cycling. I’m as guilty as anyone; if I was going to pick the winner of a Women’s race, I’d likely pick Vos or Cooke (if she’s not broken, which she often is) or Teutenberg if the race is likely to end in a sprint, which I wouldn’t be able to tell you without first doing some research. And that pretty much exhausts my knowledge in terms of naming riders, which is disgraceful. After all, if one is to understand the great mystery, one should study all its aspects. (Yes, I just quoted Darth Sidious.)
With the ‘Cross season coming to a close, we’re ramping up to start the 2012 Velominati Super Prestige and with it, we are dragging ourselves into paying attention to Women’s Cycling: the 2012 competition will include women’s races with the points amassed counting towards the overall title.
We are also making some coding changes to the backend system in order to fix some problems which means we’re probably only introducing new problems without necessarily fixing the things that needed fixing in the first place.
We’re also adding more races like the Strada Bianca, changing the scoring model, and eliminating certain things such as free DNF swaps. Stand by for further updates and keep a weather eye on the VSP Page for the updated schedule and rules.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Here's an interesting thought on the idea of the top females competing against the men...assuming that they then don't race in the corresponding women's races.
What effect would it have on the results of those women's races, are they suddenly cheapened because of a weakened field? Wouldn't you be a little pissed having won the Giro Donne for example, and having people question the achievement because the "top" few women were competing elsewhere?
@Dan O
especially since a lot of CX occurs during the bad ass time of year, frozen turf, horizonatal rain, wind chill, freezing rain, maybe some snow. Folks here had to have 2 bikes last year, 1 to ride and one to drop off in the pits so they could remove the frozen mud fouling the RD between laps. you could either race late in the afternoon when the track thawed into a muck fest, or early in the morning when all the ruts were frozen. for those that raced and endured a good time was had by all. it was brutal standing on the side lines ringing the cow bell and holding the cold beer in my frozen fingers.
@frank
Gotta love the spectators' faces. Especially the guy in the George Costanza jacket and the old perv from Family Guy next to him. Sweet stuff!
I was halfway through a Sunday ride when I realized, "Oh damnit! The cross World Championships are on! Ah!!!" Sad to see Zdenek couldn't pull off a win; a bit of a Czech fan after spending some time there last year.
Way to go, Marianne!
One season of cross under me belt here. As someone who has spent a lot more time on the road than off it, cross racing is simply crazy. Especially after heaps of rain. Cross riding is insanely fun. And cross racing? Well, it is awful during the race, but five minutes later, the next day, and the next week, it all seems awesome.
After picking up my cross bike last spring, I can happily say cross riding has opened up a Whole New Cyclo World, with a thousand places to see, for me. The biggest problem now is that when I hit the road again, after months off it, I can't believe how horrible drivers are & how dangerous they are towards cyclists.
Nice one, Frank!
@JC Belgium
My friend Genevieve Whitson just raced for New Zealand at Worlds, doing her best again to reprazent for Aotearoa in finishing 35th. I might be wrong, but I believe she is the first Kiwi to race Elite CX Worlds, either woman or man.
Wanna see some tough chicks? Check this out. Our Aussie ironwomen racing with sharks. And it looked plenty big.
Oli - That is awesome! I'd be super proud and feel super cool to ride with Genevieve! Nothing like the first Kiwi to do something. Very cool.
In looking at how the U.S. men did yesterday, I realize how big of a deal 7-11, LeMan, and other Americans & North Americans must have been when they hit the Continental road races & started doing well.
Has to be humbling, & provide some serious perspective, to be the best at something but not be able to come close to the skill of the Belgians & other Euro cross racers.
Cross racing can be crazy. You think you've got it, you think you feel good...and one bad corner or off camber & your race is over. (I guess that happens on the road with certain hills. Cross can be crazier because it might happen at 8km/hr if you are in deep mud!)
CX racing rocks! In fact, it was the first discipline I ever raced with a USA Cycling license ( I finished 7 out of 30 or so in the Cat 4 30-39 race if I remember correctly). I really enjoy watching women's sports; the competition is fierce, their skills are excellent, and hey, most women athletes are just plain smoking hot. BUT, comparing the vast majority of women athletes to their male counterparts is kind of silly, especially in cycling where performance predominantly depends on power to weight ratio. Women have less muscle mass, and more fat, on average than males. That being the case their performance rarely equals that of men in the same age and cat. Look at the results- the data from almost all events bears this out. I appreciate women athletes , but don't nderstand why we have to compare their results to men. Why cant they just stand on their own relative merit ( e.g. Among their own gender)?
@Oli
Along those lines, Cycling Tips posted a pretty cool article on Lewis Rattray from Aus who competed in the mens race. Awesome story about how he got over there.
There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch.