Cyclo-cross News & Racing Round-up, Sunday, January 31, 2010

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Date published:

January 31, 2010, 19:00

• UCI add sand to the mix for 'cross Worlds

  

  Article published:

  January 30, 2010, 09:51

  By:

  Brecht Decaluwé

  Opinion split amongst US riders over UCI efforts to counter snow and ice in Tabor

  In an effort to counter icy conditions for this weekend's Cyclo-cross World Championships, the International Cycling Union (UCI) has introduced sand to sections of the course in Tabor, Czech Republic. The decision has drawn mixed reactions from the Elite men's field, with opinion within the US men's team particularly divided over the virtue of alterations made.

  The course, located at a park in the suburbs of Tabor, has been covered with huge packs of snow after several weeks of freezing conditions in the Czech Republic. The UCI's cyclo-cross co-ordinator Peter Van den Abeele had taken the decision to add sand earlier this week. "It can snow every day," Van den Abeele told cyclo-cross.info. "If that happens we'll have to remove it and the remaining bits will be covered with sand, to make it less slippery."

  While the predicted snowfalls had failed to materialise on Saturday, low temperatures have ensured that the course has remained unpredictable. Riders exploring the course this week witnessed the changeability of conditions; morning sessions marked by a mixture of snow and ice, before turning into an ice rink in the afternoons. Czech champion and top favourite Zdenek Stybar tested the course earlier in the day mid-week and explained that the track was likely to suit riders best equipped for mud-like conditions.

  "It's not comparable with the Czech championships [held on the same course]. Because of the snow one has to work hard, just like in a muddy race," Stybar said.

  However, with the Elite men's race to begin at 2pm CET on Sunday, Stybar and his colleagues are likely to race in slicker conditions. Photographers witness to afternoon training sessions throughout the week captured countless riders who hit the ice after losing traction in one of the multiple corners of the twisting course. The difficulty was not restricted to junior riders, with Elite riders including French champion Francis Mourey, US rider Jeremy Powers and experienced ice specialists like Czech Radomir Simunek also coming down.

  With his riders arriving in the Czech Republic on Thursday night, Belgian coach Rudy De Bie was the only member of the Belgian camp at the course on Thursday afternoon. While Belgian riders Sven Nys and Niels Albert will enter the race as favourites, De Bie was only too aware of the role conditions would play in the final result. "It's not impossible to ride on this course but the packs of snow that are spread out over the course create some difficult passages," De Bie told Belgium's Het Nieuwsblad. "It improves after riders have created tracks, but then you get ice. It'll be super technical. The rider who dares to go fast through the multiple corners can make the difference."

  Opinion split in the US camp

  Reactions to the course from within the US team were varied. After struggling in the mud of Hoogerheide last week, US champion Tim Johnson expressed his desire to race on snow and ice, similar to the circumstances in which he grabbed his national title in December.

  However, Johnson's teammate Jeremy Powers was less enthusiastic about the slick conditions he had experienced during training runs this week. "It was a sheet of ice, dangerous. Some riders were training with the new studded Dugast tyres and they were flying," Powers told Cyclingnews.

  Despite the clear advantage of studded tyres, riders will be unable to rely on the extra grip after the UCI earlier this month passed new regulations ea banning their use.

  Former US Champion Ryan Trebon spent a night in Prague before arriving at his base for the Championships, outside of Tabor on Friday. At 6'5", Trebon's height would appear to be a disadvantage on the Worlds course, but he has proven his ability on ice in the past with fifteenth place at Sankt-Wendel in 2005. He told Cyclingnews that although he hadn't seen the course, he was against changes being made.

  "Even though making the course less slick would help me I don't believe they should change it. When the courses are extremely muddy they don't try and make them less muddy or faster, do they? I think the course should be what it's going to be. Of course, if it's a safety factor for the riders then I don't mind a change but making the snow less slick is a bad idea," Trebon said.

  Echoing Trebon's comments, a confident Jonathan Page was more than happy with the cold weather and conditions. The first US male to claim a World Championship medal (2007) would prefer the course to remain untouched.

  "I rode the course and I like it; I like the snow. If they throw sand on the snow it's going to make a big mess. It will still be fun but I think it would be a waste of their time and not necessary," Page told Cyclingnews.

