Another mainly flat & featureless course for a major championship - I hope this is not a trend. I want to see riders tested by the course; technical sections, climbing, descending, etc not just who has the horse power - we have TT/Track for that.
I know they expect some rain - but if a course needs rain for it to be a test, then it's not very good.
Of all the places in Switzerland, and they choose an airport........dumb!!
Yeah mixed reviews about the course, does seem to be chosen/designed for close racing due to lack of tech sections.
I text a rider who is over there about the course, who racing tomorrow and the reply was,
"course is heavy going, slow with tacky mud, lots of bridges and yep very bumpy! Its a bit in the middle because the tyres are clogging quite quickly, im going for baby limus front and grifo on the back"
Think a few people hope it rain to make the mud less heavy and more sloppy.
Anyway should be 2 days of good racing.
Cam Masons vid makes things look more promising! Those banks will cause bobbles which will split up groups. Sven’s opinion that the bridges will be tough because there’s no fast run in looks spot on.
It’s going to be brutal for the riders, 9min lap from Cam on his reccy. Not a fun course for riding but will probably produce some good racing.
I’m especially going to be cheering on Hattie Harnden because she’s awesome, Ben Tullet because he’s a local lad and also awesome and of course Tom Pidcock because he’s a joy to watch.
Love world champs weekend!
Live stream
Main womans event on Redbull later
Well the mud didn't materialise! This u23 race could be exciting though!
What happened to Ben T? He was 7 seconds off 5th then disappeared. I stopped watching at that point.
Dunno, they just said mechanical
Has anyone got the women's race working on iPlayer or Red Bull?
Both just giving me a 'coming up' screen, grr...
Edit: ignore, button bashing eventually got results!
What a finish! Alverado really wanted that! Great to see after last weekend's disappointment.
A lot of emotion in that podium display...the contrast between winning and losing a world champs on show there
Ferrals,Thanks for the heads up about it being covered on Red Bull TV.
I enjoyed that race,exciting last lap!
I'm glad Alverado won it after what happened last week.
Hope the men's race is as competitive tomorrow
I think it was BenT that snapped his seatpost on a descent, then had to ride some way out of the saddle to get a bike change. He was going really well. Happened in front of me.
Pouring now, so will be a different course tomorrow
Real shame about Tullett, he was motoring on! Sounds sketchy too, visions of thigh on a skewer!
The women's race was great to watch, shame Evie Richards had a bad start as she looked rapid, but nonetheless a real thriller.
Thanks for the weather update @martinb I was wondering about that. Fingers crossed it rains all night!
Cameron Mason did himself proud imo.
Yeah agreed, cracking ride. Great ride from Josie Nelson to come 4th in the juniors too, though the gaps between the top few in that made it less exciting to watch.
Also from today, cheesy proud dad moment: I'd put Frozen (Disney film) on to occupy my three year old so I could watch the women's which I had on a laptop on silent- after 10 minutes she made me turn frozen off so we could watch the cycling 😁
What about Katie Compton? Best of the rest at 41 years old. I'd say that was a result.
Great ride from Josie Nelson to come 4th in the juniors too,
Millie Couzens. Josie Nelson was 7th, Anna Flynn 15th and Maddie Wadsworth 24th.
Looking forward to seeing how the course races today, strong winds overnight but rain this morning apparently.
Raining again, proper cross conditions now. Will be some sketchy tarmac corners and comedy run ups
rumours on dutch websites via twitter that mens' elite might be cancelled (!) due to impending storm.
mvdp is off like a scolded cat !!!!!
VdP is on another planet - clearly saw that with the deep ruts / only one racing line that any following rider is at a disadvantage so has pressed home his advantage. Aerts looks to have gone too deep and the start and is now suffering. Concession might be that Pidders can grab a podium spot?
come on tom! chase him down ! lol
come on tom! chase him down !
👍👍👍
this is brutal !
Great job there!
What an attack! Brilliant ride.
What a ride son. Take a bow Tom Pidcock
Awesome! Well done Tom!
There were a few corners where it looked like Tom p would be caught.
Made it exciting. Bravo.
Excellent result for Pidcock,I was wondering if he could keep up the pace for the full distance,he did,well done!
U23 and men’s great races today.
Classy rides from Tom and Anna to pick folk off after slow starts with good racing and pacing it well.
But 2-4 in the men’s: someone who hasn’t looked close to doing that all year And had been ill, a man who’s had broken ribs for a month and a man who tore has leg off 6 months ago. Funny old game.
