Follow britishcycling.org.uk on  

Wyman 5th in Loenhout 'Cross

Story posted December 30, 2009 | Team Press Release

A busy Christmas schedule for Helen Wyman has now finished for the Kona –FSA rider with a 5th place finish in the event at Loenhout. Part of the GVA series, this race was very important to Helen to try to gain some valuable points to edge her closer to the overall series lead (Helen currently lies in 2nd place).  The race started very well, with Helen gaining the race lead off the long road straight and through the first technical section. 

She then settled into a rhythm with what had become six leading riders. The current form of the three flying Dutch women was however going to be too much to handle and Helen slipped into a battle for 4th and 5th place with the in-form Belgian star Sanne Cant. With more than a week of snow, the course was really affected by the amount of water that had been lying on the ground. 

As the day warmed up, the conditions got worse as Helen explained. "When the conditions change so much during the day, it’s always difficult to get your tyre choice right and the pressures you use. There were also five races on the course, which is almost guaranteed to change the way the course rides" added a very muddy Helen after the race. 

Helen later reflected on the last few races. "It’s been a pretty good block really and I’m focused 100 per cent on the end of the season. Training sometimes therefore has to come first and it affects your race day performances but that’s the way it has to be. Still, 5th here today was good and moves me closer to the lead in the GVA overall. The 11th place in Zolder was also pretty solid as I really wasn’t anywhere near the top of my game and  I’m looking forward to another solid training block now and working hard for the end of January."

Brief Result
1 Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.nl-Destil-Merida 0:39:52  
2 Marianne Vos (Ned) DSB Bank Ladies Cycling-Team - VVHP 0:00:25  
3 Sanne van Paassen (Ned) ZZPR.nl-Destil-Merida 0:01:05  
4 Sanne Cant (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 0:02:13  
5 Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona-FSA 0:02:24

Brief Overall
1 Pavla Havlikova (Cze) KC Kooperativa SG Jablonec 61 pts
2 Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona-FSA 57  
3 Daphny van den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.nl-Destil-Merida 50  
4 Sanne Cant (Bel) BKCP-Powerplus 50  
5 Linda Van Rijen (Ned) 44 

Links: www.helenwyman.com www.twitter.com/cx_helen www.konaworld.com