World Cyclo-Cross Championships

 

Day 2 - Sunday 27 January 2008

Senior Women & Senior Men

Report & Images: Joolze Dymond

A section of the subdued and slightly understated crowd!

 

The second and final day of competition at the 2008 World Cyclo-Cross Championships saw the women's and men's races. Hanka Kupfernagel of Germany picked up her fourth world title in the Women's event, with Helen Wyman turning in the best placing of the weekend for the Brits in 18th place. Gabby Day was 32nd.

 

In the Men's event Dutchman Lars Boom took the honours after an epic battle involving the majority of the world's best riders - it was the first non-belgian win in the event for 7 years. GB's Rob Jebb and Paul Oldham battled bravely through the event, finishing just over 4 minutes down in 51st and 52nd places respectively.

 

Joolze Dymond has sent us a great selection of pics from the two races and we'll have post-race reaction from the GB team shortly.

 

WOMEN'S RACE

Sunday - and all eyes were turned to the Women's Elite race, featuring GB's greatest hope of an elusive medal, in the form of Helen Wyman. Team mate Gabby Day was also in the hunt and the thought of GB being in the mix brought a warm glow, on the frosty Sunday morning to the myriad GB supporters.

Helen Wyman (left) and Gabby Day warm up for their race

 

Wyman currently ranked third in the World took her place on the front row, alongside Daphny Van Den Brand and pre-race favourite Hanka Kupfernagel. At 11am the race was on with a first mad dash up the start/finish incline, by the very first corner, the first of many crashes took place, setting the scene for the race.

The start of the women's race and field roars up the big hill

Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) leads Laurence Leboucher (France) mid-race

 

Canadian Wendy Simms took the field out, leading for the first lap, with Wyman tucked in happily in the top ten and Day further down the field but confident that she would pull back places as the race progressed. As the sun warmed the course, the once frost-hardened mud began to thaw turning all the corners into treacherous slippery sections, that claimed many riders in the course of the race.

Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) celebrates another fine win in the World Championships

Kupfernagel rode a balanced race keeping a cool head and gradually pulled out a comfortable lead to take the win and with it her fourth 'Cross rainbow jersey. Marianne Vos grabbed silver from Frenchwoman Laurence Leboucher.

Unfortunately GB hopes were dashed as both our riders had shockingly disappointing results, considering their recent form. Wyman was confident of a good ride, but was not rewarded with the result she craved. The constant crashes going on all around her took their toll and she finished in a totally uncharacteristic 18th spot:

Helen Wyman

"Well my race started alright, half way through the first lap I started to get towards the right group and Hanker was next to me, so I just rode with her for a few hundred meters and then as you go into the second part of the course, there's a section where you go down and then you go up, one of the Dutch girls crashed and took everyone out. After that everyone just seemed to keep on crashing in front of whoever I was with. By the end of the second lap I could still see 4th and 5th place but I just couldn't get up to them and then I just went backwards from there really.

Helen Wyman digs in on the start-finish climb

I am really disappointed, I felt strong coming into this: last weekend I got third in the world cup like I did last year. So I felt that this was the time I could get on the podium. I genuinely expected to be in the top five if not on the podium so its massively disappointing when you set your self up for that and you don't get anywhere near your expectations.

I've had a good season, it was better than last year and I still have a few races left so I can make amends. I didn't treat this race any different to any other race and that's the best way for me to work as I didn't get too nervous or put too much pressure on myself and I was riding my own race but it just didn't happen, it just wasn't right.

Watched over by some pretty sinister "men in black", Helen Wyman pushes on mid-race

The course changed massively from when I did my practise lap this morning, the ground was still solid as the frost, and I was thinking excellent, this is an awesome course and then within an hour it just turned really slippery and it didn't matter what tyre choice you made it didn't make any difference. It started to get drier towards the end of the race but everyone just kept on crashing. So it was disappointing for me, but I'll end the season hopefully with a podium in the series and start again ready for next year's 'Cross season."

Team-mate Gabby Day also had a nightmare race: despite a confident start, a crash mid race left her with mechanical trouble, which lost her time, and she spent the rest of the race playing catch up on her own. She eventually rolled home in 32nd spot.

