Is Marianne Vos killing women's cyclo cross?

That was the question put to her by a UCI interviewer following her historic fifth victory in the World Cyclo Cross Champions.

Did Merckx kill cycling? Did Lance kill the Tour? Was the interviewer an idiot?

CX Worlds Results

Nice one, Niels!
(image credit: Peter Huys CC BY-SA 2.0)

Well, we really hope none of you took our advice on the likely outcome of the Elite Men's race to heart and bet your life's savings on Sven Nys. Based on his previous performance on the sand of Koksijde, we had him down for victory, but the 2005 Champion could manage no better than 7th today on a parcours that left him noticeably struggling. Defending champion Zdenek Stybar also performed worse than anticipated and in spite of enormous support from the 70,000-strong crowd - many of whom had turned out dressed in pink to match the Czech rider's bike (and pants, worn Superman-style over his kit) and must have been disappointed to see their hero right down in 13th place. He revealed on Monday that his poor performance is now explained - he's got the virus that has been doing the rounds of the CX world all season...

zdenekstybar Zdenek Stybar 

Damn it, why did i have to get sick right on the big DAY I'd been working so freaking hard for? Laying sick in bed with fever:(

In fact, of all the top-three favourites, only Kevin Pauwels delivered the goods with his third place finish exactly as expected. However, next time things may be very different. K-Pow has never ridden quite as well here as he does on other courses, but every time he does he's markedly improved on last time - give him another year or two and he may be the dominant force in cyclo cross. Niels Albert rode well for the victory, leading a Belgian team that effortlessly bulldozed its way through sand dunes and opposition alike - all seven top riders were Belgian, a record.

There were no surprises in the Elite Women's race: there never are when Dutch superstar Marianne Vos is riding. She soon took the lead from British Champion Helen Wyman and, after riding with Sanne van Paassen to the first dune, powered away to build an ever-increasing lead that left the rest fighting for the podium's lower steps. Having now been World Champion a record five times, Vos has equaled André Dufraisse and Renato Longo's  five wins in the 1950s and 1960s - making her arguably the joint second most successful cyclo cross rider of all time behind Erik de Vlaeminck (seven World Championships) and far and away the most successful in women's cyclo cross. Fans were angered following the race when a UCI official asked her if she felt she might be "killing the sport" during a post-race interview and it won't have gone unnoticed that nobody asked Albert if he thinks Belgium is killing men's cyclo cross.

(More on the women's race - and Vos' effect on women's cyclo cross - here.)


Elite Women

  1 Marianne Vos Rabobank Ladies Team 00:41:04
  2 Daphny Van Den Brand WV Schijndel 00:37
  3 Sanne Cant Boxx VeldritAcademie 00:38
  4 Sanne Van Paassen Brainwash 00:49
  5 Katherine Compton Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team 00:53
  6 Nikki Harris 01:03
  7 Sophie De Boer WV Schijndel 01:05
  8 Katerina Nash 01:11
  9 Jasmin Achermann 01:12
  10 Lucie Chainel-Lefevre 01:54
  11 Pavla Havlikova 02:43
  12 Sabrina Stultiens Brainwash ST
  13 Helen Wyman 02:45
  14 Christine Majerus Team GSD Gestion 02:46
  15 Linda Van Rijen Skil - 1t4i 02:52
  16 Arenda Grimberg 03:01
  17 Gesa Bruchmann 03:30
  18 Caroline Mani 03:36
  19. Nicole Duke 03:40
  20 Meredith Miller 03:54
  21 Olga Wasiuk 04:52
  22 Martina Mikulaskova 05:04
  23 Amy Dombroski Cranckbrothers 05:21
  24 Joyce Vanderbeken 05:34
  25 Kajsa Snihs 05:39
  26 Kaitlin Antonneau Exergy Twenty12 05:41
  27 Rocio Gamonal 05:43
  28 Sabrina Maurer 05:56
  29 Nikoline Hansen 06:19
  30 Asa Maria Erlandsson 06:34
  31 Alice Maria Arzuffi 06:55
  32 Ayako Toyooka 00:01
  33 Sakiko Miyauchi ST
  34 Lise-Marie Henzelin ST 
  35 Genevieve Whitson Asptt Dijon - Bourgogne 00:02 
  36 Madara Furmane ST