Another day of great racing!
Great rides from Anna and Tom, total change of course from overnight rain.
It was great to see Great Britain flags in the top 10 of every category.
Great rides from the athletes, really shows hard work/training is paying off for them.
IIRC VdP said that was his hardest race ever (RedbullTV), he's in a league of his own.
Tom Pidcock 🥈 such an entertaining race, a race changing break from him resulted in a well deserved second place, well done!
What by all reports what was an easy flat course, turned the pain up to 10 for the men's elite, I enjoyed it.
Managed to avoid social media spoilers and watch the womens u23 and mens elite last night. The mens elite was super exciting, pleased the cameras focused on the race behind a lot and not just MVDP. That TP acceleration was blistering! Bet he's pleased he cracekd Iserbyt, given the reported rivalery betweeen them. One of the best races I've watched in a long time. Pleased WvA came in well too. Some of those ruts looked savage.
Very composed ride by Anna Kay in the WU23, I watched the Mens elite first and Helen Wyman hinted that a brit had had a good result but given the mud-plugging I was expecting it to be Hattie Harnden, who also did have a really good ride.
Will have to try and watch the mens juniors tonight
I know that sports commentary is a difficult job, and I wouldn't want to do it myself, but jeez, that bloke (Ant Something?) is rubbish! 😀
It took 30 minutes of me peering at the TV, trying to work out who the GB rider was, in 5th place in the junior women's race, before he said her name. She'd been there plainly in view for ages but I guess he was checking his texts.
No, that rider's hands aren't cold - he's wiping mud off them, you idiot.
Pidcock was apparently a victim of the Belgian tactics when they made a gap by pulling away from him. No - they just rode away from him, that's not team tactics.
And NO I don't care if Jennifer from Halifax is enjoying the coverage, just get on and tell us a bit about the race.
hehe you're new to this aren't you?
I think BBC just took a UCI youtube feed. He's been doing the same rotten job on there for years and years, never improves.
GCN have been better this year and redbull pretty good.
hehe you’re new to this aren’t you?
I think BBC just took a UCI youtube feed. He’s been doing the same rotten job on there for years and years, never improves.
😀 No, but I've normally only heard him on the really poor Eurosport highlights programme. When I watch full races it will be via the first internet video I can find, so with lots of Flemish gibberish. They might be talking just as much nonsense, but I'd have no idea! 😀
Helen Wyman gave Rob Hatch a wee telling off on Red Bull when he got over-excited about a 'first British Rider' on the Elite podium, she then listed the two or three (?) women who had already achieved that feat.
He could have been a bit more graceful about it, didn't really acknowledge the correction and only sort of grudgingly qualified the statement next time by emphasising elite MEN'S podium.
Also glad they focused on 2nd - 4th place, that was actually worth watching! MvdP needs to do the decent thing and go find a sport he's not quite so good at 😉
Another mainly flat & featureless course for a major championship – I hope this is not a trend.
I might well be in a large minority for this one, but I dislike the idea of adding features to CX races mostly for entertainment value. With so much stuff tailored for TV these days, I think it's great we have this niche discipline, passed on from simpler times, of basically racing around fields.
How CX used to be done before they started using flat playing fields;
"I know that sports commentary is a difficult job, and I wouldn’t want to do it myself, but jeez, that bloke (Ant Something?) is rubbish!"
Yes it is hard, and he not just there for UK viewers, he was on UCI you tube world wide! so have to include other riders etc,
Also even more hard to commentate when you on you own and no one to chat to, bounce ideas, ask questions, which is why red bull is gen very good, as they have "experts" to help talk about the tech/training/tactics with.
It might not of been brilliant but it 100% better than having no commentary.
Helen Wyman gave Rob Hatch a wee telling off on Red Bull when he got over-excited about a ‘first British Rider’ on the Elite podium, she then listed the two or three (?) women who had already achieved that feat.
He could have been a bit more graceful about it, didn’t really acknowledge the correction and only sort of grudgingly qualified the statement next time by emphasising elite MEN’S podium.
I noticed that and went back to listen again, he had said men's podium in the first place.
How CX used to be done before they started using flat playing fields;
Ah yes...or 'taking your bike for a run' as it used to be known...
It might not of been brilliant but it 100% better than having no commentary.
As I said, I generally have the Flemish stream which is much better than the English one, even though I don’t understand a word. 😂
How can a professional commentator miss the fact that a competitor from his own country, wearing his own country’s very obvious colours, is sitting in fifth place for over half the race?
