Cyclocross! MvdP vs WvA vs Pidcock
 

I've posted about elite cyclocross here before - from the fan's point of view, it's some of the best bike racing entertainment. And the races last only an hour or so, which means you can watch the whole event. Some years ago, the elite CX races were dominated by battles between van der Poel and van Aert - before either of them were road racing- and those battles were EPIC.

And as a bonus, the full races are often posted on Youtube.

Van der Poel and van Aert have been largely absent from Elite CX for some time - partly b/c of the pandemic, their road careers, and in MvdP's case, his back injury last year, but THEY ARE BACK. This Sunday they will face each other (+Pidcock)


https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing...down-on-sunday

I'm not sure about live broadcast, but almost certainly you'll be able to find a youtube recording of the race soon after it happens.

Here is last Sunday's race, where van der Poel raced cx for the first time in 2 years, racing against Pidcock.
(This is the full race - you can also find highlights if you prefer)

Last weekend, it was sad to see Pidcock schlepping his taco'd wheel on the back of his rainbow jersey.

I am headed to a local CX race this Sunday. The weather will be brisk with just enough rain earlier in the week to make it interesting, if not necessarily Belgian.

I look forward to seeing what the big boys got up to once I get back.

Yeah, Pidcock's mechanical was bad luck. I think, though, that he had already been beat. MvdP is just too strong. OTOH, it was interesting at the beginning to see MvdP make some fairly serious technical mistakes. His CX skills were rusty, I guess.

thank you for posting the Hulst race. I needed something to do at work. I agree, such good viewing when the big 3 are going at it.

Here's the full race. Plenty of excitement.

thanks for the link

OMFG.

If you missed it, make sure to check out the replays of the UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP .

Here's the last lap, if that's how you want to sample it

Ha ha I caught it half way in. It was wild at parts to hear the crowd chant "Wout! Wout! Wout!". Drone footage through the forest was awesome.

I was nervous everytime Wout jumped the planks, oof. Then at the finale MvdP got that crazy burst. I think last years Strada Bianca Mathieu did a 1,300 watt effort? Wout stuffed it there, that was a surprise. But neither one could get separation from the other. Wout might've got it if he'd just gone 100% at the top of the stairs?

Eli Isybert did well to come back so close to the end, get that podium!

The drone was awesome.They should replace the camera motos with drones in road races.

World Championships! The two monsters of the sport put on vivid display - again - that they are in a class by themselves. I was hoping for WVA to take the rainbow jersey this year, but he got out-played by MVDP in the final section. Hell of a battle.

WVA "forgot" to sprint? WTF?

He didn't "forget", he was trying to play a game, and got out-played.

I hadn't seen that article. I get what you're saying now - LOL. It sounds like WVA didn't have a contingency plan if things didn't play out the way he expected, and had a brain fart when he hit the pavement in the lead.

From that same link
The deck was stacked against Darth van Aert! I wonder if they had the drone pilot in on it, too. 🤔🤡

What a rivalry and pair of class sportsmen.

The spring classics will be great. Again.

UCI is all excited about the big crowds for cx races, and wants to bring the worlds to NY. But hardly anybody in NY has heard of WVA or MVDP.

Also, the crowds are there for this historic rivalry, which won't last forever.

Are they talking about NY for the worlds or just a race in the series? I saw the coverage in VN and CN and it was a little foggy. Wikipedia shows venues for the CX world championships already assigned through 2027. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_Cy..._Championships

I guess NY or not is all speculation until an announcement later this month. Even if the UCI decides to take a bite out of the big apple, it's still speculation if it will be a big bite. We've already seen with Fayetteville that the riders get a vote and may not look favorably on the added overhead of a big trip during an already busy season, between other busy seasons. And that was for the championship race, not the series.

WVA and MVDP and a good marketing campaign might get a little attention from NYC aficionados, but the best minds of Madison Ave would have a tough time making as much of an impact with Eli Iserbyt vs. Tom Pidcock. Particularly if they were racing for second place between just one of the big lads.

Meanwhile, US has a lower level UCI series. Here's part of it. https://www.charmcitycross.com/

Yah, probably not the Worlds in NY. I misread the article. Still, I have a hard time seeing CX attracting much of a crowd at all in NY. In an already low key US CX scene, NY is hardly one of the centers of interest.

But back to the main topic, we are truly blessed to be witnessing this rivalry as it unfolds. I started following CX only recently, maybe 2019 or so, when the duel was already in full swing. And it hooked me, that's for sure.

Yep. The crowd size was huge because of where the race was located, paired with having one of the top favorites from that country. I would expect exactly the same in Belgium. Year after year, you can reasonably expect that kind of excitement from those two countries because they consistently produce top competitors, and the people know the sport. Outside of that, crowd size will drop off in a hurry. The most common response to CX in the US is, "What is it?"

Have you been to any local events? The ones here in the mid-Atlantic tend to be a great scene: lots of fields of different class / sex / age. Strong showings by junior racers. A lot of families & dogs making a day of it. Good club participation. And sometimes some darn good racing, too.

CX is one of the gateways for our up and comers, too. Example: Magnus Sheffield was the US CX 15-16 champ in 2018.
https://www.crossresults.com/racer/100914

I think you're in Deutschland, Herr MinnMan . IDK what it's like there, but I imagine it is solid. Though perhaps the season is a bit different than in the lowlands. It is here. Much more of a fall sport, Sep - Nov with a few last gasps in early Dec.

Yes, I'm in Germany for a while and there is indeed a fall CX scene that's pretty active. Normally of course, I'm in Minnesota and there's quite a big CX scene in the northern midwest - Jingle Cross in Iowa is the most well-known (though it seems that it was canceled this past year)

I don't hear to much about CX happening in the east, but it's good to hear that there is a lot of activity. Normally I associate CX in the states with midwestern locales - Iowa, Arkansas, etc.

More on that World Cup CX vs. Worlds, and NYC or bust. Jaded pessimism, or informed pragmatism?

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/a-c...ly-says-watts/

The UCI 2-fer concept mentioned there for the midwest CX events is similarly behind the dates for the MD Cycling Classic feeding the Quebec and Montreal races (3-fer).

Interesting dig here into the drone coverage.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/i-w...tage-was-shot/

Interesting issues in play. Crowd safety is huge, but maybe there's a win-win in brushing back the Allez Omi Opi crowd.

Wow. Also, the battery only lasts 4 minutes. It will be great for CX, but as the article says, not for road racing for quite some time. A pity.