  One week earlier after the World Cup in Hoogerheide, Page referred to the 2005 course and pointed out that it was his cup of tea. "Normally it's great for me. The World Championships in Sankt-Wendelhad a similar course and that would have been the start of the JP-special but I flatted out of the front group. Anything is possible [next weekend]," Page added.

  The US rider is a dark horse for the podium on Sunday afternoon and said up until now his preparation has been perfect, though technique would be the key to success. "I feel like this is my best opportunity ever and I hope to capitalize on that," Page said. "On a course like this, braking will be critical."
   

• Ricco's partner denies taking EPO CERA

  

  Article published:

  January 30, 2010, 12:57

  By:

  Stephen Farrand

  Vania Rossi: “If I’d taken CERA or anything else, I’d deserve to be put in jail.”

  Riccardo Riccò's girlfriend has denied taking the banned blood-boosting drug EPO CERA, revealing she breast fed her baby boy just before undergoing the anti-doping test on January 10 that showed the positive test.

  The Italian Olympic Committee announced on Friday that Vania Rossi failed a test for EPO CERA after she finished second at the Italian national cyclo-cross championships. Ricco tested positive for the same drug at the 2008 Tour de France.

  "I can’t believe it. I’ve nothing to do with the accusations made against me," Rossi told the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

  "I’ve never taken banned substances and I especially haven’t done it now because I’m a mum and I’ve been breast feeding my baby boy since last July."

  "People who know me and know my past, understand only too well that the whole thing is absurd. I’d never risk my son’s health for a bike race. That Sunday, while I was waiting for the control, I breast fed my son. If I’d taken CERA or anything else, I’d deserve to be put in jail."

  "What happened? I don’t know but there are too many things that don’t add up."
  
  On Friday afternoon the Italian Olympic Committee officially suspended Rossi from competition, just hours after her positive test was announced. She now faces an investigation by the Italian anti-doping investigators.

  Doping is illegal under Italian law and so Rossi could also face criminal charges.

   

• Johnson welcomes World Championships Stateside

  

  Article published:

  January 30, 2010, 13:56

  By:

  Kirsten Frattini

  US national champion pledges to compete in Louisville in 2013

  United States of America's National Cyclo-cross Champion, Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) welcomes the International Cycling Union (UCI) Cyclo-Cross World Championships to Louisville, Kentucky in 2013. It will be the first time the world's stage will set up on American soil.

  "As someone who has seen our American cross scene grow to a boil for the last 15 years, it meant so much to be standing there while Pat McQuaid made the selection official," Johnson told Cyclingnews. "Cyclo-Cross is a different animal in the US and having the World Championships will give all of us, from athletes to fans, something incredible to shoot for."

  UCI President Pat McQuaid announced the Cyclo-Cross World Championships would be held in Eva Bandman Park in Louisville, Kentucky in 2013. The planned course will be held in a park nearby the US Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross (USGP) Derby City Cup held in Champions Park.

  "I have seen the park which will host the race, it's similar to the current course we use but with more elevation and will have established course features of a world class race venue, stairs, paved start straights, pit areas," Johnson said. "It will be a permanent Cyclocross race and practice venue much like Valmont Park in Boulder. One thing that will set it apart from many of the worlds venues I've been to is that it will be within a couple kilometres of a large downtown city with nice hotels and restaurants. The sports commision there is very excited and committed to making Louisville a city known for cycling."

  Bruce Fina and Joan Hanscom are the organizers of the USGP, an eight round series herald as the most well-run events in the country. Its includes double weekends at the Planet Bike Cup in Madison, Wisconsin, the Derby City Cup in Louisville, Kentucky, the Mercer Cup in New Jersey and the Stanley Portland Cup in Oregon. Ryan Trebon (Kona-FSA) won this year's overall title. Johnson, a long-time member of the US National Team has been working with Fina and Hanscom for six years on the national and international cyclo-cross stage.

  "I went along with Bruce Fina and Joan Hanscom to hear [Pat] McQuaid make the formal announcement in front of the assembled dignitaries there for meetings about other world championships locations," Johnson said. "I was introduced by Bruce and he mentioned the story of how he came to worlds in Poprad as a spectator, with Stu Thorne, watching me compete and win my bronze medal. He worked since then on the USGP and as team manager for the US team in hopes of preparing US riders for the world champs and its higher level of competition."

