The world’s best ’crossers convene again this Sunday, October 24th, for the second round of the World Cup in Plzen, Czech Republic. Once again, we’ll be providing live coverage to keep you up on the action. The women’s race is scheduled for 13:00 local time (7:00am Eastern), the men’s for 15:35 local Czech time (9:35am Eastern).
Niels Albert recovered from a slow start to fight his way to second last week, and the Belgian looks to have finally re-found the form that he’s been looking for. For that matter, Albert’s entire Belgian team should be a factor – all eight of the Belgians finished inside the top 12 in Aigle, and Sven Nys was an early animator before eventually fading to ninth.
American Jonathan Page reported feeling good last weekend, but a crash derailed his efforts. Page will be the lone American in the men’s race.
American Katie Compton, winner in World Cup #1 in Aigle, has elected to take a weekend off from racing, which means there will be no leaders jersey present in either the World Cup or Saturday’s Derby City Cup USGP in Louisville [See our Louisville preview here]. Her compatriots will attempt to pick up the flag – Sue Butler has had a phenomenal early season, Amy Dombroski is looking for her breakthrough European result and Cyclocross Magazine regular contributors Christine Vardaros and Canadian Vicki Thomas will also be in the mix. Thanks to the reshuffling of UCI points, Butler may have a clean line towards the holeshot she seeks.
Czech Katerina Nash will look to feed off of the home crowd and improve on last week’s third place finish. Young Dutch sensation Sanne van Paassen will certainly pull out all the stops in her quest for the top spot, and perennial favorites Daphny van den Brand (second in Aigle) and Hanka Kupfernagel will also be favorites for the podium. Van den Brand may find extra motivation now that she’s set an end date for her career. Britain’s Helen Wyman had a great ride last weekend to claim sixth and will be looking to continuing moving towards the top.
If you missed this great video of last weekend’s women’s race, it’s well worth a look. And you can replay our live coverage from Aigle any time.
Men’s Start List (X denotes Alternate):
| Race Nr | UCI Code | NAME / First Name | Team |
| 1 | CZE19851211 | STYBAR Zdenek | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 2 | CZE19820919 | KASEK David | |
| 3 | CZE19870725 | BAMBULA Ondrej | |
| 4 | CZE19891216 | POLNICKY Jiri | SUNWEB – REVOR |
| 5 | CZE19830906 | SIMUNEK Radomir | BKCP – POWERPLUS |
| 6 | CZE19761020 | DLASK Petr | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 7 | CZE19820419 | ZLAMALIK Martin | SUNWEB – REVOR |
| 8 | CZE19820322 | KYZIVAT Vladimir | |
| 9 | CZE19910804 | NESVADBA Jan | |
| 10 X | CZE19910809 | HNIK Karel | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 11 X | CZE19920501 | LASAK Matej | |
| 12 | BEL19760617 | NYS Sven | LANDBOUWKREDIET |
| 13 | BEL19820519 | VANTORNOUT Klaas | SUNWEB – REVOR |
| 14 | BEL19840412 | PAUWELS Kevin | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 15 | BEL19860205 | ALBERT Niels | BKCP – POWERPLUS |
| 16 | BEL19850620 | VANTHOURENHOUT Dieter | BKCP – POWERPLUS |
| 17 | BEL19820623 | AERNOUTS Bart | RABOBANK-GIANT OFFROAD TEAM |
| 18 | BEL19780810 | WELLENS Bart | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 19 | BEL19810114 | VANTHOURENHOUT Sven | SUNWEB – REVOR |
