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| Mud, rain, sand, possibly even snow: Koksijde is unique in CX (image credit: Alex Robbins CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) |
"@FieldyCX Ian FieldThere's nowhere quite like Koksijde. It's got the mixture of tarmac, grass and woodland that are epected of any cyclo cross course, but it has one unique feature - sand dunes.
Bigger crowd watching practice today than at any event in the UK. It's going to be huge!"
If you've ever tried to ride a bike in sand, you'll know difficult it is. Shift your weight too much over the front wheel and it digs in, then you fall of. Too much weight over the rear wheel and digs in, sucking the strength right out of legs as you pedal harder to overcome the sucking effect, then more often than not you fall off. Get the balance just right and the sand still sucks the strength out of your legs. Try to go round a corner and everything's fine - just kidding! You fall off. Well, that's what happens in dry sand, at any rate; it's much worse when it's wet. Which it usually is on the very westernmost tip of Belgium.
Since cycling is unique among sports in that fans aren't really happy unless they get to see their heroes suffer, this make Koksijde one of the most popular courses in cyclo cross; and that's why it's been chosen as the location of the 2012 UCI World Cyclo Cross Championships, to be held this weekend. More good news for spectators is that it's been raining heavily for much of the week and though Friday is expected to be dry, more rain on Saturday should mean a nice, soggy parcours - and, best of all, there's a chance of snow on Sunday.
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| If Vos doesn't like sand, she might only be 75% as good as she usually is. That may still prove too strong for the rest. |
Among the men? Sven Nys. He's won here multiple times in the past, the last time being the November World Cup round; but he also won all the World Cup rounds here from 2005 to 2007 - and took his first victory among the dunes right back in 1999. He missed out on the World Cup and could only manage sixth at the last round on a parcours that looked suited to him - finally taking the Worlds title would be more than sufficient consolation for that; but is it evidence, perhaps, that he's due to be the next victim of the virus?
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| Sven Nys (image credit: DarkSideX CC BY-SA 3.0) |
Britain's best hopes
Helen Wyman and Ian Field are the best chances Britain has of a World Champion. Helen is by far our best chance: she came 6th here during the World Cup race back in November, has been British Champion for the last seven consecutive years and says that she has been working towards improving her starts - the long, straight sprint away from the start line is likely to give her an advantage in the early part of the race. Nikki Harris was seventh in November and is likely to also do well in this race. Gabby Day was tenth, but is still recovering from the respiratory virus that many cyclo cross riders have suffered this season and will not be racing. This isn't the ideal parcours for Ian - he was 22nd here in November - but he's far more experienced on this unique track that either Jody Crawforth or Paul Oldham.
The start line is situated on the runway just south of the hangars at 51° 5'54.20"N 2°38'38.78"E and leads into a 280m slightly downhill straight section to ensure a fast start before the first turning, to the right and onto grass. Around 150m later, riders cross a narrow track and enter the woods for the first time and, beginning to climb, turn left and right into a paved track. After 90m, they will leave the track and enter a technical forest section which, in the wet, will be very slippery.
Once out of the trees, the parcours follows the boundary of the forest for 100m before turning sharply left and arriving at the pits. Two preserved aircraft - a Hawker Hunter and a Sikorsky helicopter, both bearing Belgian insignia, can be seen from this section. A right turn then leads into a 165m sand dune section (51° 6'9.41"N 2°38'32.56"E) and onto a bridge. Having crossed the grass on the other side, riders turn left and head over Robert Vandammestraat and into a 218m section characterised by scrubby trees and shrubs - the sort of terrain also known as puncture country - then come to a paved track and follow it as it bends to the left for around 85m. They then turn right onto short grass, cross three tracks and arrive at a smaller sandy section.
Once through the sand and over another track, they arrive back at the bridge and cross into the same 165m sandy section as earlier. They follow a similar path through it, exit where they previously entered and turn left for a second visit to the pits. After turning right to follow the edge of the forest, they turn right again past houses and come to a road where they turn right again to sprint for 90m, then left off the road and into a 100m sandy section and, having ridden through a short wooded section, arrive at another road where they can sprint for 130m before reaching more grass. They cross a ditch and, after 130m on grass, head downhill arrive back at the starting point. The entire parcours is 2.89km in length.
Please note: More than 32,000 tickets have been sold, meaning there will be none available to buy at the event. Please don't waste money by showing up if you don't already have tickets!
Races start: Juniors Saturday 11:00, Under-23 Saturday 15:00, Elite Women Sunday 11:00, Elite Men Sunday 15:00 (all times CET, GMT is -1)
Streams: Sports-Livez are providing live stream of all races, including Juniors and Under-23.
