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Mountain Bike Nationals in the U.S. wrapped up on Sunday, with several cyclocrossers turning in impressive results on the fatter, knobbier tires. Their international counterparts were also busy the past few weekends with their own Nationals contests.

For this edition of Rumors & Rumblings, we look at some international mountain bike results and flash back to the BC Bike Race held closer to home a few weeks ago.

Van der Poel!

Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) wins another Dutch National Championship.

Read that sentence, and it’s easy to think you are reading an old Cyclocross Magazine post. After all, the Dutch wunderkind won Dutch Cyclocross Nationals back in January and Dutch Road Nationals earlier this month.

Van der Poel did, however, actually win another Dutch National Championship. He achieved a national-level Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and consolidated the Dutch cyclocross, road and mountain bike title belts with a win at Dutch XCO Mountain Bike Nationals.

After winning 32 races during the 2017/18 cyclocross season, stay tuned for what the young Dutchman does as an encore. (It’s likely safe to assume getting the Cyclocross Worlds monkey off his back is at the top of his list)

Worst, Del Carmen Alvarado Podium at Dutch Nats

Annemarie Worst (ERA-Circus) and Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Corendon-Circus) also nabbed podium finishes at Dutch XCO Nationals. Worst finished third in the Elite Women’s race and Del Carmen Alvarado took third in the U23 Women’s race. Anna van der Breggen, who passed up her Giro Rosa defense to race mountain bikes, finished second in the Elite Women’s race.

Full results from Dutch XCO Nationals are available here.

Nash, Kabush Win BC Bike Race

Road stage races such as the ongoing Tour de France get a lot of the cycling world’s attention, but mountain biking also has its own multi-day grinds. Earlier this year, we looked at the aptly named Cape Epic in South Africa and the Pisgah Stage Race in North Carolina.

Another of the marquee North American mountain bike stage races is the seven-day BC Bike Race held in the beautiful confines of southwest British Columbia. The 2018 race brought an impressive field headlined by Katerina Nash (Clif Pro Team) and local hero Geoff Kabush (Yeti – Maxxis – Shimano – Fox) that also included a number of cyclocross stars.

The two big names did not disappoint. Nash followed her 2017 win with a repeat performance in 2018. Nash won the GC by riding more than an hour faster than her closest competitor. Kaysee Armstrong (Liv Cycling / Maxxis) finished second and Hannah Finchamp (Clif Pro Team) third. Emily Shields (Ken’s Bike Shop) finished fifth.

Kabush took advantage of his knowledge of his local trails—and maybe Dirty Kanza 200 endurance—to win the Men’s GC. Kabush won the overall by six minutes over Francois Bailly-Maitre (Santa Cruz – Lululemon) of France. Kerry Werner finished third in the GC, perhaps in an effort to have “Keventh” place renamed “Wernerth.” “Kerryrd?” (He finished third at 2017 Cyclocross Nationals, 2018 Cyclocross Nationals and the Pisgah Stage Race)

Cory Wallace (Kona) finished 4th overall, Wisconsin ’crosser Corey Stelljes (Neff Cycle Service / Rocky Mountain) finished 11th and Masters cyclocross racer Tim Johnson (Cannondale / Lululemon) took 12th.

Richards, Harnden Ferguson, Last Win at British XCO Nats

U23 Cyclocross World Champion Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing) has continued her success during mountain bike season with several podiums at the XCO World Cups. She returned to race on home soil at British Nationals in Hadleigh and added a U23 British XCO National Champion’s jersey to go with her cyclocross edition.

Harriet Harnden, who finished fourth at U23 Cyclocross Worlds, rolled to a Junior Women’s title in her favorite discipline. Harnden finished second behind Richards at U23 Cyclocross Nationals, so she also achieved a 2018 Junior double championship.

In the Men’s Elite race, 2018 Cyclocross National Champion Grant Ferguson (CST Sandd American Eagle MTB Racing Team) added an XCO jersey to his personal collection.

In the Women’s Elite race, Annie Last (KMC – EKOI – SR SUNTOUR) took home the win (Helen Wyman did not race, if you were wondering if she also went for the XCO-CX double). Nikki Brammeier (Mudiiita) showed her inter-discipline versatility with a third-place finish.

Full results are available here.

Ferrand-Prevot, Lechner, Brandau Cross Over to Win XCO Nationals

When cyclocross races like Namur and Valkenburg roll around, commentators often talk about the advantage “mountain bike-sters” have on the hilly, technical courses. For the Women’s field, the group of mountain bike-sters seems to include a large majority of the women racers. Based on the results highlighted in this post, that perception is likely warranted.

Three more women cyclocross/mountain bike stars took home XCO national titles recently. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Canyon Factory Racing XC) picked up her seventh-straight! French XCO National Championship.

Eva Lechner (Clif Pro Team) won Italian XCO Nationals.

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I was never that happy to win a national titel than today!! Had some big struggle at the first laps but kept believe in it,so it brought me back and I took home the jersey😊🇮🇹 Thanks to all the people that supported me on that way beginning with my parents being there,Benny and @nicolas_jeantet for the technical support out and in the race! But thanks to my coach @bramati_luca_ being there for me all the time!!! Non ero mai piú contenta di vincere un italiano come questo di oggi!! Avevo tanta difficoltá I primi giri peró ci ho creduto fino alla fine e mi ha portato a vincere questa maglia😊🇮🇹 Grazie mille a tutti quanti che mi hanno supportato per questa strada. Iniziando con I miei genitori per essere venuti,a Benny per l'aiuto tecnico e a Nicolas per l'aiuto in e fuori della gara! Un Grande ringrazio peró al mio allenatore Luca Bramati per esserci sempre!!! @esercitoitaliano_officialpage @pastificio_felicetti @asporteyewear @clifproteam

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And Elisabeth Brandau (EBE – Racing Team) took home top honors at German Nationals.

Each of the three women also won their respective cyclocross nationals earlier this year. Double jersey, what does it mean, amirite?

Vanderbeken, Soete Podium at Belgian XCO Nats

Not surprisingly, the Belgian XCO Nationals in Westouter featured a number of cyclocrossers as well. In the Women’s Elite race, Joyce Vanderbeken (Mahieu – Kona – Vandermeeren)—who we saw clean up in China last September—finished on the podium in second.

In the Men’s Elite race, Daan Soete (Pauwels Sauzen – Vastgoedservice) mirrored his 2017 World Cup Waterloo placing with a third-place finish. Vincent Baestaens finished 5th, Laurens Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen – Vastgoedservice) 6th, Tom Meeusen (Corendon-Circus) 7th, Jens Adams (Pauwels Sauzen – Vastgoedservice) 8th, Diether Sweeck (Pauwels Sauzen – Vastgoedservice) 10th and the newly-minted Masters racer Klaas Vantournout 11th.

Full results are available here.

(A close read of Soete’s Instagram post bout the race shows his priorities are in order)

For all of our cyclocross offseason coverage, see our Rumors & Rumblings archive.