Elite Men

  1 Niels Albert BKCP-Powerplus 01:06:07
  2 Rob Peeters Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 00:24
  3 Kevin Pauwels Sunweb - Revor 00:30
  4 Tom Meeusen Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 00:34 
  5 Bart Aernouts Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team 00:35 
  6 Klaas Vantornout Sunweb - Revor 01:09 
  7 Sven Nys Landbouwkrediet - Euphony 01:11 
  8 Radomir Simunek BKCP-Powerplus 02:15 
  9 Philipp Walsleben BKCP-Powerplus 02:25 
  10 Simon Zahner Suisse Ekz 02:31 
  11 Steve Chainel Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat 02:37 
  12 Francis Mourey Equipe Cycliste FDJ - BigMat 02:48 
  13 Zdenek Stybar Omega Pharma - Quickstep 03:17 
  14 Aurelien Duval 03:41 
  15 Niels Wubben Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team ST
  16 Julien Taramarcaz 03:42 
  17 Gerben De Knegt Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team ST
  18 Ryan Trebon 04:02 
  19 Marcel Meisen BKCP-Powerplus 04:06 
  20 Jose Ramos ST
  21 Twan Van Den Brand WV Schijndel 04:07 
  22 Mariusz Gil Baboco - Revor Cycling Team 04:22 
  23 Thijs Van Amerongen AA Cycling Team 04:40 
  24 Christoph Pfingsten Cycling Team De Rijke 05:10 
  25 Christian Heule 00:01 
  26 Jeremy Powers Jelly Belly Cycling 00:02 
  27 Marcel Wildhaber ST
  28 Enrico Franzoi Miche-Guerciotti ST
  29 John Gadret Ag2R - La Mondiale ST
  30 Jiri Polnicky PSK Whirlpool-Author ST
  31 Martin Zlamalik ST
  32 Mitchell Huenders Ruiter Dakkapellen Wielerteam 00:03 
  33 Vladimir Kyzivat ST
  34 Tim Johnson ST
  35 Isaac Suarez ST
  36 Ian Field ST (best British rider)
  37 Petr Dlask ST
  38 Clement Bourgoin Charvieu-Chavagneux IC ST
  39 Sascha Weber Team Differdange ST
  40 Marco Ponta ST
  41 Javier Ruiz De Larrinaga Ibanez ST
  42 James Driscoll Jamis/Sutter Home Pro Cycling Team ST
  43 Chris Jones UnitedHealthcare Presented By Maxxis 00:05 
  44 Mirko Tabacchi ST
  45 Yu Takenouchi ST
  46 Magnus Darvell ST
  47 Martin Haring ST
  48 Gusty Bausch ST
  49 Christian Helmig ST
  50 Christian Cominelli Team Idea ST
  51 Craig Richey 00:06 
  52 Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez ST
  53 Vaclav Metlicka ST
  54 Daniel Geismayr ST
  55 Keichi Tsujiura ST
  56 Karl Heinz Gollinger 00:07
  57 Rattray Lewis ST
  58 Robert Gehbauer ST
  59 David Andrew Quist 00:08

