First Double-Header Of the Season
Posted October 14 2009
Result | Ian's Twitter

October 10 - Namen GVA

This was a brand new course for cyclo-cross set in the picturesque walled city of Namen/Namur. There had been much hype all week about the new course some top riders saying it was harder than the infamous Koppenberg and others saying it was too much like an MTB course to race cross on it. Designed by the legend that is Roland Libiton, i was looking forward to a nice hard cross that wouldn't be like an off road criterium!

I had taken it easy all week partly becasuse it was meant to be an easy week in my training cycle and partly because my legs hadn't been feeling that great since the trip to Italy.

With some rain in the days leading up to the race and again a bit more on race day the course was in a good cyclocross state, enough mud to make it interesting but not too much to make it a running race. Much of the course was on singletrack but of which had a good solid base to it making it an ideal location for 'cross racing. After a couple of laps of the course I was getting into it and was looking forward to racing on it come the afternoon.

Called up next to Sven Nys isn't my normal place on the grid however due to his poor result in Italy he was back with me on the 4th row of 5. This infact helped me alot, round the start loop I simply followed the master at work, he carved through spaces I didn't think were possible to get through and riders almost moved out of his way the presence he has in a race is unreal. The first half of the lap was pretty much all downhill and my technical skills seemed to be up to scratch, able to follow and even over take on the descent. The uphill was hard to say the least finished off by a few run ups, it made the legs really burn even on the first lap of 8.

I rode a sensible race riding for the first 30mins well within myself, at one point I was up to 14th, riding with Radomir Simunek, I couldn't stay with him and began to lose a couple of places over the next 30mins however I had reserved enough in the tank for the final few laps and held on to score 17th position thrilled with my result against almost a world cup standard field.

1 Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus 1:05:15
2 Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 0:00:42
3 Zdenek Štybar (Cze) Fidea Cycling Team 0:02:02
4 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Projob 0:02:22
5 Bart Aernouts (Bel) Rabobank 0:02:50
6 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 0:03:21
7 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Revor-Jartazi Continental Team 0:03:45
8 Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Rabobank 0:03:52
9 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus 0:04:10
10 Radomír Šimunek (Cze) BKCP - Power Plus 0:04:20
11 Christian Heule (Swi) RendementhypoCycling Team 0:04:25
12 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas 0:04:33
13 Jonathan Page (USA) Planet Bike 0:04:45
14 Mariusz Gil (Pol) LKS Pom Strzelce Krajenskie 0:04:50
15 Jan Soetens (Bel) Revor-Jartazi Continental Team 0:04:56
16 Wilant van Gils (Ned) Pro Cycling Team ZZPR.nl-Destil-Merida 0:05:21
17 Ian Field (GBr) Hargroves Cycles/Trant/Next/GSI 0:05:22
18 Thijs Al (Ned) AA Drink - BeOne 0:05:37
19 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 0:05:42
20 Ben Berden (Bel) Revor-Jartazi Continental Team 0:06:22
21 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) KDL Trans NV 0:06:33

The following day was the superprestige opener of the year at Ruddervoorde. It was hard going to the start knowing my legs wouldn't feel like they had the day before because of the severity of the race on Saturday, however I still had high hopes as my form is obviously good at the moment. Things didn't go well from the off, having Sven on my row hindered me by people switching alot on the start straight as he once again forced his way through in the first 300m of the race. In the very late 30's after a lap on such a fast course is never a good place to be and I fought hard to move up riding faster than good groups of riders further up the course however just when I needed that little bit more the previous days efforts kicked in and I started to fade. I ended up 33rd and dissappointed that I couldnt back up the previous days great result, however my legs were good and with a different start who knows....

This week i am taking the oppotunity to get some good quality hours/miles in on the bike, keeping up the endurance through the cross season is key if you want to hold onto your form come Nationals and Worlds in January and Febuary!!

On Friday I travel to the Czech Republic for the second round of the world cup series in Plzen, quickly foillowed up by a night race in Holland on the Tuesday afterwards.

Ian

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