Cyclocross worlds

Marianne Vos rode an overwhelmingly superior race to take her third world champion title (and second in a row) on ROTOR Q-Rings this past Saturday.

The race, held in Tabor, Czech Republic, saw Marianne power out of sight of her competitors in a signature Q-Ring assisted attack on just the second lap, with the chainrings’ endurance benefits supporting the phenomenal athlete as she built up an ever-increasing lead. Marianne said “It’s really never too soon to attack here, and if you take the lead you get to ride the lines you want”. “The course suited me, I was very aware of that this morning. I attacked in a technical section, rode away from Hanka and never dropped the tempo. It went perfectly!”

Marianne crossed the finish line 45 seconds ahead of Hanka Kupfernagel, who took second place. Another Q-Ring athlete, Daphny vd Brand, who took the World Cyclocross Series Champion title this year, confirmed her talent and drive by coming in third despite a recent injury.

Having won last year’s title in the final sprint and this ..Continue reading..

Rob Peeters (Telenet Fidea) representing at the Belgian championships. Photo: © www.ispaphoto.com

With consummate ease Rob Peeters (Telenet/Fidea) rode clear of all opposition last Sunday to the win the Rutland International CiCLE Classic ‘Cross ; the sixth and final round of the British Cycling National Trophy series held at Whitwell Leisure Park on the shores of Rutland Water.

After several weeks of the course being laden with heavy slow, the weather cleared dramatically 24 hours before the event to provide glorious Winter sunshine for each of the five races which made up the day of exciting cross country cycling action.

With each of the early races going to the script written during the previous five rounds with all the leaders holding on to their positions by winning their respective races. The only exception to this being Annie Last of Derbyshire, who although winning the women’s race at Rutland, but only contested two rounds finished the series well down the overall standings.

All attention was focused however on the last race of the day in which seven top Belgian riders were to tale part. They did not disappoint. From the start ..Continue reading..

The absence of a professional ‘cross race in Belgium this coming weekend due to the proximity of the World Cup at Roubaix has proved to be to the advantage of the National Trophy race at Rutland, with last weeks Belgian Championship fourth placed rider Rob Peeters and 13th placed Kenneth van Copernolle now offering the target for Britains’ top riders to face on the snow covered Rutland Water based course.

Race organiser Colin Clews explained: “ In Belgium the selections for the World Championships at the end of January were made after last week National Championships but well after the selection for the Cyclo-cross World cup race in Roubaix this coming weekend. As  a consequence several riders who are now going to the Worlds race have found themselves without a race this weekend in Belgium as no organiser there was willing to promote on the same day as the World Cup event just on their southern border. So, ..Continue reading..

The red colours of

that took place last week on the spectacular technical course that was set up along the banks of the Milan Seaplane base terminal referred to as the Idroscalo. In the 2010 Elite category, national honours were awarded in the Under 23, Junior,  Novices and Beginners categories, in both men’s and women’s events. There were over 200 athletes in the competition, representing the best cross riders from Italian cycling, on hand to wow the crowd that attended in enthusiastic numbers.

The highest category featured a duel between the two stars Marco Aurelio Fontana and Enrico Franzoi (who wears the Team Liquigas colours in on-road racing). The Under-23 saw matador Cristian Comminelli battling for Team TX Active Bianchi, one of Elite’s most outstanding teams, together with Team Selle Italia-Guerciotti-Elite; athletes from this team proudly showed off the brand of the company from Fontaniva (PD) on their jerseys.

Cyclo-cross is a fascinating sport to which Elite has been tied for a long time. For this event, besides supporting team athletes with their water bottles, water bottle cages and trainers for workouts, Elite reaffirmed itself as a main sponsor of the event along with the most important companies in world cycling.

East Midlands International CiCLE Classic & Rutland County International CiCLE Classic 'Cross

Just a few days now remain to the second Rutland County Rutland County CiCLE Classic ‘Cross races on Sunday 17^th January, and everything is now in place for the biggest ‘showdown’ of the British Winter cyclo-cross season. Not only does the main Elite Mens event see the biggest contingent of foreign competitors taking part in any British cyclo-cross race this Winter, but the race takes on especial importance following the postponement due to the weather of the National Championships which should have been held in Birmingham last weekend.

As a consequence, not only does the Whitwell based meeting conclude this season’s closely contested British Cycling National Trophy series, but it will now also be the last opportunity for riders to impress the selectors of the British team for the forthcoming World Championships in the Czech Republic at the end of the month.

With all the top British riders present and anxious to use the form that they had ‘honed’ for the National Championships to boost their final positions in the National Trophy series, the introduction of four top Belgian riders ..Continue reading..

Q ring wins

With 3 ROTOR riders in the top ten at Kalmthout, winning the gold and silver medals, this has been another outstanding triumph for ROTOR this year.

Daphny Van Den Brand 1st, Marianne Vos 2nd and Christel Ferrier Bruneau 6th.

Q-RINGS  have given many riders the winning advantage in cyclocross racing several times this season. This is yet more confirmation of the effectiveness of their design.

Amy Dombroski from the US has signed with the Luna Pro Team for the 2010 season. This comes after a third place at the elite women’s US Cyclo-Cross National Championships this weekend in Bend, Oregon, she is looking forward to a mix of mostly off-road racing next year.

“I’ll be doing mostly mountain bike races with a few road races here and there. Then we’ll be hitting cyclo-cross really hard again,” said the current Under 23 women’s cross country national champion to Cyclingnews. She is also a three-time Under 23 Cyclo-cross national champion and the Under 23 road race national champion.

She will join up with some new teammates who are accomplished international riders like American Georgia Gould, Czech Katerina Nash and Canadian Catharine Pendrel on the racing circuit. “I’m so excited to be racing with them.”

“My focus will be more domestic. I think Catharine and Georgia will be doing full mountain bike UCI World Cup schedule. Katerina and I will do a few road events, too. With mountain biking, I’ll be trying to get my foot in the door.”

Despite being a current mountain bike national champion, Dombroski doesn’t have that much experience racing her mountain bike. “My experience was mostly just dabbling. I was riding [as a professional road racer] for Webcor, and that was my first pro team experience. When I was feeling burned out on the road, I’d get on my mountain bike. Before this summer, I had only done a handful of mountain bike race, but every time I did it, I’d have a big grin on my face.”

“I thought, ‘If I’m having this much fun racing my mountain bike, ..Continue reading..

(National Womens Cyclo-Cross champion, Helen Wyman, celebrates her win in the Women’s race at the first Rutland County CiCLE Classic ‘Cross held in December 2008.)

Top class Winter cycling action returns to the Rutland and Melton area on Sunday 17th January 2010 when the second Rutland County International CiCLE Classic ‘Cross races take place at the scenic venue of Whitwell Leisure Park alongside the North Shore of Rutland Water. The races encompass the sixth and final round of this Winter’s British Cycling National Trophy series of major cyclo-cross promotions.

With the Elite Men’s race being rated as a UCI Category 2 event offering World ranking points to the leaders, the event has attracted attention from several riders from the ‘hotbed’ of cyclo-cross; Belgium.

With the Rutland circuit of just over two kilometres rated as one of the fastest courses in the country, the course is likely to suit the foreign visitors, although coming a week after  ..Continue reading..