Gabby Day
"I was disappointed with my result, I feel I did ride well, but I just had a lot of problems today, so that was a bit unfortunate really. My first two laps were good I was with 2 Belgium girls and were working quite well, working through the bunch quite nicely and I was thinking if I can hang onto these wheels, I can get right up there, I was happy. But then everyone was having a few crashes on the slippy bits, so that was kind of normal and then at the bowl section where it was really muddy I had one quite big crash and I got up to get back on my bike and the wheel was jammed. I couldn't get it to move at all.

Gabriella Day before and during the race - check out the blinding sunshine!

So I was trying desperately to get it to turn, pulling all this mud out, losing all this time and still I couldn't get it to work. So in the end I undid the brakes and rode to the pits. By then I'd lost everybody, even the Chinese had got past me. I spent the rest of the race out on my own from then. It was really disappointing I was riding quite strongly but when you're on your own and there's no one in sight to catch, it just makes it so much harder.

 

Without the crash I'm confident I could have done alright. I was with a nice group and I was planning on staying with them. I really wanted to top off my season with a good result here, but that's racing."

MEN'S RACE

 

A few hours later and it was time for the sport's big guns to show their prowess in the Elite men's race. The Belgians have had a remarkable stranglehold on this title for the past seven years and hope was high amongst the thousands of Belgian fans that had made the pilgrimage to watch the battle for the holy grail of 'Cross. Wherever you turned you were constantly greeted by scores of 'supporter' jackets bearing the names of their idols; Wellens, Nys, Vervecken et al!

Bunch sprint? No, actally a mid-race shot of the leaders showing just how full-on this level of 'Cross really is!

The bright sun had done a great job of drying the course out, turning the 3.1km into an incredibly fast circuit which saw some truly exciting racing as the top riders in the world fought it out. For most of the race, it was anyone's guess who would take the title, with attack after attack.

It wasn't until the final lap that Dutchman Lars Boon launched the decisive attack, quickly putting clear air between him and the rest of the chasers, which he took to the finish to claim the win. Stybar managed to grab silver and the disappointed Belgians had to settle for a bronze from Nys.

More action from the head of the race - notice how all the riders have shouldered their bikes on the same side!

 

The GB boys were arguably out of their league, but they rode blinding races, finishing less than 5 minutes adrift of the winners. As amateurs in this fiercely professional sport, Paul Oldham and Rob Jebb did what they could to fly the British flag.

Paul didn't have the best of run ups to the race: a disagreement between himself and Italian food, saw him drop a few kilos before the race took place. Keen to take part despite feeling not quite right, he rode to his limits, leading Jebb into the first lap. However Jebb soon came past Oldham, relishing in his second Worlds experience, battling as hard as he could to improve his positions. But with the fearsome speeds being clocked by the leaders, all he could do was maintain his position. Jebb came in at 51st with a strong finishing Oldham nearly catching his team mate, coming home in 52nd.

I caught up with the guys just before they headed off for a well-earned beer with GB supporters to ask them how they found the race:

Rob Jebb

"My race went okay, it was as expected. It's unbelievable how fast they all go and you think I might just move up on this bit but it's so hard. It is the World Champs and these lads, well they're all as good as each other. I just rode good and well within myself. It was really tough course but really good, I can't believe how hard it was, there was just no time to have a little rest or a breather or anything like that, but I was really pleased to be here and giving it a go.

Jebb shoulders his bike for one of the tough run-ups

It was so different to last year. When there's mud you can catch a few people but when it's so fast you can't just think I'm gonna whiz past people here as everyone is fast. It's not my type of course, but then I never expected it to be, it was still hard and had to be the hilliest 'Cross I've done. It was a great World Champs.

Italian sun and huge crowds - the perfect backdrop for Rob Jebb

I was less nervous coming into this than I was last year, only a little bit but my aim was not to get lapped and I think we were a long way off getting lapped, so it was good. So all in all I'm pleased."

Paul Oldham

"It was a good race really considering, I haven't been too well all weekend, but it were alright! I had a decent start and then I did feel a little bit empty but I still seemed to be going fast. Rob passed me early doors and then I very nearly caught him back on the finish line.

Paul Oldham leads Rob Jebb early in the race

I just kept steady away, I didn't feel good but I was going quite quick so it were alright. It would have been nice to have done this when I felt good, but you have those weekends where everything doesn't quite go to plan. It's a great way to round off a good season, but the standard here is so good you don't move up anywhere once you've established where you're gonna be, everyone is such a high standard that you're not able to move up much.

