The Union Européenne de Cyclisme (UEC) announced today that all races scheduled on Saturday, November 4, for the European Cyclo-cross Championships would be moved to Sunday, due to extreme weather conditions expected to return to the western France overnight.
Rescheduled for Sunday in Pont-Château are the events for Junior Women, U23 Men and Elite Women, which will be combined for a full day of racing with Junior Men, U23 Women and Elite Men. Rescheduled for Sunday in Pont-Château are the events for Junior Women, U23 Men and Elite Women, which will be combined with three other categories. The Junior Women will begin at 9:00 local time, followed by Junior Men and U23 Women for the morning programme. The U23 men will begin the afternoon set of races at 12:50, followed by the Elite Women at 14:00 and Elite Men at 15:10.
The measures were taken after local authorities in the Loire-Atlantique department, where Pont-Château is located, “decreed that no events can be held tomorrow (4 Nov.)”, organisers said.
A major weather system, Storm Ciarán, whipped across western Europe on Thursday and left behind two deaths and 16 people injured in north-west France, according to the Associated Press, as well as flooding, power outages and major travel congestion across several countries along the Atlantic coast.
While Pont-Château is located some 40km inland from the coastline, it still felt impacts from extreme high winds and travel delays on Thursday, with Brittany to the north reporting gusts to 190 kph on the coast and 160 kph on the nearby Normandy coast.
The sun was out for racing on Friday for the Mixed Team Relay, but the unstable weather system was expected to recharge overnight. The precautions were put in place so as not to compromise athletes and spectators with expected wind gusts to 85 kph or higher Saturday.
Only five teams took the course Friday afternoon with six riders each for the Team Relay - Great Britain, Belgium, France, Italy and Czech Republic - the order set from each country’s finish from the same event held in February at the Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide. Great Britain took the silver and Belgium the bronze at Worlds, while the gold medal winner, Netherlands opted not to compete at the Continental Championships in the event.
Among the top athletes expected to compete on Sunday include defending elite champions Fem van Empel (Jumbo-Visma) and Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen–Bingoal). After the inaugural team relay on Friday, six additional European champions will be crowned on the final day of racing with the adjusted schedule.