  The USGP has radically helped foster and improve the traditionally European-based sport of cyclo-cross in the US. Other notable and attractive US events now include Cross-Vegas and the North American Cyclo-Cross Trophy (NACT), a ten-round series that includes FSA Star Crossed and Rad Racing GP, Gran Prix of Gloucester, Toronto International Cyclo-Cross, Blue Sky Velo Cup and Boulder Cup and the Whitmore's Landscaping Super Cross Cup. Johnson won the NACT overall title this year.

  Hosting the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships will no doubt continue the development of cyclo-cross in the US over the next three years. "We will have a goal to work towards, across the board," Johnson said. "It's going to give riders a clearly visible goal. In comparison, when I began racing cross, a 'world championship' was something exotic and seemed far away in terms of time and distance. Now, I can imagine an entire class of young American cyclists having that idea changed and brought to the tip of their fingers."

  Cyclo-Cross' European greats have been participating in North American cyclo-cross for nearly a decade. Former World Champion, Erwin Vervecken was one of the first Belgian cyclo-cross talents to cross the Atlantic in 2001. He has spent four of the last eight years racing cyclo-cross in September in the US to gain early fitness during the pre-European season and collecting valuable UCI points ahead of the his competitors. Stateside cyclo-cross has increased in popularity and attracted other European-based 'cross riders, including retired Italian Daniele Pontoni, Christian Heule, Joachim Parbo and Tim van Nuffel.

  It has been reported that seven-time Belgian National Champion Sven Nys would delay his retirement from 2012 until after the 2013 Cyclo-Cross World Championships. Likewise, Johnson has pledged to continue his cyclo-cross career over the next three years, after which he may decide to hang up his wheels.

  "I'll definitely be there," Johnson said. "Personally, it would be a great way to bookend my career. If someone as classy and influential [as Sven Nys] has decided to continue racing until the day worlds moved off the continent, then that shows just how much a race means to our sport. I'd be honored to race and be successful on home turf!"

• Stybar, Nys top picks for Worlds

  

  Article published:

  January 30, 2010, 17:05

  By:

  Brecht Decaluwé

  Dark horses ready to stampede if favourites fall

  With a home field advantage, the Czech Republic has never been closer breaking its now 19-year drought in the elite men's cyclo-cross World Championships. As favourite Zdenek Stybar seeks to be the second Czech winner after Radomir Simunek, Senior took the crown in 1991, he has the weight of his entire country's expectations on his shoulders.

  Though Stybar is from Stribro, about 150 kilomters West of Tábor, he will surely have plenty of hometown support, and he is confident that he can deliver in the face of a tough challenge from the Belgians, especially defending champion Niels Albert and Sven Nys.

  "Nys has more experience but I've ridden this course already. I know where I can expect a difficult moment. Nys remains my top favorite, more than Niels Albert who's not super on the snow although the difficult grade might benefit him," Stybar told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.

  "My season's already a success. I'm very happy with my overall win in the World Cup and if I wanted I could watch the race on Sunday on TV with my legs on the table. I'll do all I can with the benefit that nothing has to happen in that race," Stybar added.

  Last Sunday Stybar had to dig deep in order to keep up with Albert, making a last lap error which put him in second place. But he insists that last week's result has no bearing on his current chances.

  "I wasn't fresh in that race. I had trained really hard the week before, a little too hard. I misunderstood my trainer and ran up and down 1600 stairs instead of 160. That's why I felt miserable, but now I'm in top form," Stybar said.

  Can Nys finally do it?

  Even though Belgian champion Sven Nys has won everything there is to win in cyclo-cross, claiming the overall win in every 'cross series at least six times, he boasts just one single rainbow jersey taken in Sankt-Wendel in 2005.

  His failure to translate his sheer dominance of the cyclo-cross world is hardly reflected in his World Championship palmares, and he doesn't expect Sunday's race to be any simpler to win than previous years.

  "I'll be happy if I can win on Sunday but if I'm not winning I'll be able to put it all in perspective. The title brings a lot of obligations with it," said Nys.

  Last year, Nys and the rest of the Belgian team worked together to unseat Dutchman Lars Boom, putting Albert in the gold medal spot. This year, Nys suspects that the course will be the main factor rather than strategy.

  "It won't be as tactical as last year. It will be a 'cross for men with form and technical skills; staying upright is the message," Nys said to Het Nieuwsblad. "I'm good in snow - which is an advantage - and this season I showed that I can come back from a lost position during a race."