Gridding makes no difference really in my eyes. Put Lars Boom on the back and he'd still win, it's just an excuse that really. A good rest now and it'll be alright then, a fresh season. Lots of travelling, lots of racing it'll be good."

I then spoke with team manager Simon Burney. He was understandably disappointed with the performance of the women, while he had a realistic outlook on sending our top elite men into battle with the continent's finest.

Simon Burney

"Today the women's race was a major disappointment, that was a big under performance from our riders, they now need to really think about what they need to change, they've had enough experience now of World Championships and they're not moving forward. So they need to go away from this and think about it really.

Rob Jebb (left) and Paul Oldham mid-race

The guys, well you have to remember they're amateurs and this is a professional sport and its not taking anything away the guys and how they go about it, they're just out of their depth at this level. Until it's a professional sport in Britain or until our elite riders make the move to become professional riders in another country, we are never going to be able to compete with the likes of the top 30 riders here.

Rob and Paul did the best they could, but that's as good as it can be for us. It's like your local Sunday league football club playing against a premier league club. Paul's also been sick a bit this week, but that doesn't make a huge difference, it means coming 48th instead of 52nd.

We should have at least one guy capable of running up in the top 20, someone like Roger Hammond - he probably would have been in that group, but we have no one who has made that jump, quit their day job and tried to make their fortune riding in another country. But when you've got families and jobs it's hard.

 

The guys that are going to do that could be your Ian Fields or your Alex Patons, that are going to decide that they need to go and live abroad and become professional 'Cross riders and try and do it. Senior riders for us is just representation: Paul and Rob are the best two guys we have and they come here and do the best they can, enjoy the atmosphere and learn from the experience, it's never going to get any better than that, you just have to be realistic."

OTHER IMAGES

Couple of intriguing shots - on the left what appears to be the local bicycle mounted equivalent of Dads Army. On the right, a rather more than half-empty glass!

Enjoying a day off and the Treviso sunshine, GB's under-23 and Junior riders - from the left Ian Field, Hamish Creber, Alex Paton, Mark Thwaites, Andrew Williams and Seb Batchelor

Our photographer gets a taste of her own medicine!

Results

Women
1 Hanka Kupfernagel (Germany) 45.15
2 Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 0.13
3 Laurence Leboucher (France) 0.17
4 Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (France) 0.26
5 Maryline Salvetat (France) 0.52
6 Mirja Melchers-Van Poppel (Netherlands) 0.58
7 Wendy Simms (Canada) 1.04
8 Daphny Van Den Brand (Netherlands) 1.09
9 Rachel Lloyd (United States Of America) 1.23
10 Caroline Mani (France) 1.42
11 Saskia Elemans (Netherlands) 1.45
12 Reza Hormes-Ravenstijn (Netherlands) 2.12
13 Stephanie Pohl (Germany) 2.14
14 Nadia Triquet-Claude (France) 2.18
15 Sanne Van Paassen (Netherlands) 2.24
16 Pavla Havlikova (Czech Republic) 2.39
17 Susanne Juranek (Germany) 2.54
18 Helen Wyman (Great Britain) 2.58
19 Vania Rossi (Italy) 3.18
20 Kerry Barnholt (United States Of America)
other

32 Gabriella Day (Great Britain) 6.40

Men

1 Lars Boom (Netherlands) 1.05.27
2 Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic) 0.05
3 Sven Nys (Belgium) 0.06
4 Erwin Vervecken (Belgium) 0.09
5 Radomir Simunek (Czech Republic) 0.10
6 Marco Aurelio Fontana (Italy)
7 Sven Vanthourenhout (Belgium)
8 Christian Heule (Switzerland) 0.12
9 John Gadret (France)
10 Klaas Vantornout (Belgium)
11 Kevin Pauwels (Belgium) 0.18
12 Richard Groenendaal (Netherlands)
13 Enrico Franzoi (Italy) 0.19
14 Bart Aernouts (Belgium) 0.20
15 Bart Wellens (Belgium) 0.21
16 Simon Zahner (Switzerland) 0.22
17 Gerben De Knegt (Netherlands) 0.27
18 Marek Cichosz (Poland)
19 Milan Barenyi (Slovakia) 0.28
20 Wilant Van Gils (Netherlands) 0.31
other

51 Robert Jebb (Great Britain) 4.45
52 Paul Oldham (Great Britain) 4.54