The Dirt Nap: American World Cup Week Part 1 - Waterloo
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. This week we’ll be covering all the CX action from the first three events of the UCI World Cup season, hosted in the US cities of Waterloo, Fayetteville and Iowa City respectively.
This first edition will cover all the action from the opening World Cup Round in Waterloo, Wisconsin.
At 50 riders strong, the women’s field actually outnumbered the men’s.
Results
World Cup Waterloo - Round 1
Women
The first round of the women’s World Cup this season was absolutely stacked in terms of talent. World champion Lucinda Brand (Baloise Trek Lions) headlined the race for the after skipping Paris Roubaix, while Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) also toed the line after very much not skipping Paris-Roubaix. Recently crowned Olympic MTB champion Jolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing) was there too, in addition to a host of Euro pros like Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Annemarie Worst (777) and Yara Kastelijn (IKO-Crelan). The home fans had plenty to cheer about as well, as the North American contigent that included US champ Clara Honsinger (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) and Pan-American champ Maghalie Rochette (Specialized-Feedback Sports).
Rochette is renowned as a fast starter and immediately went to the front, taking the holeshot and leading solo for the first lap, before eventually being caught and passed by a group of 7 that contained Vos, Brand, Betsema, as well as U23 riders Kata Blanka Vas (SD Worx) and Hélène Clauzel (AS Bike).
The Dutch trio of Vos, Brand and Betsema would pull away by midway through lap 3, before Betsema suffered a mechanical incident (possibly the chain getting stuck behind the cassette) and spent the next lap chasing, eventually bridging a gap of 10-15 seconds back up to Vos and Brand with Neff, Clauzel, Worst and Blanka Vas for company.
Vos and Brand would edge away over lap 5 of 6, so that by the time the two took the bell they had a gap of 6 seconds over Betsema and Neff, with the others distanced off the back. That gap would close early on the final lap before Neff was distanced on the course’s steepest runup, leaving the three Dutch riders to fight out for the win.
Coming into the final crucial section on Factory Hill the decisive move was made by Vos, who made a bold move inside the leading Brand to attempt to snatch first place heading into an off-camber downhill, then was able to make the decisive pass on the steep climb back up towards the finish line - despite Brand drawing her front wheel level at a crucial point.
It’s hard to tell from this photo, but Vos collected a good whack on the shoulder from that bush in her attempt to take the lead.
With Betsema distanced and Brand unable to come around at the crucial moment, the final sprint was a mere formality for the greatest female cyclist ever, and Vos was able to celebrate her 25th World Cup victory, and her first since January 2019. Brand and Betsema would finish second and third respectively, while Blanka Vas was the first U23 rider across the line in 6th.
Men
While the front end of the women’s field was stacked with Dutch riders, the front row of the men’s race was a more Belgian affair. European champion Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout (both Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) had each won a round of the Ethias Cross series in the previous fortnight, while Toon Aerts (Baloise Trek Lions) had won the opening round of the Superprestige in Gieten the previous week ahead of Quinten Hermans (Tormans Circus). There was no Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert or Tom Pidcock - all recovering from their road seasons - while Laurens Sweeck chose to stay in Belgium for the birth of his second child.
The North American contingent was led by US champ Gage Hecht (Aevolo), Pan-American champ Kerry Werner (Kona-Maxxis-Shimano), three-time US champ Stephen Hyde (Steve Tilford Foundation), and Canadian champion Michael van den Ham (Easton-Giant).
The biggest factor in the men’s race was the weather - although the women’s race took place in dry conditions, a light sprinkle of rain on the opening lap of the men’s race was enough to make descents treacherous, with one downhill paved section sending Hermans and Aerts to the deck and Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) to the hospital with a broken collarbone. Even the riders who were able to avoid hitting the deck often had to make some pretty dramatic saves in order to stay upright.
Although Quinten Hermans crashed out while leading the race, he was eventually able to bounce back to third place.
By the time riders had time to swap to bikes with lower tyre pressures and the crashes had become less numerous (around lap 4 of 9), the Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal duo of Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout had a lead of around 20 seconds over a group containing Hermans, Lars van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions), and their teammate Ryan Kamp.
The cooperation between Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout lasted until the end of lap 6, when Vanthourenhout - who had been losing space to Iserbyt on the course’s technical features consistently - let a gap open further than he could close himself. Iserbyt would stay solo for the remainder of the race to win by 30 seconds over Vanthourenhout, with Hermans a further 13 seconds back.
Who’s hot
In three weeks Vos finished 2nd at the world championships, 2nd at Paris-Roubaix and 1st at a CX World Cup. She’s still got it.
Women
Marianne Vos. She’s still the boss.
‘Nuff said.
Quinten Hermans found himself on the ground multiple times during lap 2, falling through the fencing towards the end of the lap.
Men
Quinten Hermans had the best road season of his career so far in 2021 (including a 5th place on a stage of the Giro d’Italia), and so far has been able to translate that form onto the cross course.
Hermans came to the USA fresh off a second place finish at the opening round of the Superprestige the previous Sunday and looked strong throughout the race at Waterloo, recorded an equal-best third place finish at a World Cup despite two falls.
Who’s not
Thibau Nys had been having a good year up until the race in Waterloo - the son of Sven recently become the European U23 road champion and was all set to race his first CX World cup as a senior rider.
Nys was positioned inside the top 10 on lap 2 when this happened - a crash while heading downhill on tarmac that saw him run straight into a metal fence, resulting in a broken collarbone and mandatory time off the bike. (A quick warning - that linked clip has swearing in it).
What’s next
In short, a lot of driving. After racing in Waterloo on Sunday, just about all the riders, team staff and other hangers-on are headed about 11 hours southwest to Fayetteville, Arkansas.
It might be tempting, but taking the shortcut probably isn’t the best idea.
There’ll be a race there on Wednesday that’ll not only be a round of the World Cup, but a preview of the course that’ll be used for the 2022 UCI CX World Championships, to be held on the last weekend of January next year.
Coverage for those Down Under will be available on Kayo and Fox Sports More+ for Aussies, and Sky Sports for those in New Zealand. The UCI’s streams will also be available on YouTube, and you can get around the geoblocking using a VPN if you have one.
(Okay, fine. At the time of writing that race has already happened, but we haven’t had time to write about it yet. Keep an eye on the next Dirt Nap for all the details!)
After racing in Fayetteville, the racing caravan heads back north to Iowa City for Jingle Cross, which will take place on Sunday (Monday morning in Down Under time). As with the other World Cups this season, coverage for those Down Under will be available on Kayo and Fox Sports More+ for Aussies, and Sky Sports for those in New Zealand.