Lars van der Haar

Under-23

  1 Lars Van Der Haar Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team 00:49:20 
  2 Wietse Bosmans BKCP-Powerplus 00:01 
  3 Michiel Van Der Heijden Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team 00:04 
  4 Arnaud Jouffroy Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 00:05 
  5 Laurens Sweeck 00:50 
  6 Marek Konwa 00:56 
  7 Mike Teunissen Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team 01:03 
  8 Arnaud Grand Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 01:13 
  9 David Menut Cr4c Roanne ST
  10 Gianni Vermeersch BKCP-Powerplus 01:28 
  11 Vinnie Braet Sunweb - Revor ST
  12 Zach Mcdonald 01:48 
  13 David Van Der Poel BKCP-Powerplus 01:55 
  14 Julian Alaphilippe Armée De Terre 02:04 
  15 Stan Godrie Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team 02:07 
  16 Tomas Paprstka 02:08 
  17 Nipl Vojtech 02:17 
  18 Clément Venturini 02:30 
  19 Elia Silvestri 02:49 
  20 Jan Nesvadba 02:50 
  21 Bryan Falaschi 03:18 
  22 Karel Hnik Sunweb - Revor 03:21 
  23 Michael Schweizer 03:22 
  24 Lars Forster 03:39 
  25 Kenneth Hansen 03:42 
  26 Michael Vanthourenhout BKCP-Powerplus 04:04 
  27. Igor Smarzaro 04:07 - -
  28 Micki Van Empel Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 04:13 
  29 Yannick Eckmann 04:14 
  30 Kenta Gallagher 04:20 
  31 Max Walsleben 04:22 
  32 Fabian Lienhard 04:41 
  33 Michael Wildhaber ST
  34 Daniele Braidot 05:44 
  35 Emil Arvid Olsen 05:50 
  36 Luca Braidot 00:01 
  37 Jonathan Lastra Grupo Hirumet Taldea ST
  38. Cody Kaiser ST
  39 Yannick Mayer Team NSP - Ghost ST
  40 Jack Clarkson ST
  41 Pablo Rodriguez Guede Grupo Hirumet Taldea ST
  42 Wojciech Malec 00:02 
  43 Jon Gomez ST
  44 Patryk Kostecki ST
  45 Iñigo Gómez 00:03
  46 Félix Côte-bouvette ST
  47 Lex Reichling ST
  48 Ludwig Söderqvist ST
  49 Bartosz Pilis ST
  50 Jaroslav Chalas Dukla Trencin - Merida ST
  51 Alexander Gehbauer ST
  52 Luke Gray ST
  53 Domas Manikas 00:04 


Juniors
  1 Mathieu Van Der Poel Boxx VeldritAcademie 00:42:36
  2 Wout Van Aert Young Telenet-fidea 00:08
  3 Quentin Jauregui Boxx VeldritAcademie 00:21
  4 Quinten Hermans Young Telenet-fidea ST
  5 Daan Soete Young Telenet-fidea ST
  6 Yorbin Van Tichelt 00:48
  7 Silvio Herklotz 01:00
  8 Daan Hoeyberghs Boxx VeldritAcademie 01:25
  9 Romain Seigle 01:32
  10 Victor Koretzky 02:11
  11 Anthony Turgis 02:23
  12 Dominic Zumstein 02:24
  13 Gioele Bertolini 02:40
  14 Andrew Dillman 03:08 (best British rider)
  15 Felix Drumm 03:11
  16 Tim Ariesen 03:12
  17 Logan Owen 03:15
  18 Martijn Budding Boxx VeldritAcademie 03:16
  19 Toki Sawada ST
  20 Marco König 03:30
  21 Andri Frischknecht 04:05
  22 Stan Wijkel Young Telenet-fidea 04:07
  23 Dylan Kowalski ST
  24 Jan Brezna ST
  25 Pjotr Van Beek 04:31
  26 Michal Paluta 04:43
  27 Jan Vastl 04:44
  28 Karel Pokorny 04:45
  29 Emil Linde 04:57
  30 Dominic Grab 05:06
  31 Koen Weijers 05:34
  32 Jose Manuel Ribera 05:37
  33 Kevin Suarez Fernandez 05:43
  34 Curtis White 05:45
  35 Piotr Konwa 05:59
  36 Nadir Colledani ST
  37 Dennis Wahlqvist ST
  38 Steffen Müller 06:28
  39 Joseph Moses 06:35
  40 Yohan Patry 06:50
  41 Kota Yokoyama 06:52
  42 Michimasa Nakai 07:08
  43 Luca De Nicola 07:10
  44 Johannes Siemermann 07:15
  45 Stosz Patryk 00:01
  46 Simon Vozar ST
  47 Riccardo Redaelli ST
  48  Tobin Ortenblad ST
  49 Jaime Campo 00:02
  50 Samuel Beaudoin ST
  51 Ondrej Glazja ST
  52 Sven Fritsch ST
  53 Mateusz Grabis ST
  54 Francesco Pedante ST
  55 Richard Gorry 00:03
  56 Tobiasz Lis ST
  57 Zigymantas Baikstys 00:04

