Teenagers Abbygail Cole and Luke Johnson experienced their very first European cyclocross races earlier this week, as part of the 12-rider group for 15- and 16-year-olds with 2025 EuroCrossAcademy (ECA), a US-based student-athlete development programme. With the new territory came surprises in pre-race routines, language barrier, start grid placements and race positioning.
Both riders acclimatised quickly after starts deep in the fields, new territory for the accomplished juniors, with Cole scoring back-to-back victories on the weekend while Johnson earned second place on Saturday. However, racing the first day in deep mud at VAM Berg and the next on a slippery, technical course like Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam, were not straightforward rides to the podium.
Welcome to the Netherlands
"This weekend I raced my first two European cyclocross races. As Americans coming to Europe, there were a lot of questions that came to our minds about racing. We came in with an open mind to learn on and off the course," Abby Cole wrote for her first entry in the ECA diary.
"I knew the racing would be different. I knew the girls would be more aggressive. In the U.S., almost all of our races are dry [this year], but the days leading up to VAM Berg were very wet."
Coming into her first racing overseas, the 15-year-old had won six races in 11 outings, including Category 2 / 3 victories at Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross and Northampton Cyclocross. Unlike most of the dry conditions across the New England events this year, thick mud and thick grass were menacing at the first Dutch race.
"The start procedures were very different as soon as all of the girls took off their warm-up pants and jackets the start official said five seconds. This was extremely different from U.S racing because they normally give you 15 seconds, and then any time within that 15 seconds.
"The girls started very fast and I was pushed out of the way by another rider, which made me kind of panic. I was able to move past girls on the cobblestone sectional, which we have never seen before.
"The mud was thin and slick, and running some sections were faster. I was able to get in the lead after the first lap and hold my lead to the finish. The podiums were right after where everyone was freezing, but the girl who got second spoke English. I don't know how to speak Dutch, so it was cool for them to speak our language."
For Wisconsin native Johnson, he was also surprised to be lined up in the last row of the start grid, not a common sight for a rider with all top 10s, including three wins, among his 10 starts in the US this season.
"I started the block by getting settled on the first day, and had my first skill session in the forest with Dutch Provincial Coach Bert Jan Hamer and Crelan-Corendan pro Manon Baker, which was an amazing introduction to European training. Then there was one day of recovery, and I geared up for the upcoming weekend of racing," he said about the start of the 15-16 block.
"For my first European race, I was one of the last to line up on the start grid, which is not an experience I am used to in the United States. Instantly, through the first few sections of the course, I was not expecting the Dutch riders to take the more muddy lines, so I was able to be more efficient and use faster lines.
"In the pre-ride, I found myself having to think much more broadly as the course was drastically wider and had many more line options than typically having one or very few lines back home. For example, there was a deep muddy section after the second pit, and riding it didn’t feel right. No line was efficient, and I planned with my teammates to run the whole section from the pit as we practiced in pre-ride. When the race came around, I changed my approach in the pit as there was still plenty of grass to ride to the first corner and then ran the whole section from there.
"This course was a power-heavy course, which I found helpful to work my way through the field. I moved up through the race to where I was chasing down the leader for the last laps and finishing on the podium in second."
Second race day
"Our second race was in Spijkenisse, at a permanent cyclocross course for a club. The club and race organizers were shocked to see Americans signed up for their regional Dutch-series race. After our pre-ride to the local club called PRC Delta, they asked to take a photo with all their young riders and seemed to view us as celebrities," Abby Cole said.
"I knew I would have a poor start position, and moving up was going to be very important due to an off-camber section, and another in the woods that followed not far after the start."
Abby Cole went on to win her second race for ECA. The six-rider men's event did not have a representative on the podium, but 16-year-old Lukas Young finished fifth. Johnson noted how different the course was from the one on Saturday.
"On Sunday, I raced Spijkenisse, which was a drastically different race dynamic from the variation between the two courses. The course was much more tight in width and had many smaller features such as off cambers, short stairs, carousels and short hills.
"The start went straight into a technical section, which turned into a big bottleneck, making it especially hard to move up. I worked with my teammates to work our way up through the field.
"There were five barriers per lap, and a few laps into the race, I made a mistake hopping the first set. The ground was not super smooth and at race pace I was not quite as confident as I would usually be, so for the rest of the race I ran the barriers. As a result, it was as fast or a little faster compared to bunny hopping. All of these little changes during the race added up to help my performance."
Life lessons
"For these two races we had to leave early, so prepping the night before was necessary in order to not be rushed in the morning. Prior to coming to Europe, I had a very specific pre- and post-race routine, but since being in Europe, I have realized that I have to be more independent and not rely on my parents because they are not there. In order to be ready on race day, I have to prepare my pre-race meal and make sure I have all of my ECA clothes," Abby Cole admitted.
"This trip has been very informative and will help me come prepared as I reach the 17-18 UCI field. I am excited to apply what I have learned on and off the bike and apply it to my racing."
Johnson said that while the impressions of how the course conditions were so vastly different, the competitiveness of the fields was similar.
"In the US, the racing is not as aggressive as in Europe. In the US, if I am racing for 15th, nobody would be very aggressive fighting for the position, whereas in Europe, everybody races for any position with all they can. This is another part of racing I have had to adapt to and change my perspective to expecting competition from each racer," he recalled.
"With my first weekend of racing in the Netherlands behind me, I am looking forward to the rest of our week together. Wednesday, we train in the Lichtaart forest (with hopes of catching a glimpse of some of the top Belgian pros), recovering, and applying the experience I gained to this upcoming weekend racing in Hilversum and Venlo."
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