| 20 X | BEL19850702 | PEETERS Rob | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 21 X | BEL19881107 | MEEUSEN Tom | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 22 | FRA19801208 | MOUREY Francis | FDJ |
| 23 | FRA19830609 | BAZIN Nicolas | |
| 24 | FRA19740928 | CHEVALLIER Jérome | |
| 25 | FRA19781113 | COLOMBATTO Laurent | |
| 26 | FRA19850427 | VILLA Romain | |
| 27 | SUI19750402 | HEULE Christian | |
| 28 | SUI19850517 | WILDHABER Marcel | SCOTT-SWISSPOWER MTB-RACING |
| 29 | SUI19841125 | LANG Pirmin | |
| 30 | ITA19820808 | FRANZOI Enrico | BKCP – POWERPLUS |
| 31 | ITA19821211 | BIANCO Marco | |
| 32 | ITA19861107 | URSI Fabio | |
| 33 | NED19751211 | DE KNEGT Gerben | RABOBANK-GIANT OFFROAD TEAM |
| 34 | NED19860718 | VAN AMERONGEN Thijs | |
| 35 | NED19850416 | VAN LEEUWEN Patrick | |
| 36 | NED19850321 | VAN IJZENDOORN Eddy | |
| 37 | NED19880712 | HUENDERS Mitchell | |
| 38 | NED19800616 | AL Thijs | |
| 39 | NED19920615 | VAN DER POEL David | |
| 40 | USA19760916 | PAGE Jonathan | |
| 41 | ESP19830807 | MURGOITIO REKALDE Egoitz | |
| 42 | ESP19870126 | GARCIA IRAZOLA Xabier | |
| 43 | GBR19860618 | FIELD Ian | |
| 44 | SVK19880115 | GAVENDA Robert | TELENET – FIDEA |
| 45 | SVK19730408 | METLICKA Vaclav | |
| 46 | SVK19861224 | HARING Martin | |
| 47 | SVK19740114 | BARENYI Milan | |
| 48 | SVK19710611 | GLAJZA Robert | |
| 49 | GER19871119 | WALSLEBEN Philipp | BKCP – POWERPLUS |
| 50 | GER19871120 | PFINGSTEN Christoph | VAN VLIET EBH ELSHOF |
| 51 | GER19820318 | SICKMUELLER Johannes | |
| 52 | GER19880223 | WEBER Sascha | |
| 53 | GER19910705 | SCHWEIZER Michael | |
| 54 | GER19830519 | BIRKENFELD René | |
| 55 | DEN19911007 | HANSEN Kenneth | |
| 56 | DEN19901114 | GUDDAL Jonas Schau | |
| 57 | DEN19810331 | NIELSEN Tommy | |
| 58 | POL19830506 | GIL Mariusz | |
| 59 | CAN19811024 | GARRIGAN Mike |
Women’s Start List:
| Race Nr | UCI Code | NAME / First Name | Team |
| 2 | NED19780406 | VAN DEN BRAND Daphny | |
| 3 | NED19881027 | VAN PAASSEN Sanne | |
| 4 | NED19901212 | DE BOER Sophie | |
| 5 | NED19780310 | GRIMBERG Arenda | |
| 6 | NED19670206 | HORMES Reza | |
| 7 | NED19880615 | VAN RIJEN Linda | |
| 8 | NED19930708 | STULTIENS Sabrina | |
| 9 | NED19911230 | VAN NIEUWPOORT Tessa | |
| 10 | FRA19870118 | MANI Caroline | VIENNE FUTUROSCOPE |
| 11 | FRA19790708 | FERRIER-BRUNEAU Christel | VIENNE FUTUROSCOPE |
| 12 | FRA19781025 | TRIQUET-CLAUDE Nadia | VIENNE FUTUROSCOPE |
| 13 | GER19740319 | KUPFERNAGEL Hanka | |
| 14 | GER19900508 | SCHWEIZER Sabrina | |
| 15 | USA19710912 | BUTLER Susan | |
| 16 | USA19870909 | DOMBROSKI Amy | LUNA PRO TEAM |
| 17 | USA19690719 | VARDAROS Christine | |
| 18 | GBR19810304 | WYMAN Helen | KONA |
| 19 | GBR19841201 | DAY Gabriella | |
| 20 | GBR19861230 | HARRIS Nikki | |
| 21 | CZE19771209 | NASH Katerina | LUNA PRO TEAM |
| 22 | CZE19830420 | HAVLIKOVA Pavla | |
| 23 | CZE19850615 | KYPTOVA Jana | |
| 24 | CZE19930813 | MIKULASKOVA Martina | |
| 25 | CZE19930818 | PIRZKALLOVA Zuzana | |
| 26 | BEL19901008 | CANT Sanne | |
| 27 | BEL19840826 | VANDERBEKEN Joyce | |
| 28 | BEL19800916 | VAN LOY Ellen | |
| 29 | BEL19751210 | BOBER Nancy | |
| 30 | BEL19751111 | DE BIE – LEYTEN Nicole | |
| 31 | BEL19770624 | WILLEMS Gertie | |
| 32 | SUI19890707 | ACHERMANN Jasmin | FISCHER-BMC |
| 33 | DEN19870404 | HANSEN Nikoline | |
| 34 | POL19750710 | WARCZYK Dorota | |
| 35 | CAN19720413 | THOMAS Vicki |
