If you didn’t watch every race of last weekend’s Cyclocross Worlds in Bieles you probably missed out on some good racing. But what you really missed was a ton of carnage. Before the fact that 5 of the top 10 men’s elite finishers came across the line with either a flat tire or a broken bike, there were too many crashes to count. The racing kicked off on Saturday morning with a snow-covered course that had so many frozen and straight-up ice-covered sections that finishing was more about how quickly you got back up after the inevitable fall. By the end of racing on Sunday the course had started to thaw, but that just meant slick mud to deal with too. A helpful Dutch teenager named Noah van Putten put together all the crashes from the coverage so we can catch up on what we might have missed.
Check out more videos after the break, starting with newly reminted World Champ Wout van Aert and his Sniper Cycling squad and then some fast & snowy DH riding…
Sniper Cycling is the familiar name of the Veranda’s Willems-Crelan-Charles Pro Cycling Team that van Aert leads. Like many other pro cyclists, they too rode up into the hills of the Costa Blanca in Spain this past month to work on building a base for the road season. That last bit of warm-er weather train seems to have done well for Wout who just earned another year in cyclocross’ coveted rainbow stripes.
While winter and snow hasn’t stopped our European team from riding (although they have stuck to mostly to cross bikes, and some less technical XC trail riding) not everyone rides determined through the winter. Some downhillers may take to the slopes and snowboards & skis, but it’s nice to see some other Euro nuts getting fast and loose on the DH tracks and stunts. Remember kids, lower tire pressures give better grip in the snow, and don’t forget your full-face and other protection, cause you’re gonna to crash…