STARTERS
Elite Women
1 GRIMBERG, Arenda NL
2 BOER, Sophie De NL
3 STULTIENS, Sabrina NL
4 BRAND, Daphny Van Den NL
5 PAASSEN, Sanne Van NL
6 RIJEN, Linda Van NL
7 VOS, Marianne NL
8 BRUCHMANN, Gesa GER
9 SCHWEIZER, Sabrina GER
10 CHAINEL-LEFEVRE, Lucie FRA
11 MANI, Caroline FRA
12 HAVLIKOVA, Pavla CZE
13 MIKULASKOVA, Martina CZE
14 NASH, Katerina CZE
15 DAY, Gabriella GBR
16 HARRIS, Nikki GBR
17 LAST, Annie GBR
18 WYMAN, Helen GBR
19 ANTONNEAU, Kaitlin USA
20 COMPTON, Katherine USA
21 DOMBROSKI, Amy USA
22 DUKE, Nicole USA
23 MILLER, Meredith USA
24 GAMONAL, Rocio ESP
25 ACHERMANN, Jasmin SWI
26 HENZELIN, Lise-marie SWI
27 MAURER, Sabrina SWI
28 CANT, Sanne BEL
29 QUINTENS, Hilde BEL
30 VANDERBEKEN, Joyce BEL
31 ARZUFFI, Alice Maria ITA
32 INNERHOFER, Julia ITA
33 LECHNER, Eva ITA
34 ROSSI, Vania ITA
35 SCANDOLARA, Valentina ITA
36 ERLANDSSON, Asa Maria SVE
37 SNIHS, Kajsa SVE
38 MAJERUS, Christine LUX
39 WASIUK, Olga POL
40 WHITSON, Genevieve NZ
41 ARDAVE, Lelde LAT
42 FURMANE, Madara LAT
43 HANSEN, Nikoline DEN
44 MIYAUCHI, Sakiko JAP
45 TOYOOKA, Ayako JAP
Elite Men
1 DLASK, Petr CZE
2 KYZIVAT, Vladimir CZE
3 POLNICKY, Jiri CZE
4 SIMUNEK, Radomir CZE
5 STYBAR, Zdenek CZE
6 ZLAMALIK, Martin CZE
7 AERNOUTS, Bart BEL
8 ALBERT, Niels BEL
9 MEEUSEN, Tom BEL
10 NYS, Sven BEL
11 PAUWELS, Kevin BEL
12 PEETERS, Rob BEL
13 VANTORNOUT, Klaas BEL
14 BOULO, Matthieu FRA
15 BOURGOIN, Clement FRA
16 CHAINEL, Steve FRA
17 DUVAL, Aurelien FRA
18 GADRET, John FRA
19 MOUREY, Francis FRA
20 MEISEN, Marcel GER
21 PFINGSTEN, Christoph GER
22 WALSLEBEN, Philipp GER
23 WEBER, Sascha GER
24 DRISCOLL, James USA
25 JOHNSON, Tim USA
26 JONES, Chris USA
27 PAGE, Jonathan USA
28 POWERS, Jeremy USA
29 TREBON, Ryan USA
30 RAMOS, Jose VEN
31 HERNANDEZ GUTIERREZ, Aitor ESP
32 MURGOITIO, Egoitz ESP
33 RUIZ DE LARRINAGA IBANEZ, Javier ESP
34 SUAREZ, Isaac ESP
35 KNEGT, Gerben De NL
36 HUENDERS, Mitchell NL
37 AMERONGEN, Thijs Van NL
38 BRAND, Twan Van Den NL
39 WUBBEN, Niels NL
40 DARVELL, Magnus SVE
41 CRAWFORTH, Jody GBR
42 FIELD, Ian GBR
43 OLDHAM, Paul GBR
44 BARENYI, Milan SLO
45 GAVENDA, Robert SLO
46 HARING, Martin SLO
47 METLICKA, Vaclav SLO
48 HEULE, Christian SUI
49 TARAMARCAZ, Julien SUI
50 WILDHABER, Marcel SUI
51 ZAHNER, Simon SUI
52 BIANCO, Marco ITA
53 COMINELLI, Christian ITA
54 DAMIANI, Luca ITA
55 FRANZOI, Enrico ITA
56 TABACCHI, Mirko ITA
57 GIL, Mariusz POL
58 RICHEY, Craig CAN
59 TAKENOUCHI, Yu JAP
60 TSUJIURA, Keichi JAP
61 BAUSCH, Gusty LUX
62 HELMIG, Christian LUX
63 GEHBAUER, Robert OST
64 GEISMAYR, Daniel OST
65 GOLLINGER, Karl Heinz OST
66 LEWIS, Rattray NZ
67 QUIST, David Andrew NOR
68 SOROKINS, Dimitriy LAT
69 YILDIRIM, Hakan TUR
Under-23
1 GODRIE, Stan NL
2 TEUNISSEN, Mike NL
