Here, Lars Boom takes his first cyclocross win of the season. File Photo © Bart Hazen
by Kat Statman
It’s the off-season for our favorite ’crossers, so most of them are sitting at home relaxing. Niels Albert went for a walk and ate some frites a few weeks ago, and a bunch of super skinny dudes on skinny-tired bikes are racing around on 100-year-old stone roads in northern Europe. Weird time of year, but very cool. This week is Paris-Roubaix. Two cities, 50 kilometers of cobbles, dirt, mud, pain and some skinny tires. So, any ’crossers going to be there? Word on the street is that Ryan Trebon may have a new team again after showing the US that he’s back. Adam Craig gets Katie Compton sick, nice work!Which ’Crossers Will be at the Hell of the North?
Well, we’ve got one of the obvious racers: Lars Boom. Boom has been one of those dark horse favorites for the Spring classic ever since he made his move to the road, and we do keep hoping. He even raced last year on his ’cross bike (maybe he won’t do that again, but it shows his pedigree). Steve Chainel is another name you will see for the Francaise Des Jeux team. Keep an eye on him, like his compatriot John Gadret, he’s tough, and will be going all in. Unfortunately, the start lists shows a serious deficiency in the winter specialists, which might have something to do with the early season or “off-season” nature of the race. We should also mention Boonen here. Boonen is not a ’crosser, we all know that, but he is Belgian and he does put on an annual ’cross race to benefit charities, so ’cross does run in his blood; maybe that’s why he’s knocking de Vlaemick’s record.
Ryan Trebon, New Team, Again?
We’ve been catching whiffs here and there that Ryan Trebon will be moving to a new team, again. Nothing has been confirmed and we don’t want to speculate too much on what is going on, for fear of being wrong. But seriously, man, why are you doing this to us? For years it was easy to pick you out, huge dude in the orange kit on the massive custom-made Kona. Then last year, once again, huge dude in the all black kit on another massive bike from Felt. Granted, your pure height and bike size (I think I remember your saddle height being somewhere around my armpits, the last time I checked) is probably a dead give-away, but at the same time, a little consistency would be nice, I guess. Here’s hoping that we have some exciting news to reveal soon, hopefully something amazing like, “Trebon joins Albert at BKCP-Powerplus,” with a quote from Albert to the effect of, “I specifically requested to bring Trebon on, as he not only be a perfect fit for our team, but would bring extra support in those early and late season fast races where a little more tactics are needed, like Vanthourenhout has been doing for Nys this winter.”
Adam Craig Gets Teammate Katie Compton Sick
So, if you follow those ’crossers who, instead of putting skinnier tires underneath their feet in the off-season, put some fatter and knobbier tires on the ground, you may know that Adam Craig took his first run at the Absa Cape Epic (read: horrendous nine days of agony on a bike and sleeping in tents) this Spring after the first World Cup in South Africa. Well, he got sick, flew to Mallorca to train with the rest of the Rabobank-Giant Off-Road Team there (with Katie Compton, etc.) and then proceeded to get Katie sick, just one week before the Houffalize World Cup. Not only does it suck that Adam got sick, but getting Katie sick too! Now two c’rossers have less of a chance of going to the Olympics, and that’s never a good thing!
