The Dirt Nap: Week 2
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 second of them.
Results
The second week of professional cyclocross action of the 2021/22 season saw the second consecutive week of action in the Ethias Cross series, with this week’s course taking place around a dry, dusty mountain bike park in Beringen, Belgium.
The former coal mine slag heap turned MTB trail centre delivered a hilly course, with over 100m of climbing and some very tricky singletrack descents packed into each lap. The women’s race was dominated from start to finish by Yara Kastelijn (IKO-Crelan), eventually winning by 17 seconds ahead of Shirin van Anrooj (Baloise Trek Lions), with last week’s winner Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) in third.
The men’s race saw a second consecutive victory in a row for Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), though the European champion didn’t command this race in the same way he did last week’s season opener in Lokeren. He was challenged by a pair of riders from the Baloise Trek Lions, as Toon Aerts challenged him for the first half of the race, then by Lars van der Haar after Aerts suffered two front wheel punctures and Van der Haar was able to recover from what was reportedly a dislocated shoulder to record back-to-back second place finishes to open his 2021/22 season. Daan Soete (Deschacht-Group Hens-Maes Containers) finished in third place on a course he’s performed well at in the past to round out the podium.
In addition to the action in Europe, the first UCI-sanctioned races of the North American CX season were taking place at GO Cross in Roanoke, Virginia.
The Saturday race saw five time French national champion Caroline Mani (Pactimo Fierce) triumph in the women’s race after a prolonged battle with Rebecca Fahringer (Kona Maxxis Shimano), with Erica Zaveta (Pony Shop CX p/b KPMG) in third.
In the men’s race, Curtis White (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) managed to outsprint Roanoke resident Kerry Werner (Kona Maxxis Shimano) for the win, with Canadian champion Michael van den Ham (Easton Giant CX) filling the third step of the podium a further 47 seconds back.
Although the course reversed in direction after day 1, the second racing day of the weekend delivered the same two winners. In the women’s race, Mani eventually triumphed after a first lap mechanical had her chasing back to the leading Raylyn Nuss (Steve Tilford Foundation), while Fahringer had to DNF after a crash. Zaveta repeated her performance from the day before to finish third.
In the men’s race on Sunday, White was able to distance Werner before the final straight to win by 10 seconds, with Lance Haidet (L39ion of Los Angeles) taking third for a team normally better known for crit racing. You can see videos produced by the crew at the Wide Angle Podium network below, who are providing some great coverage of American racing this year.
WE INTERRUPT THIS RECAP TO BRING YOU:
CX INFLATABLES WITH THREATENING AURAS
…
…
…YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL WHILE YOU SLEEP.
This ankle-deep rut was by far the trickiest feature on course - while most women unclipped their inside foot for this feature, Kastelijn. stayed clipped in until she was much further down the hill.
Who’s hot
Women
We talked smack in the inaugural Dirt Nap about the handling skills of Yara Kastelijn (IKO-Crelan), and she evidently heard us, as she put on a masterclass of technical riding to take the win, looking utterly untroubled from start to finish. The track at Beringen was at times very tricky, with lots of loose rocks and pea gravel meaning that traction was limited even in bone dry conditions. Although it was Kastelijn’s raw watts that allowed her to open an early gap, her technical skills are what allowed her to hang onto it.
Men
Curtis White (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) is currently the highest ranked American rider in men’s cyclocross, and word from the US (via the excellent Cyclocross Radio podcast) is that he was totally in control on both days at GO Cross.
If you haven’t heard of White before, he’s got one of the more prominent social media profiles of the Anglophone CX field. If you have time, be sure to check out his course preview series on YouTube, where White breaks down the key technical features of each of the courses that he races throughout the CX season.
Podium presentations from the Saturday race at Roanoke, via @gocrossrace on Instagram.
Who’s not
Not a poor performance on the course as much a rider who’s been desperately unlucky - after a promising eighth place in Beringen, Anna Kay (Star Casino CX Team) was hit by a car while out training two days later, suffering a broken collarbone and numerous torn ligaments.
A real shame for the young British rider, who has been one of the few riders from outside Belgium and the Netherlands to regularly feature in the top 10 in recent years.
Anna Kay grabs some TV time early in the race at Beringen.
Who we’re watching
Toon Aerts (Baloise Trek Lions) had a much better race at Beringen than at Lokeren the week before, duelling with Eli Iserbyt for the lead of the race before he was struck with a front wheel puncture about halfway through the race. After carefully negotiating his way to the pits - not an easy thing to do, given they were placed at the highest point of the course - Aerts began chasing back and looked to be challenging Laurens Sweeck and Daan Soete for third, only to suffer a second front wheel puncture.
While a single problem with your bike is easy to write off as one of those little coincidences that strikes all of us every now and then, having a second mechanical once you’re back and chasing is just the universe’s way of telling you that it’s just not meant to be your day.
Given how strongly Aerts was riding for the first half of the race, it’ll be great to see how he measures up to Iserbyt on equal footing.
What’s next
The Ethias Cross Series continues on Saturday September 22nd at Bredene in Belgium, while the first two rounds of the US CX Series will be held in Rochester, New York on Saturday and Sunday.
Both races will English language coverage available on GCN+.