Wyman atop the podium in Wetzikon. © Stefan Wyman
Following on from her win in Italy on Tuesday, Kona FSA rider Helen Wyman rode to victory in Wetzikon, Switzerland today. With temperatures around -2 degrees, it was never going to be an easy day for any of the riders.
In the traditional setting in Wetzikon, which has staged many World Cup races, the snow began to fall as the riders started the early morning race. Two laps of the running track started affairs before the riders headed off-road and to the first grassy climb of the day. Helen Wyman (Kona-FSA) took the initiative on this first incline, and it was Lucie Chainel-Lefevre that followed first. Behind them a gap quickly formed to the Swiss duo of Katrin Leumann (Goldwurst-power-Sputnik) and Jasmin Achermann (Fischer-BMC) who were set to battle with each other for the duration of the race.
Two laps in and it seemed Wyman had found her groove. Her gap was increasing and she and Chainel were moving well clear of the chasing pair. However, Helen lost the rear end of the Kona on a tricky decent and she was suddenly back in the sights of Chainel. After a bike change, Helen pushed hard to reassert her lead and in the end glided home to win by a comfortable margin.
‘It was great to race in the ice and snow. It’s really good to get some race practice in these cold conditions, as it’s likely to be very cold at the World Champs this season. Every lap raced in these conditions is valuable data really. I was pushing the bike pretty hard as I want to know it limits and my limits in these conditions. I guess when you ride on the edge, there is always the chance you could crash; that’s cyclo-cross,” commented Wyman on the freezing conditions.
“Two wins in a week is more than I expected when I left home last week, and Lucie really pushed me today. It was the hardest win of the season by a long way. I’ve just done 5 days training in Italy, and this was the last day of that block before I go back to Belgium to recover the Christmas cross campaign. Fingers crossed for some good results,” Wyman continued.
Brief Result
1 Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona-FSA 0:39:43
2 Lucie Chainel-Lefevre (Fra) 0:00:29
3 Katrin Leumann (Swi) goldwurst-power Sputnik 0:01:22
4 Jasmin Achermann (Swi) Fischer-BMC 0:01:24