  Defending world champion Niels Albert doesn't mind that many people aren't considering him as top favorite after his fall in the Belgian championship left him with a broken rib. But Albert isn't counting himself out despite what all the fans and pundits say. "Anything goes. If everybody thinks I'm crap in snow then we'll have to wait and see how that turns out in reality."

  I'll ride a dark horse to the podium

  While all eyes will be on Stybar and the Belgians, fate could deliver a surprise on the ice and snow in Tabor. The Dutch team will look its in-form ace Gerben de Knegt to stage an upset. However, De Knegt himself considers Nys as the favorite for Sunday, while he regarded Klaas Vantornout as the dark horse. "The course benefits Nys and plays a the disadvantage for Niels Albert. Vantornout is my outsider," De Knegt told Cyclingnews.

  Jurgen Mettepenningen, manager of the Sunweb-Revor team, agreed with De Knegt and also named his own rider, Vantornout, as the outsider for the podium. "Stybar, Nys and Vantornout are in the advantage since they always performed well in the snow."

  American Jeremy Powers picked a different Czech rider to shine on his home turf: Radomir Simunek. "I think Simunek could be a good dark horse," Powers said to Cyclingnews. The US-rider said he didn't expect to play that role although he is benefited by the snow and ice. "Now, I'm hoping for a top-25 result," Powers said. "We have a great team and I hope we get a good result with one of the categories."

  Back in 2007, Powers' compatriot Jonathan Page was the biggest surprise of 'cross worlds when he claimed the silver medal. Asked to pick his dark horse candidate for Sunday's race, Page joked about duplicating his '07 result. "I'll take a dark horse to the podium with me if I can get there and someone has one available," Page told Cyclingnews.

• De Bie draws lessons from Worlds' day one

  

  Article published:

  January 30, 2010, 17:26

  By:

  Brecht Decaluwé

  Belgian coach says fast start critical in Tabor

  With the first two gold medals of the 2010 International Cycling Union's (UCI) World Cyclo-cross Championships having been claimed by outsiders, expectations have been raised of similarly unpredictable results in Sunday afternoon's elite men's event.

  Witness to the victories of Czech rider Tomas Paprtska in the junior men's race and Pawel Szczepaniak's triumph in the under 23 title race, Belgian national coach Rudy De Bie told Cyclingnews that the elite riders would need to be ready to adapt to rapid changes in conditions.

  "The first two laps are super important. All the small gaps that are created then can be crucial later on in the race," said De Bie. "The circumstances are quickly changing and every race is different. It was already more of a water soaked course for the under 23 riders. God knows what we're going to get tomorrow. For the riders it is important that they can deal with the changes."

  The UCI's mid-week efforts to clear the course of snow were assisted greatly by favourable weather conditions on Saturday. The absence of further snow saw underlying dirt revealed for the first time throughout much of the course.

  Despite the dramatic change from what had previously been a thick base of snow, the division of races between the morning and afternoon showed the dramatic effect the change in temperature could have come Sunday.

  The junior race ended with none of the top-five riders from their World Cup series making the podium today. Runner-up Julian Alaphilippe (France) proved adept at reading the effect the icy conditions were having on World Cup champion and race favourite David van der Poel. "I was keeping an eye on him but I noticed he made a lot of mistakes so I realized I had to get past him," said Alaphilippe at the post race press conference.

  Dutchman Van der Poel admitted with hindsight that his tactic of running many sections of the course had backfired. "During one lap I crashed twice, which is too much on this course. As I said before the World Championships are always a special and looking at the names in front this is proven once again. They're surprising names, but obviously they were just stronger than me today. I think they were more focused on this single race; being a local like [race-winner Tomas] Paprstka helps to give that little extra, too, of course," Van der Poel told Cyclingnews.

  Belgian Gianni Vermeersch, who finished fifth, added an element of youthful credence to De Bie's day one assessment: "I do have to say it was better to ride in front than to stay on the wheels because it's easier to find the right track."

• Compton, Walsleben in doubt for 'cross World Championships

  Article published:

  January 30, 2010, 21:28

  By:

  Brecht Decaluwé

  US champ, former U23 world champ not tip-top for Sunday

  Until two weeks ago, she was arguably the USA's best chance for a medal at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships this weekend, but with leg cramps still plaguing her and nearly two weeks off the bike, Katie Compton may not even be able to finish Sunday's elite women's race.

