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Preview: 2011 Cyclo-Cross World Championships
Sankt Wendel, Germany - January 29-30 2011 | Event Home | GB Team | Entry List | Official Website
The sixty-first edition of the UCI World Cyclocross World Championships start this Friday; British Cycling Online will bring you live coverage from the races and behind the scenes of the GB camp.
Sankt Wendel plays host to the 2011 UCI World Cyclocross Championships this weekend for the first time since 2005, concluding a tense winter season which no one rider has dominated.
A 2.8km course awaits competitors who will pack for frozen conditions; the current forecast predicting little in the way of snow in the week, before temperatures plummet from one degree to minus ten on Friday and throughout the racing weekend.
Race Schedule
Thursday
UCI course inspection 09:00-11:00
Official training 14:00-16:00
Friday
Official training 14:00-16:00
Team managers meeting 17:00-17:30
Saturday
Juniors Men 11:00
Under 23 Men 14:00
Sunday
Women 11:00
Elite Men 14:00
BRITISH TEAM
Travelling to Germany on Wednesday are thirteen British riders headed by team manager Phil Dixon.
2011 has been another breakthrough season for Brits on the continent where the sport thrives, and heading the women's contingent is Helen Wyman who has raced to wins at the Jaarmarkt Cross, Koppenberg Cross and the Cross del Ponte, retaining her British Champions title along the way.
Recent results point toward Wyman being in with a good shot at the podium, having re-found form - if not good fortune - at the Pont Chateau World Cup two weeks previous. A mechanical failure took the British Champion out of contention in that race, which leads to Wyman hoping for some payback at the biggest race of the season.
Nikki Harris and Gabriella Day also return to race following successful seasons abroad, where the benefits of being based at the home of cross racing has been obvious - both recording top-twenty results in major events.
However, all three British riders face tough competition to reach the top step of the podium - America's Katie Compton the favourite to take the World Championship after finding a perfect balance between racing and retaining a lifestyle at home. Behind Compton are the stalwarts of the cyclo-cross scene; outgoing Champion Marianne Vos, Daphny Van Den Brand and home favourite Hanka Kupfernagel.
In the men's race Britain's three standout cyclo-cross riders - Ian Field, Paul Oldham and Jody Crawforth - make the trip to St. Wendel to test themselves against the world's greatest.
For Field, the World Championships conclude a calendar of European and domestic events which have included career-best results; but also some less memorable performances.
A sixth-place finish at the Nacht van Woerden proved his potential for a dream season, however a bout of illness stunted the mid-season for Field, who fought through dizzy spells to win Britain's Southampton and Bradford National Trophy races back-to-back. Such good form pointed toward the National Championships - a title which has eluded Field for five years - and would continue to haunt him in 2011; Britain's best taking his second-consecutive fourth-place.
A top-twenty result at the World Championships would no doubt make up for two blips in an otherwise ground-breaking year, which continued in recent weeks as Field finished fifteenth at the Pont Chateau World Cup - a career best.
For UK-based riders Paul Oldham and Jody Crawforth, performances have been no less impressive. From round one of the National Trophy, where both riders rode away from the chasing pack it was obvious who would dominate the season.
Oldham went on to collect the British Championship, while Crawforth edged the win in the National Trophy Series - both riders remaining consistent and hinting toward even better form for the Worlds.
A team of seven under-aged riders travel to St. Wendel - including Luke Gray and Kenta Gallagher for the under-23 race and Hugo Robinson, Luke Grivell-Mellor, Joe Moses, Jack Clarkson and Alistair Slater for the Junior competition. For most of these riders, it is their second World Championships and another year to build experience of racing in the toughest environment.
Stay tuned to British Cycling Online for expert insight, rider interviews and live coverage of the racing throughout the week.
