And then this morning's Women U23 race was all about tactics.

Is it me or is there no team work to speak of in CX? Everyone seems to be riding like a privateer, and it didnt seem to matter if a rider was actually on a team

Sometimes there's a bit, just not the situations for it recently. There was just a bit of teamwork today in the men's race with the Belgians making life pretty hard on Pidcock, to the point that it likely made the difference in Aerts getting the final podium spot. And I'm not sure what Pidcock was thinking fighting Van Aert for position during the start. He's going to lose that battle 100% of the time.

Overall the race was fun, even with the gap getting pretty big.

Women's U23 was good.

I was thinking more of the intra-team rivalry between the Dutch women. Seems like no love lost between them. Then again, when they have been swarming the top-5 positions all season long, they probably "earned" that right.

Otoh, the Dutch women's road team is par excellence of good teamwork, with Chantal Blaak's World Championship in 2017 the exhibit A of that.

Wout made it pretty interesting before the flat, tough way to lose a race when he’d done everything right up to that point. And kudos to MvdP for shaking off that crash. His body language initially didn’t look good but then I wondered if it’d make him kick into another gear.

Pidcock is a spunky lad, will give him lots of credit for all that fight.

I think it is you.

At least half the course was wide open. Fair amount of running in sand. It was the WC. It was cross. For the men, position from hole shot pretty much determined the race. Same for women. Average speed for me was 24 kph, much less for women.

What team tactics would you have advised for top five women or men?

Edit: Sorry, that response was not in good spirit. I may be in bad mood as I was cheering for WVA. IMO, it was standard cross. Team tactics usually don't matter much unless on narrow course where blocking can be more effective.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

I guess that's the reason why I really don't get as invested in watching CX the way I'm invested in watching mass-start road races. The former is a lot more deterministic (in terms of how physiology + skill predominates), and there's very little room for the poker-on-wheels dynamics that makes road racing unpredictable.

It's hard to see someone at the caliber of Matthew Hayman or Johan Vansummeren do well in a prestige CX events (heck, even if they were allowed to enter such an event, they'd be so far back at the start that they'd be down by 30 seconds or more at the end of the first lap). In CX, even if M vdP and WvA decide to clown around, there are enough features on every lap for them to establish a gap again. On the road, they get punked out of the race by riders of slightly less caliber but who read the dynamics a lot better (e.g. Gent Wevelgem 2020).

That's 100% true about what makes road racing more interesting. The only question about CX worlds was who would get 3rd. There's intrigue in the mano-y-mano battle but it's far different than say P-R, where there might be 4-5 5-star favs and another 5-10 who might pull it off, largely a result of team tactics.

CX does get a nod in that the best rider (strength + skill) typically wins. Of course, luck wasn't on Wout's side yesterday but MvdP was at least equal and maybe stronger.

The mano-y-mano stuff is somewhat specific to the era: Mathieu and Wout are at another level, which can make some of the racing seem boring. Most years the women's field is much more wide open. Heck, even the early and late season men's racing is more exciting and tactical without the whippets in the mix.

I came to CX from road, but I don't have the patience for it anymore. I'll watch the highlight reel, sure, but... Cross races I watch start to finish, often screaming at the announcers as they totally miss important slips or moves. On more technical courses I find it much more exciting than road racing, whether I'm racing or watching.

I think it's fair to say a lot of road racing is overly formulaic, even the mountain stages. That's one reason why I watch only the last hour or so of an interesting race or only the last 3-5 km of a sprint stage.

Classics are quite different though, in particular the cobbled classics. All sorts of important things going on in the last 60 km, and some times, even the last 90 km

CX can be exciting. I was nervous watching the women's race. There were three in contention till the last lap and it wasn't decided till about 1/4 lap to go when Worst fell.

Also, the men's races were very exciting early this year. Close battles with different winners. Some trade team tactics with blocking in play as well.

Then unfortunately for the boys, the two grownups came home. Even the races with both of them were usually better than this WC as the two would often be together in the last lap.

To me the entirety of a cross race is exciting as crashes, can happen at anytime, also flats and other rider mistakes. I love them both.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Agreed, but factor in the tight proximity, roaring crowd (most years), live music and some greasy frites and cyclocross is another world entirely. I'm lucky enough to attend a couple of World Cup level races in the US each year (Jingle Cross and Trek), and even here, with a fraction of the interest they'd get in Europe, these are some of the funnest events I've ever been to.

Meanwhile, I can't imagine ever asking someone to come watch me in a road race. (A crit, maybe.) But come to my 'cross race and heckle me every lap, offer up a hand up or two, or even work the pit. Cyclocross is actually fun to be around.

Or maybe I'm just blind because I love racing cx.

I def get what you are saying though. Much easier to get the supporting crew interested as well. Hell, for a bit of the race yesterday, I was thinking to myself that it'd be fun for me to learn some CX skills at my relatively advanced age.

Why not? I took it up at 45, and there's nothing I love more than a good muddy race. (Crash three times and still have a good race -- 'cross is a bit different!)

I'm not saying CX isn't exciting, just that this year when Wout and MvdP showed up then everyone else was racing for 3rd. The women's racing was a little more wide open. Maybe the northern classics will be a repeat of CX season; when those two flexed in the Ronde nobody could do anything about it other than Alaphilippe. But, even when Sagan was at his peak--and equally dominant--other teams figured out how to beat him.

I tried that last year, and it's so humbling. The pros make it look so easy.

Like I spent a few weeks practicing how to manual/hop over barriers. Got it down. But then in the race coming in hot and red-lined it's a whole other deal. I ended up dismounting and carrying the bike over every damn time.

Didn't help that I had a contingent of pro hecklers. "Hey everyone, look, a triathlete is going to jump the barriers!!! HE'S BEEN PRACTICING THIS!!!........oh that was disappointing.....I'm sure he'll nail it on the next lap!!" (repeat same heckle for 8 laps).

I bet the classics will be full throttle, wide-open racing this year. Probably fair to say that most teams won't wait around for WvA and MvdP to dismantle the field, and will be looking to force the action. AG2R is stacked, Polit moved over to Bora, DQS will always be in mix, Lotto is solid and Trek has multiple options in Stuyven and Petersen. If anything, that all might make the classics more exciting this year.

I lack hand-eye coordination and command of good on-bike body English. It's part of the reason why I got into endurance sport in the first place.

I also tried MTBing, and only ended up getting my forearms and hands extremely tense and sore. Well, that and the fact that I don't have a good snap and that I really hate mud. A year later, I still can't do a proper bunny hop. Not only that, I still find myself veering off course going uphill...


You may have ~ten years on me, but I probably handle my bike like a 60+ (even though as recently as ~four years ago, I was at least halfway decent bike handler as a cat-3)



yikes, i didnt realize that participation on this forum automatically makes one a triathlete

I haven't done a triathlon since like 2008. But because I was one for my first season as Cat 5 I'm forever a triathlete.

I think you are spot on there. Add on the fact that people are concerned about races being cancelled so I'm guessing it will be firefight. Or hoping there will be.

Irony here being that those who heckled you probably get scared s***less doing 40 mph on the banks of a velodrome, whereas that's part of your wheelhouse

Broadcast viewing PSA:
Flo: https://www.flobikes.com/...g-broadcast-calendar
GCN+ (currently 50% off // $25 annual sub, thru Feb) https://help.globalcyclingnetwork.com/...ed-States-of-America

Who does North American GCN and FLO commentary?

pretty sure the Eurosport guys do GCN; not sure about Flo