  Compton was the UCI rankings and World Cup leader after her most successful season to date until the Roubaix World Cup when she failed to start after the cramps surfaced. It is a problem she's struggled with in recent years, and her husband Mark Legg said it usually takes two to three weeks to clear up.

  “Katie still hasn't been able to ride a bike,” Legg said. “Tomorrow we're going to get everything ready and wait until the last minute to get her on a bike at the start.”

  The body language from Legg made it clear that Compton fans shouldn't have high hopes of the US-champions repeating or besting last year's performance at the world championships when she grabbed a bronze medal.

  Walsleben possibly not starting

  About a month ago Christophe Roodhooft, manager of the BKCP-Powerplus team from defending cyclo-cross world champion Niels Albert, said that his German champion Philipp Walsleben would be his joker for the end of the season. The start of the season of the Men Under-23 world champion was spoiled by a virus that kept him from training and racing until mid-October.

  Walsleben made his debut in the Elite Men's category this season and soon it was clear that he wouldn't leave his mark on his inaugural season like his team-mate Albert did last year by winning the world championships in his first year.

  Still, two weeks before the world championships in Tábor, Walsleben claimed his best World Cup result of the season in Roubaix with a fourteenth place and he had high hopes of a strong performance in the Czech Republic.

  Since then he has been out again due to illness and on Saturday afternoon Cyclingnews ran into the 22-year-old German during the Men Under-23 race.

  “It's not decided yet whether I will race tomorrow or not. I still have to talk with my manager [Christophe Roodhooft) but he's busy nowadays with Niels [Albert] and the riders who're racing now. It's not 100% certain yet but I don't think it makes sense for me to race tomorrow because I would have to quit the race shortly afterwards anyway.

  "I prefer not to destroy my form by not starting and then maybe I can still show something in the remaining races of the season. It's not an easy call to make and riders are not always using their brains to make these decisions,” Walsleben explained.

• Vos' rainbow run continues

  

  Article published:

  January 31, 2010, 16:37

  By:

  Brecht Decaluwé

  Ferrier-Bruneau, Nash rue opportunities missed

  Marianne Vos again confirmed her immense multi-discipline cycling talent on Sunday by taking her third cyclo-cross world championships title in Tabor, Czech Republic. The 22-year-old Dutch rider dominated the race from start to finish to claim her fifth elite world title.

  Vos was marked by compatriot Daphny van den Brand and German champion Hanka Kupfernagel on the first lap but during the second lap Vos created a gap and it was clear that only bad luck could have kept her from winning in Tabor. She then avoided any trouble and confidently held a half a minute gap on Kupfernagel for the rest of the race.

  "I'm really happy that it worked out once again. A third [cyclo-cross] world championships title is fantastic," Vos told Cyclingnews. "Nothing's perfect but it went well right from the start and I didn't make many mistakes despite feeling a lot of pressure."

  It was her second consecutive world cyclo-cross title and further boosted her already imposing palmares. Vos has now has a total of five elite world championship wins: Her cyclo-cross haul joined by her road title (Salzburg, 2006) and a points race world title, won on the track in Manchester in 2008.

  Battles for bronze
  

  Vos had plenty of time to celebrate before crossing the line, as did Germany’s Hanka Kupfernagel, who was second yet again to Vos. But the battle for bronze was hard-fought between Christel Ferrier-Bruneau of France, local hero Katerina Nash of the Czech Republic, and Daphny van den Brand of the Netherlands.

  French road champion Ferrier-Bruneau and Van den Brand were riding together halfway through race, with Nash crawling back into the race after a bad first lap. However, Ferrier-Bruneau was the first to have high hopes dashed by the icy Tabor course.

  "It happened at the backside of the course. I slid away in the ice and went down. It's too bad because I was targeting the podium," Ferrier-Bruneau told Cyclingnews, adding that she plans to ride several 'cross races in the USA next year.

  Nash, too, was disappointed to miss out on the top-three. Despite being urged on by a partisan crowd, she was unable to find a way past Van den Brand. "There were so many fans out there cheering me on. I was getting closer on her at one moment but then she had a better section where she pulled away again," Nash told Cyclingnews.

  "This feels like a missed opportunity. I came so close to the podium," she added. "I didn't have a good day. I made many mistakes and had a couple of bike problems with my shifter and my chain."

  Ferrier-Bruneau and Nash's next opportunity for World Cyclo-cross Championships glory will come in Sankt Wendel, Germany, the site of the 2011 title race.