What if I told you a pinwheel was only the second most ridiculous thing coming to a Belgian cyclocross course in the next two weekends?
With the VIP area planned for the Belgian Cyclocross Nationals in Antwerp, that very well may be the case.
This Sunday marks the second running of the Brussels Universities Cyclocross that is part of the DVV Trofee series. Last year, the race held its first edition on the grounds of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Last year’s most memorable feature was likely the rolling uphill over the terraces of the campus lawn.
The uphill rollers were a memorable feature on last year’s course. 2019 Brussels Universities Cyclocross. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine
This year’s? Looks like it might be a pinwheel.
🎥 Tournée générale, mijn gedacht! Dit is de nieuwe carrousel op het parcours van de Brussels Universities Cyclocross aan de kant van de ULB. Een kans voor de renners om te kijken hoever hun voorsprong/achterstand is. #DVVTrofee #Veldrijden #CX #Cyclocross pic.twitter.com/zopmjiFiuO
— DVV Trofee (@DVVtrofee) January 3, 2020
Pinwheels have long been maligned in U.S. cyclocross, but the DVV Trofee is selling the feature as “a chance for the riders to see how far their lead/backlog is.”
The pinwheel is pretty derivative at this point, but a floating pontoon held up by a crane and a boat for VIPs? Now that is an original addition for the Belgian Nationals in Antwerp.
Belgian Nationals pontoon plan. photo: Nieuwsblad.be
A story from Nieuwsblad describes the goal (translated):
From the beach of Sint-Anneke, the riders are sent on a giant, floating ‘carpet’ onto the Scheldt. There they make a turn to the right on a large floating surface, after which they take a detour over a bridge held up by a crane, to set course again towards the beach via the pontoon. Goal: to give the riders the feeling that they are driving straight into the Scheldt.
Some images available online show the feature being built.
Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal), who will be one of the Elite Men’s race favorites next Sunday, was already out inspecting the course. He was laudatory of the Antwerp track but was caught laughing when asked about the feature.
[We will see] what it will mean for the competition itself. But it looks impressive anyway. Although I don’t know if the course really needed this. It’s nice enough already. (translated)
Twitter had fun with the pontoon / VIP boat feature, especially the guy randomly floating in the water.
Cyclocross Magazine correspondent Bart Hazen is scheduled to be at the Belgian Championships, so we will hopefully have much more on the pontoon feature thingy.
