Report: Cyclo-Cross World Cup: Koksijde Belgium
Report: Hugo Gladstone | Images: Chris Bracewell
Related: Gabby Day Diary
Cheered on by scores of British fans making a weekend out of the international cross racing and the nearby Ghent Six-Day, five British riders were in action at the latest round of the cyclo-cross World Cup in Koksijde, Belgium on Saturday. Helen Wyman (right) took the best result for them with ninth place in the women's race.
Wyman finished the race 2:43 down on world champion Marianne Vos who'd outsprinted fellow Dutch rider Daphny Van Den Brand for victory. Finishing one place behind Wyman, Gabby Day had a particularly encouraging ride to tenth place. Consolidating Britain's presence in the race, Nikki Harris followed her home in a similarly credible 12th.
"I'm really pleased with that," commented Day, who admitted before the race that the tough sandy course around the dunes on the North Sea coast was "not a favourite" of hers. "I got a good start and just moved forward through the race. I felt really strong today."
After a summer affected by illness, Day has made a steady start to this year's cross season. Now the form is starting to pick up, she said: "It's pretty exciting really. Things are starting to go the right way. I found I was really good on the uphill running sections. It's not normally my sort of circuit."
Although Day (pictured below post race) was visibly enthused by her improvement on last year's 18th place, the mood was not quite so buoyant in the Wyman camp. Having taken a mid-season training break in Portugal followed by a win and a second place in Germany last weekend, she'd expressed hopes before the start of bettering last year's fourth place and finishing on the podium.
Above: The look in Gabby Day's eyes (left) bears testament to ultra tough conditions (right)
Being third quickest away from the gun, Wyman's race got off to a reasonable enough start but that was as good as it ever got. By the middle of the first lap she'd lost of a handful of places and was unable to capitalise on a potential free lift from Katie Compton back up towards the front of the race.
The American winner of the first two rounds had crashed while descending from a steep dune on the first lap but recovered sufficiently enough to climb back up from eighth place to third and retain her World Cup lead.
Wyman was immediately whisked off to an anti-doping control after the race but her husband Stefan was uncompromising in his race analysis.
"Helen was going like a sack of spuds," he noted. "Every rider has a bad day every now and then; this is her worst performance this season. Last week she was battling it out with Hanka Kupfernagel; today she was three or four minutes [sic] behind. I was on the opposite side of the pits to Hanka's helpers."
Above: Ian Field warms up in a supermarket car park. His supporter's club was a similarly no-expense spared affair!
On the plus side for Wyman, the World Cup is not a major target for the season. Her main goal has been to medal for the first time an international championship - a feat Wyman achieved four weeks ago with bronze in the Europeans. The ideal compliment to that result would be another podium at the Worlds in January.
"Helen's kind of sacrificed the World Cup season for other things," said Stefan. "When you're targeting a particular event, the hardest thing is to keep your head up when you get a bad result. That said a bad day today for Helen should have been fifth or sixth. There was a big difference between those positions today and ninth."
In the men's race, Britain had National Champion Jody Crawforth and Ian Field flying the flag. Both will readily admit they are not at the same level as the likes of Sven Nys, Niels Albert and eventual race winner Zdenek Štybar(right), so they were relatively satisfied with finishing positions in the top 40.
Field, based in Belgium for the season, was 34th, five and a half minutes down on the Czech champion.
"It was OK," he said. "This time of year I'm not going at my best. I had a week off the bike a couple of weeks ago with a really bad stomach bug. I didn't eat for three days and lost about five or six kilos -I know most of that's water but it still knocks it out of you."
Field got away to a good start making the first passage through the pits in 24th place.
"I tried to hold that position but had a bit of a shocker going through one of the sand sections on the first lap."
These are the defining feature of the Koksijde course and can be where the race is won and lost. Frequent heavy showers over the weekend compacted the sand to make such sections a little easier but riders could still run into difficulty.
"It's not too bad if you do it on the last lap, but on the first lap -because everyone's so close to each other- you can lose five or six places," said Field. "After that I think I was 32nd pretty much the whole race and just lost a couple towards the end - I think that's because I haven't been able to ride my bike much in the last two weeks."
Now Field is looking towards winning the National Championship in six weeks time.
"I've never won a cross title in any category. I've won a mountain bike national title but I really want the national cross title so bad."
In the longer term the 23 year old has committed himself to improving his cross performances at world class level. He hopes that by time the 2012 world championships take place on the very same course in Koksijde he'll be up there with the best.
"I made that decision last winter," he said. "I was just coming out here and racing at weekends after not having a very good summer and was there or thereabouts. I took February off and then have spent all season building up for this cross season. Hargroves Cycles have backed me big time which has allowed me to come out for the whole season now. I've had three top 20s in Super Prestige and GVA Trophy events so far this season."
Above Left: Jody Crawforth taking it easy pre race. Above Right: Gabby Day doing the exact opposite...
Jody Crawforth's (pictured above) take on the sport is a little less full-on. He holds down a full-time job and made the weekend trip out to Belgium: "just because I enjoy doing it". He eventually finished 40th after spending three-quarters of the race in a group but blowing towards the end.
"I didn't feel too great today, but it's a tough old course that saps your energy," he explained. "I was OK for the first few laps and then your bike feels like it weighs about half a tonne. Running in the sand, you seem to take one step forward and half a step back."
Despite the effort in his legs from Saturday's race, Crawforth raced another cross in Belgium on Sunday - and won it. Riding an event for ‘Elite riders without contract' in Drongen near Ghent, the Arctic Premier RT rider took the victory by 38 seconds. Admittedly many of the sport's top riders were riding a Super Prestige event in northern Holland, but there were still a number of former pros and top level amateurs in the 69 strong field.
"I'm pretty happy with that: I don't think I've won a cross in Belgium before," reflected Crawforth on Monday morning. "My legs were a bit stiff to start with but I was part of a chasing group that caught the lone leader. I eventually put the hammer down through a bit of a boggy bit and opened a gap."
RESULTS
UCI World Cup - Koksijde
Women's
14.550km
1. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) 0:38:02
2. Daphny Van Den Brand (Netherlands) + 1 sec
3. Katie Compton (USA) + 41 sec
4. Hanka Kupfernaghel (Germany) + 1:08
5. Sanne Van Paassen (Netherlands) + 1:35
... ...
9. Helen Wyman (Great Britain) + 2:43
10. Gabby Day (Great Britain) + 3:10
12. Nikki Harris (Great Britain) + 3:35
Men's
28.850 km
1. Zdenek Štybar (Czech Republic) 1:04:23
2. Sven Nys (Belgium) st
3. Klaad Vantornout (Belgium) + 1 sec
4. Niels Albert (Belgium) st
5. Francis Mourey (France) + 3 sec
... ...
34. Ian Field (Great Britain) + 5:28
40. Jody Crawforth (Great Britain) + 6:51
"B-League"- Drongen
1. Jody Crawforth 1:01:53
2. Kendric Van Grembergen + 38 sec
3. Bart Verschueren + 41 sec
4. Stijn Penne + 47 sec
5. Gianni Denolf st