The Dirt Nap: Week 1
Welcome to The Dirt Nap!
This is designed to be a weekly newsletter to keep you up-to-date with all the happenings in professional cyclocross - both in Europe and North America. So far there have been 2 weekends of CX action in the new season for the northern hemisphere, and this will cover the first of them.
And that concludes our intensive three week course.
Why is this newsletter being made? Because cyclocross is awesome, and folks Down Under currently have to rely on coverage from overseas to know what’s going on in the sport.
Who’s behind this funny business? Tom McQuillan, head honcho at CX Down Under, frequent commentator at Aussie CX races, and poster of words on the internet.
Why’s it called the Dirt Nap?
Dirt, because that’s where cyclocross happens.
Nap, because all northern hemisphere CX happens when us folks Down Under are asleep. Also because naps are great, just like cyclocross.
And dirt nap (as in a crash), because this thing will go off course frequently and at the least opportune times.
Results
The first televised races of the 2021-22 northern hemisphere season took place over the weekend at Rapencross in Lokeren, Belgium on September 11th. The course was a fairly fast, grassy affair that included a few short, steep hill climbs, a reasonably tricky sand section and sections through a forest that were hard-packed summer dirt as opposed to a wintry mudfest.
A three-way battle for supremacy in the women’s race was won on the last lap by Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), while her teammate Eli Iserbyt dominated the men’s race, leading for 9 of the race’s 10 laps on his way to a commanding victory.
You can see a replay of the Ethias Cross Rapencross via the GCN+ app - click here for the women’s race and here for the men’s race. If you just want to skip to the results sheet, you can find that here. If you want to see the race footage and aren’t bothered about having commentary in English, there are video rips on YouTube - you can see the women’s race here and the men’s race here.
There was also a UCI C2 race in Germany at the 4 Bikes Festival in Lützelbach.
Although there was no UCI-accredited racing in North America, several large-scale races did take place, including DDCX in the American capital and The Alma GP in Michigan.
WE INTERRUPT THIS RECAP TO BRING YOU:
CX INFLATABLES WITH THREATENING AURAS
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…You peed in the pool that one time, You think no one knew. BUT I KNEW.
Weeeee!
Who’s hot
Women
Although it was Denise Betsema who ended up with the win in Lokeren, our eye was drawn to the form of Aniek van Alphen (777) who was right in the thick of the action until she found herself outnumbered by the final lap, and was notably the only one of the frontrunners in the women’s field to bunnyhop the barriers. It may just be that Lokeren is a favourite course of hers - she won her first pro race there last year - but signs are good for the Dutchwoman in the early going.
Men
Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) led the men’s race at Rapencross Lokeren almost from start to finish - while his final margin over Lars van der Haar was 11 seconds, he led for around 30 seconds for most of the race and only conceded time when he eased up on the last lap. The diminutive Belgian was visibly faster than his competition on multiple features at Lokeren, which seems to bode well for the European champion in his early season.
Confetti cannons for tiny Belgian man!
Who’s not
Women
Former European champion Yara Kastelijn (IKO-Crelan) was noticeably frustrated with a fourth place finish on a course that seemed to suit her on paper. Kastelijn has a big engine but has struggled with technical elements in the past, and given the lack of really technical features on the Lokeren course she probably would have been expecting to contend for at least a spot on the podium.
Men
For the last couple of seasons the best CX rider in the world not named Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert has been Toon Aerts (Baloise Trek Lions). The winner of the UCI World Cup looked a little out of sorts on his way to 7th at Lokeren, though the strongest races in his seasons tend to come later rather than earlier.
Of course, it’s important to take these results with a grain of salt given that this was the first race of a long CX season - both Kastelijn and Aerts should have plenty of options later in the year.
Who we’re watching
It takes bravery to wear an all-white jersey in CX, and the fact that Jens Adams is sponsored by a local milk company is just the cream on top (pun very much intended).
There were encouraging signs at Lokeren from Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions), who overcame a numbers disadvantage to best the Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal duo of Laurens Sweeck and Michael Vanthourenhout in the race for second.
At the age of 30 Van der Haar might not be able to ride at the level that saw him win the UCI World Cup, but he showed glimpses of his past self as he became the only non-Belgian to finish in the top 17.
Jens Adams (Hollebekehoeve) made a good comeback to the pointy end of the Elite field after battling mononucleosis in 2020 to finish 5th (in a white jersey no less!), while Vincent Bastaens (Deshacht-Maes) got a strong start before eventually fading to eighth.
In the women’s field there was an early exit for Ellen van Loy (Vondelmolen De Ceuster) after a mechanical incident, while the highest Anglophone rider was the UK’s Anna Kay (StarCasino CX), who crossed the line in seventh place after a strong start.
What’s next
The Ethias Cross Series continues on September 22nd at Beringen, with English language coverage available on GCN+.