Pidcock out the next few CX races "sick" - I wonder if the team got "sick" of so much risk for very little reward :)

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Shirin van Anrooij is out of cross for the season. Reportedly she injured herself earlier on a training ride, and she's just not recovering well while trying to race. She had deprioritized cross for road next year anyway, so there is that.

In other news, after MvdP spit on unruly fans organizers have promised a heightened police presence at Koksijde today. Hm...

You can only race who shows up, so good for Plapp.

But looks like Jayco was the only World Tour team to have its Australians enter. No Vine, Scotson Miles, Welsford, Wurf, et al.

Hopefully the crit and road race are more contested.

I do worry that - globally - TT is barely hanging on as a niche. Guys like Evenepoel and Pogacar barely seem to care except for Grand Tour stages even though they're so good at it.

I am still hoping the skill remains an avenue to the World Tour. Watching Tobias Foss or Josh Tarling emerge to become more household names makes it still seem relevant.

That is a good point, though I think the only person who would have had a chance to trouble Plapp was Vine. I've often wondered if some of the Aussie's who go back home during European winter don't suffer from too much good form early on in Australia, hence why people aren't racing the Aussie champs.

The TT community being niche didn't seem like a thing until I came to the US and then it looked to be completely dead (from my eyes). I think its still doing well, but niche B tier riders who were super-aero certainly no longer have a chance now that so many of the strongest riders and their teams have narrowed or surpassed any perceived aero gaps. It has de-incentivized the likes of Campanaerts et al from prioritizing the TTs anymore.

And WvA's somewhat lackluster run of form continues. Too bad we won't get to see the interesting duels from last winter, but I hope WvA could show up to the classics with better form.

MvdP is a nightmare when on form.

just saw that - apparently it's broken ribs! shame, but honestly the women's draw has been really great this year even without her on top form. a few girls have raised their games, some exciting juniors coming up, and there have been some awesome duels.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Well, hopefully Mathieu behaves himself and doesn't get arrested.

There was one recent deep sand pit when MdVP put about 5 bike lengths on Piddles (and everyone else) in the space of 10 seconds, and Piddles had a classic "FML" expression and shake of the head. Nothing anyone can do about that, even Wout.

mvpd destroying everyone today again

first: it is giving me the willies tho...
second: how he is going to maintain this form for the next 4-5 months? seems crazy

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

when it comes to chugging, i think the women have been outperforming the men this season!

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Here's the thing about WVA's form... he's not focusing on CX and seems to be using it as part of his preseason build for bigger goals in the coming months, and yet he's still clearly the 2nd best rider out there. I think that speaks volumes about the guy's talent and skill.

Hard to support the idea that Evenepoel doesn't care about TT, given the jersey he's currently wearing and his clear prioritization of the TT over the road race at Worlds last season.
Ironically, given your statement, I think the biggest problem the discipline is currently facing is the TDFs continued minimizing of it's importance in their event. One would think that they'd learn from how exciting the "big" TT was in last year's race, but I doubt it.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

With a few notable exceptions, he and his support structure have seemed to have done an excellent job of managing his race schedule, including CX. Like last year being one Pog away attack from the Flanders-PR-MSR triple, and also winning Road Worlds. He was "off form" for the Tour de France, and I assume that was pretty much by design.

People were worried that MdVP and Wout might flame out super young. But thankfully no signs of that yet.

Now that he's back on an Aussie team, I'm sure this was an important goal for Plapp, but I'm worried that this once again means we're seeing Plapp at his best form of the year in January, and he'll be off the boil for the events that really matter to the rest of the world. Fingers crossed this isn't the case, though.

Grace Brown, great as always... but how about that ride by Chapman?

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

Yeah, you're right, I shouldn't have lumped Evenepoel in there. He's a proper TT nerd.

yeah, that's my takeaway too. not to take anything from MvdP, who's on fire, but i feel like after a rider gets a taste of grand-tour pomp and ceremony (and press and $), it's a bit harder to get super-excited about ripping around a muddy field in belgium in january!

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I do feel like the TdF is making TTs important again though. The course this year has two, one of which may make for a decisive final day.

I for one am happy about this. He's done enough in CX...use it for training and peak for his big goals. I think he spread himself too thin last year.

putting 1-2min into the best CXs guys in the word doesn't seem to me like "coasting thru cx this season"

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

WVA isn't putting 1-2 minutes into the best guys, so I assume you were referring to MVdP. MVdP is crushing everyone, makes it look easy, but says in interviews that he's working pretty hard. Who said anything about anyone "coasting thru cx this season"?

my bad - I missread your comment as "mvpd" was coasting thru cx

all good - yeah we haven't seen crazy wout form since 2022 :'(

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

I'm coaching from the arm chair here, but he was "on" too much last year and had a bit of bad luck at times in his targeted races. This is the year of WvA taking some Monuments. I'll see how this one ages! ;)

I understand the argument -- supported by Wout himself -- that cutting back on cx will help Wout's efforts on the road, but...
What if cx isn't the problem, his team is? Wouldn't Wout's goals be better served on a team without infinite grand tour ambitions?

I’d like to see this happen. Unlucky to have caught Covid in 2022, puncture in 2023. Hopefully this is the year.