3 HAAR, Lars Van Der NL
4 HEIJDEN, Michiel Van Der NL
5 POEL, David Van Der NL
6 EMPEL, Micki Van NL
7 BOSMANS, Wietse BEL
8 BRAET, Vinnie BEL
9 SWEECK, Laurens BEL
10 VANTHOURENHOUT, Michael
11 VERMEERSCH, Gianni BEL
12 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian FRA
13 BOUVARD, Kevin FRA
14 JOUFFROY, Arnaud FRA
15 MENUT, David FRA
16 VENTURINI, Clément FRA
17 HNIK, Karel CZE
18 NESVADBA, Jan CZE
19 VOJTECH, Nipl CZE
20 PAPRSTKA, Tomas CZE
21 POLNICKY, Radek CZE
22 FORSTER, Lars SUI
23 GRAND, Arnaud SUI
24 LIENHARD, Fabian SUI
25 WILDHABER, Michael SUI
26 ECKMANN, Yannick GER
27 MAYER, Yannick GER
28 SCHWEIZER, Michael GER
29 WALSLEBEN, Max GER
30 KAISER, Cody USA
31 MCDONALD, Zach USA
32 BRAIDOT, Daniele ITA
33 BRAIDOT, Luca ITA
34 FALASCHI, Bryan ITA
35 SILVESTRI, Elia ITA
36 SMARZARO, Igor ITA
37 KONWA, Marek POL
38 KOSTECKI, Patryk POL
39 MALEC, Wojciech POL
40 PILIS, Bartosz POL
41 GÓMEZ, Iñigo ESP
42 GOMEZ, Jon ESP
43 LASTRA, Jonathan ESP
44 RODRIGUEZ GUEDE, Pablo ESP
45 CLARKSON, Jack GBR
46 GALLAGHER, Kenta GBR
47 GRAY, Luke GBR
48 JAMES, Steven GBR
49 SANTOS, Vincent Dias Dos LUX
50 REICHLING, Lex LUX
51 HANSEN, Kenneth DEN
52 OLSEN, Emil Arvid DEN
53 GEHBAUER, Alexander OST
54 SÖDERQVIST, Ludwig SVE
55 CÔTE-BOUVETTE, Félix CAN
56 CHALAS, Jaroslav SLO
57 MANIKAS, Domas LIT
58 PREMANIS, Matiss LAT
Juniors
1 JAUREGUI, Quentin FRA
2 KORETZKY, Victor FRA
3 KOWALSKI, Dylan FRA
4 SEIGLE, Romain FRA
5 TURGIS, Anthony FRA
6 HERMANS, Quinten BEL
7 HOEYBERGHS, Daan BEL
8 SOETE, Daan BEL
9 AERT, Wout Van BEL
10 TICHELT, Yorbin Van BEL
11 FRISCHKNECHT, Andri SUI
12 GRAB, Dominic SUI
13 ZUMSTEIN, Dominic SUI
14 BREZNA, Jan CZE
15 POKORNY, Karel CZE
16 VASTL, Jan CZE
17 DRUMM, Felix GER
18 HERKLOTZ, Silvio GER
19 KÖNIG, Marco GER
20 MÜLLER, Steffen GER
21 SIEMERMANN, Johannes GER
22 ARIESEN, Tim NL
23 BUDDING, Martijn NL
24 BEEK, Pjotr Van NL
25 POEL, Mathieu Van Der NL
26 WEIJERS, Koen NL
27 WIJKEL, Stan NL
28 MOSES, Joseph GBR
29 ROBINSON, Hugo GBR
30 WELBURN, Alex GBR
31 BERTOLINI, Gioele ITA
32 COLLEDANI, Nadir ITA
33 NICOLA, Luca De ITA
34 PEDANTE, Francesco ITA
35 REDAELLI, Riccardo ITA
36 DILLMAN, Andrew GBR
37 GORRY, Richard USA
38 ORTENBLAD, Tobin USA
39 OWEN, Logan USA
40 WHITE, Curtis USA
41 BEAUDOIN, Samuel CAN
42 PATRY, Yohan CAN
43 GRABIS, Mateusz POL
44 KONWA, Piotr POL
45 LIS, Tobiasz POL
46 PALUTA, Michal POL
47 PATRYK, Stosz POL
48 FRITSCH, Sven POL
49 CAMPO, Jaime ESP
50 RIBERA, Jose Manuel ESP
51 SUAREZ FERNANDEZ, Kevin ESP
52 GLAZJA, Ondrej SLO
53 VOZAR, Simon SLO
54 NAKAI, Michimasa JAP
55 SAWADA, Toki JAP
56 YOKOYAMA, Kota JAP
57 LINDE, Emil SVE
58 WAHLQVIST, Dennis SVE
59 BAIKSTYS, Zigymantas LIT
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