World Cyclocross Champion Marianne Vos is having an incredible road season. © Joe Sales
If you follow multi-discipline racer and 2010 World Cyclocross Champion Marianne Vos on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed a trend over the past few months:
“Won the sprint-a-deux!”
“…they were caught and I could win the sprint!”
“Won the sprint of the leading group of six…”
“at 5km I started my solo to the finish…”
“Bad weather, three times cobbles, narrow roads, two flats… But in the end, still a bunch sprint… I won!”
“I got third in the TT and won the stage in the afternoon!”Indeed, Vos appears nearly unbeatable as her road season progresses. Starting in early April, Vos took second in the Tour de Flanders and followed with a win at the Criterion Werkendam the next day. At the Gracia-Orlova Stage Race she won Stages 1, 4, and 5, and gave Stage 2 to her breakaway partner and teammate Annemie van Vleuten. Vos took the overall GC with over 13 minutes on third place.(See our previous coverage here.)
But why stop there? A string of wins continued for Vos in May, as she took the Omloop der Kempen, Stage 8 of the Tour de l’ Aude (in which she claimed the Green Jersey and bagged a second place on Stage 9), and the Village Circulation Aalburg.
June has shown Vos’ form to be further improving. At Durango – Durango she jumped her four-rider breakaway to take the win. In Holland, another strong sprint bagged her the win in the Pearl of the Veluwe. At the Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira in Spain, Vos won two stages, the points competition and took foutth in GC. Proving that sprinting isn’t her only forte, she also time trialed her way to victory at the District Championship Time Trial of Brabant Zuid-Oost.
With such incredible form during the road season, we have to ask: is Vos showing us a preview of a dominating ’cross season, or is she peaking for the wrong discipline? Let’s hope it’s the former.
