World Cyclo-Cross Championships: Treviso - Italy

 

Thursday 23 January 2008 - Training Day 1

Report & Images: Joolze Dymond

The finishing straight at Treviso - all quite Thursday, but at the weekend  expected to be somewhat busier

 

The World Cyclo-Cross Championships are being decided in Italy this weekend and the GB Team has sent a ten rider squad, who are all keen to get into the thick of the action and pick up valuable experience to take forward and help them develop their own racing careers both at home and abroad.

Representing the juniors are experienced Worlds competitor and current Junior National Champion Alex Paton, fellow mountain bikers Hamish Creber, and Seb Batchelor, plus strong road and track riding junior Andrew Williams.

Mark Thwaites and Ian Field are our representatives in the under 23 race, with Paul Oldham and Rob Jebb the selections for the men's senior race and Gabby Day and Helen Wyman completing the team line up, riding the senior women's event.

Hard work for the mechanics as they prepare the bikes for a tough weekend

The Earlier this week, the riders started to assemble in their hotel, 6km from the actual course, to be greeted by mechanics Geoff Shergold and Sandy Gilchrist (who had the mammoth task of driving the riders' bikes from Manchester to Treviso) and Peter Hargroves. Simon Burney once more headed up the team of coaches (Phil Dixon and Martin Eadon) and helpers, Helena Eriksson and John Salemme.

Left, team meetings are vital for keeping on top of planning at a big event. Right, nice conditions, if cold, at least makes the mechanics' jobs easier

The juniors and the under 23s arrived first, on Wednesday, and their priorities were, of course, food and water! Then it was off to bed ready for the start of the build up to the weekend.

Thursday - Training Day 1

Not a bad setting is it?

 

Thursday morning we woke to fabulous blue skies (a long way from the wet, dreary weather we seem to be enduring in the UK at the moment!) and that alone seemed to put a bounce in the riders' steps (and this photographer's!). A team briefing followed a solid breakfast where the day's undertakings were explained to the riders: a quick spin in the morning to loosen their legs, followed by lunch and then a trip to the course for a few practice laps.

The course itself is situated just outside Treviso in Northern Italy with the snow capped Alps forming an impressive backdrop. It's in a landscaped former coal mine and the 3.2km course is marked out with masses of brightly coloured tape, which glistened in the bright sunlight as the riders arrived to get their first ride.

The four junior men get ready for a few practice laps

Setting off as a team, with Phil Dixon and Martin Eadon in attendance, the aim was to do a few laps identifying areas that needed working on. Then the boys were off on their own riding at near race pace, practicing various sections to gain confidence and getting to know the course intimately.

Then it was a ride back to the hotel and a good rest before heading for the restaurant to refuel, ready for the next day.

It isn't just the riders who were enjoying the conditions - our reporter Joolze Dymond is lapping up the sun and the clear skies too!

Reaction - Coach, Phi Dixon

 

I spoke to Coach Phil Dixon about the build up to this championship and how he thought the juniors were shaping up so far:

"They're doing alright. They had a good day on the course today, they've had a pretty good day all round for training, they did a short road ride this morning, then they went down to the course this afternoon and did lots of work on the course and then rode back. They did a couple of laps with some good hard efforts. Initially we went round as a team to try and show them what to think about on different sections then they went out individually to work on the sections they felt they needed to improve on.

I'm pretty impressed with them all today, I didn't have to pick them up on much, they need to know that this a World Championship and they need to focus when they are on the course. They need to know every nook and cranny all the workings of it. They need to be comfortable with it, to know where to get all their effort out, where to get a bit of recovery, where to make gear changes, what gears you want to be in round the corners. Plus working things out like the finish, potentially having things in your head like what are you going to do if it comes down to a sprint finish, which it could do. This course is hard."

I asked Phil about the three junior riders making their worlds debuts and how he thought they'd cope?

"Yes this will be their first experience of a Cyclo-Cross Worlds: Hamish has experienced a Cross-Country Worlds, but for Andrew and Seb this will be the first time they have had to step into this type of arena. They are pretty confident though, I think they will happily take this all in their stride. Of course they will be nervous on the start line, but I try and help them in terms of advising them and helping to boost that confidence. They have all done the work to get themselves here and so far they are handling themselves very well in this environment."

Are they facing a very technical course?

"Well you could say yes and you could say no. I think at race pace, though, the minute you hit things at speed, the corners become technical. So yes it is technical, they're going to be at race pace and when you approach corners when you're racing, it's technical, getting your lines right, it'll get muddy and rutty, so they'll have to choose the right lines.

Run-ups are a significant challenge on the Treviso course

There are also some big old run-ups on this course and if they can ride half way up them they'll save a bit of time. Early on it'll be chaos probably so they may have to walk them the first couple of laps. There's also the steps and the big climb. Hamish rode that big one twice today. It's about your weight distribution on your bike but he might not be able to do that when he's breathing real heavy and there's riders running in front of him."

What are our chances of success this weekend?

"I'm not sure. I do know we have four good lads. I don't necessarily think they said 6 months ago I want to win a 'Cross worlds, but for these lads the experience of being here is as, if not more important than the results. We've got 3 lads taking all this forward into mountain biking and one taking this to road and track. The experience and the process of what they are doing are invaluable. It gets them used to racing in an environment they aren't currently used to: small circuits, lots of loud spectators, it can be quite intimidating, so I think they will gain a lot from this. In terms of an actual result, we could do alright and I think we could get some in the top ten. They're more than capable of that if they get a really good ride in. We got good results last year and potentially we should get good results this year."

 

Rider Reaction - Andrew Williams and Hamish Creber

 

I then spoke with a couple of the younger riders to find out how they were finding the experiences so far:

Andrew Williams (pictured)

"Yeah it's going okay. I had a look at the course today and I'm pleased as I think it'll really suit me. It's like a road course, it's not too technical, well not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There are quite a lot of road sections, which is my area. I'm on the ODP for track and road at the moment, so this is quite new and a great experience for me.

I only got into 'Cross basically to keep fit over the winter, just keep ticking over and it's just gone from there. I had a good ride at the nationals and got chosen to come here. I was delighted. It was an ambition of mine, if I'd not got on the ODP to get to the Cyclo-Cross Worlds, so it's brilliant that I'm here.

Fortunately having done some camps with the ODP and it's helped me with the discipline that's expected when you come away, so that's not a surprise. I'm already used to it. I'm looking forward to the race; I'll give it my best shot and see what happens. I'm expecting a good result: if it comes it comes but if it doesn't then it doesn't but I know that I'll have given it my all."

Hamish Creber

"So far it's been quite interesting and very different to the Mountain Bike Worlds I did last year - we'll see how it goes. The course is good and not too bad for running, with only 1 or 2 dismounts. I'm really excited and it should be a good experience. I feel more relaxed - I guess as this isn't as big a race for me as the MTB Worlds were. I'm doing this for the experience not for a result, so I can enjoy it a bit more and get the most out of it."