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The Cyclocross Magazine Society pages are back this week for Rumors & Rumblings. What started with Wout van Aert’s engagement continues with two weddings and another engagement. We also take a turn as the Sports page, with some reporting on #crossiscoming season bike racing. 

cover photo: © flickr user Robb North, used under Creative Commons license

Elle Anderson Getting Married

Elle Anderson has charted a different course than many U.S. cyclocross stars, choosing to live and race in Belgium during the past several years. While in Belgium crushing souls on the bike, she also found her soul mate in Niels Musschoot, a Belgian who used to surf professionally. The two got married in Vermont at the end of July.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209130483571770&set=a.10209130578694148&type=3&theater

 

Cyclocross Magazine wishes Elle and Niels the best, and we are pretty confident their relationship is meant to be, because as they say, the couple that ’crosses together, stays together.

Kerry Werner and Emily Shields Get Engaged

The Cyclocross Magazine Society page rolls west to the Rockies, where one U.S. cyclocross star decided that contrary to the song, he likes it and did put a ring on it.

Kerry Werner and Emily Shields have been one of the cycling world’s power couples, and over the weekend, they took their relationship to new heights. While hiking in Colorado, Werner popped the question atop the appropriately named Mt. Massive. (In case the reader is wondering, there is no Lover’s Peak, Mt. Love or Col d’Amour among the Colorado 14ers, so Mt. Massive it had to be.)

Kaitlin Antonneau Gets Ready to Tie the Knot

Speaking of cycling power couples, Kaitlin Antonneau and Luke Keough of United Health Care Cycling will be tying the knot on August 19 outside Madison, Wisconsin. Antonneau is originally from Racine, WI and hence the wedding will have its own special Wisconsin flair.

Vos is Bos at European Road Championships

Earlier this summer we saw Marianne Vos rip through the month of May with three straight wins, and she followed up that feat by winning the GC at the BeNe Ladies Tour in July.

After finishing seventh at the European Continental Road Championships in 2016, Vos returned with a vengeance in 2017. She outsprinted two rivals down the finishing straight to grab the crown as European champion. Vos last won the European Continental Championship as a U23 rider in 2006 and 2007; however the Elite championships were first held in 2016 for both the men and women, so the ten-year gap for the road and cyclocross star has an explanation.

Laurens Sweeck on Strong Form at Tour de Namur (Not Wedding-Related)

One of the sometimes overlooked members of the European cyclocross youth movement is ERA-Circus rider Laurens Sweeck. At just 23 years of age, Sweeck had an impressive cyclocross campaign in 2016/17, finishing third at CrossVegas and the Jingle Cross World Cups and sixth at the World Championships in Bieles.

Last week in the Tour de Namur, Sweeck took to the road for his ERA-Circus team and finished in second place in the GC standings of the six-stage race, just seven seconds behind the winner. Sweeck won the last three stages, including—and perhaps foreshadowing results to come this ’cross season—the final stage that finished at the Citadel of Namur.

Ferrand-Prevot and Pendrel Podium at Mountain Bike World Cup, Eh?

The fifth round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup was held in Mont Sainte Anne, Canada on Sunday. Cyclocross racers made a strong showing in the Women’s Elite race, with Pauline Ferrand-Prevot taking second and home country hero Catherine Pendrel grabbing third. Pendrel and her Clif Bar teammates Lea Davison and Maghalie Rochette also managed to squeeze some fun into the only North American World Cup race.

Young U.S. cyclocross star Hannah Finchamp finished 12th in the Women’s U23 race.

Van der Poel Outmaneuvers Van Aert at Dwars door het Hageland

Stop us if you have heard this one before, but Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert engaged in an exciting finishing duel in a bike race yet again. This time it was the Dward door het Hageland road race held as part of the Napoleon Games Cup that spans ten races during the road season.

Van der Poel used his savvy to get the jump on Van Aert and Taco van der Hoorn through the last corner and out-sprinted van der Hoorn to win the whole enchilada. You can watch the video of Van der Poel’s craftiness below:

Did we miss something? Got a scoop on an offseason story we have missed? Let us know at [email protected].