Rad Racing Euro blog

Rad Racing NW fast guys, Sean Worsech and Steve Fisher, are in Europe. Why does it seem everyone is in Europe right now? Anyway, they're fast juniors and they'll let us know how they are doing against the top Euro juniors.

All the gory details of their travels, races and exploits are chronicled here.

nasty gets swarmed

Barry Wicks (KONA) has a race report from his first race in Belgium. Turns out the whole key to Sven Nys' success is going to bed early. Who knew?

Check out Barry's blog here.

Molly's World

Molly Cameron (VANILLA), pdx 'cross racer and bike shop (VELOSHOP) owner is racing in Europe over the holidays. You can check out Molly's reports of racing and life in Europe at mollycameron.com. Apparently Molly and Sven are now good pals.

getting warmed up

The Christmas 'cross campers are getting warmed up and took on the best that Europe has to offer yesterday. Turns out, the Europeans do have quite a bit to offer.

Mr. Page (MORGAN BLUE/BSI) cracked the top 10 with a 9th place finish. Seems that his great showing at Nationals was no fluke. The man is back.

The rest (mostly U23's) of the US contingent (those that are 'visiting' and who do not live in Europe like Mr. Page) turned in solid performances and are looking to do better as the racing continues over the next few weeks.

For those keeping track at home, Sven Nys (RABOBANK) won.....again.

Results

Elite Men

1 Sven Nys (Bel) Rabobank 1.00.45
2 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) Rabobank 0.04
3 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Rabobank 0.59
4 Maxime Lefebvre (Fra) Josan 1.23
5 David Willemsens (Bel) Vos Sportief 1.29
6 Dieter Vanthourenhout (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000
7 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel 2.34
8 Cyrille Bonnand (Fra) Les Bleus de France 2.38
9 Jonathan Page (USA) Morgan Blue - BSI 3.10
10 Jan Verstraeten (Bel) SD Worx 3.28
11 Rob Peeters (Bel) Balen BC 3.49
12 Marco Bianco (Ita) l'Arcobaleno Carraro Team 3.58
13 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) Lingier-Versluys 4.06
14 Jan Van Dael (Bel)
15 Kenneth Van Compernolle (Bel) 4.25
16 Maxim Debusschere (Bel) Beveren 2000 4.34
17 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) Palmans Collstrop 4.37
18 Geert Van Crombruggen (Bel) Royal Cureghem Sportif 4.44
19 Dries Dewit (Bel) Scott USA Cycling Team 4.55
20 Joachim Parbo (Den) Cycling Aarhus 5.05
21 Nico Clarysse (Bel) 5.11
22 Gianni Denolf (Bel) Brugse Velosport 5.24
23 Mike Thielemans (Bel) Cyling Team Thielemans-Reynaers 5.3124 Ian Bibby (GBr)

One lap down
25 Molly Cameron (USA) Vanilla
26 Jorn Van Der Veken (Bel) Profel-Ziegler Continental Team
27 Barry Wicks (USA) Kona
28 Steven Decaluwe (Bel)
29 Björn Selander (USA) Alan Factory
30 Morgan Schmitt (USA) Hagens Berman
31 Daniel Neyens (USA) Hagens Berman
32 Nicholas Weighall (USA) Alan Factory
33 Jamey Driscoll (USA) Fiordifrutta
34 Tony Heirbaut (Bel)


Juniors

1 Kevin Eeckhout (Bel) 42.00
2 Sven Verboven (Bel) 0.12
3 Bart Hermans (Bel) 0.17
4 Tim Debusschere (Bel) 0.30
5 Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) 1.10
6 Dries Ingels (Bel) 1.38
7 Kenneth Bultynck (Bel) 1.52
8 Michiel Dieleman (Bel) 2.07
9 Hans Antonissen (Bel) 2.16
10 Vincent Renaux (Fra) 2.27
11 Simon Geets (Bel) 2.32
12 Jochen Torfs (Bel) 2.45
13 Nick De Proost (Bel) 3.22
14 Kenneth Mariën (Bel)
15 Kristof Scheirs (Bel) 4.05
16 Kenny Maes (Bel) 4.20
17 Steve Fisher (USA) 4.28
18 Rudy Kowalski (Fra) 4.33
19 Jerome Townsend (USA) 4.55
20 Vincent Van Hooste (Bel) 6.06

profiled: The "wick-mobile"

Cyclingnews.com has a nice profile on the machine that powers Barry Wicks (KONA) to all those high-placed finishes.

Oversized everything

By Kirsten Robbins

"Kona is the title sponsor of a handful of the top cyclo-cross riders in the North America. Their most consistent rider has been Barry Wicks, winner of the 2005 US Grand Prix Series and member of the 2004-2005 U.S. cyclo-cross world championships team. Wicks gave Cyclingnews a short history on how he became one of North America's best cyclo-cross riders as well as a detailed breakdown of the machine he rides."

Check out the rest of the article and a bunch of very nice pics at cyclingnews.com.

Belgian Cross madness

Happy Holidays to you and yours!!!!

For all the 'cross fanatics that just can't get enough, make your way 'cross the pond and catch the Belgian equivalent of "NCAA march madness" in late December and early January. Almost a full 2 weeks of World Cup, Superprestige and top-level UCI racing taking place all over Belgium and the Netherlands.

Several northwest athletes are competing at many of these races as they participate in the Belgium Christmas Cross Camp (BCCC?).

We will be highlighting some of their efforts as they test their stuff against the best in the world.

December
23 Wachtebeke, Wachtebeke (Bel) C2
24 Int. Cyclo-cross Veghel-Eerde, Eerde (Veghel) (Ned) C2
26 UCI World Cup, Hofstade (Bel) CDM
27 Sylvester Cyclo-cross, Torhout (Bel) C2
28 Azencross / Cross des as, Loenhout (Bel) C1
29 Cyclo-cross Middelkerke, Middelkerke (Bel) C2
31 Superprestige, Diegem (Bel) C1

January
1 Grote Prijs Sven Nys, Baal (Bel) C1
2 Grote Prijs De Ster, Sint-Niklaas (Bel) C2
3 Centrumcross Surhuisterveen, Surhuisterveen (Ned) C2