Koksijde CX World Championships Preview

Mud, rain, sand, possibly even snow:
Koksijde is unique in CX
(image credit: Alex Robbins CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

"@FieldyCX Ian Field
Bigger crowd watching practice today than at any event in the UK. It's going to be huge!"

There'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.

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.

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.

Likely winners? As ever, it's very difficult to see any of the women getting the better of Marianne Vos. The 24-year-old Dutch champion quite literally dominated the final round of the World Cup last weekend, powering away from the start line and never looking back. However, it's the opinion of your beloved author that while Vos is a phenomenally talented rider on all terrain (including road and track), sand is not the one she likes best - she lost by 13" to Daphny van den Brand here in Round 3 of the World Cup. Whether she dislikes it enough for it to make the slightest bit of difference is as of yet unknown. Van den Brand, who won the World Cup, will undoubtedly want to do well - she's planning this season to be her last, and retiring a both World Champion and Cup holder would be a glorious end to a glorious career. Katie Compton will be worth keeping an eye on, too - she won here in 2010 and has been having a decent season.

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?

Sven Nys
(image credit: DarkSideX
CC BY-SA 3.0)

Zdenek Stybar and Niels Albert look set to be his greatest challenge - Stybar won here in 2009, Albert last year. Kevin Pauwels finished just a second behind Nys on this very course in November but stormed his way through much of the rest of the World Cup. Still a relative newcomer to the upper echelons of the sport in comparison to Nys and Albert, there could be no better way of confirming himself as the new king of cyclo cross than taking both the Cup and the Championship.

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 Parcours
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

Early Prediction: Vos will dominate in 2012

Vos, seen here in the pink jersey, slender but lacking the
power to dominate in the mountains
(© Eddy Fever CC2.0)

Now, Cyclopunk makes no excuses nor denials with regard to our fascination for the ever-onward-and-upward career of Marianne Vos, the Dutch cycling polymath who, in our opinion, is destined to become nothing less than the Greatest Cyclist Of All Time (providing all the companies sponsoring women's cycling don't pull out over the next year or so, leaving her without any races in which to prove herself that is) and, in the opinion of many, has already set out along that road.

Hence we were eager to have a look at her form in the cyclo cross races over the weekend just passed in the hope of finding early indications- for those who are unaware, there were two major events; one at Koksijde (where she came second) and one at Gieten (which she won) - and the status report is: OMG.

Vos is looking better than ever. We suspect she's perhaps added a kilo or two from her weight at the beginning of the 2011 road racing season, when she was 58kg (at 1.68m tall), but it's a kilo or two of sculpted, toned muscle - very much what one might expect of a rider who is mindful of the fact that Emma Pooley was better than ever in the mountains throughout the last year and wants to make sure she can catch her in 2012.

Compare, if you will, the following images: Vos in 2010 (c/o CyclePhotos) and Vos on 27/11/11 (again c/o of CyclePhotos). Excellent form in both, but it's obvious even with the long sleeves that in the older image she has far lower muscle mass. In the newer image, her upper arms and calves look like they've been carved from oak - which means greater strength in the places that creates a powerful climber, but not where it creates extra weight that needs to be hauled up without contribution on the way.

If she keeps this form for next season - and Vos is a woman who rides because she loves to do so as much as the drive to win, meaning she'll be likely to get out on bike every chance she gets no matter what the weather does between now and then, so it's pretty much guaranteed that she will - and if the new Rabobank-backed women's team works as well for her as it potentially could do, then it looks a pretty safe bet that she's going to have yet another "best year so far" in 2012. We'll be cheering her all the way.


Vos interviewed (in Dutch) after Koksijde. Look at the cheekbones - honed!