Rumors & Rumblings is our regular offseason column that keeps tabs on what cyclocross stars are up to during the offseason. After last week’s road-a-palooza from U.S. Nats and some big criterium series, we return to the road for more Nationals and crits and then throw in a new puppy for good measure.
Van der Poel … Wow
Although Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) is focused on the 2020 Mountain Bike Olympics, he has still found some time to do a few road races. Last weekend, one of those was the Dutch National Road Championships.
Cyclocross fans have grown accustomed to seeing Van der Poel win race after race with a combination of his power and otherworldly bike handling, so it probably comes as no surprise he used both to win the Dutch Nationals Road Race last weekend.
Van der Poel outsprinted and outmaneuvered his rivals using an incredible move to pass between Ramon Sinkeldam (Groupama-FDJ) and the barriers immediately to his left. You can see a replay of the finish in the following video.
https://youtu.be/1YFpuJeyV6g?t=47m30s
A look from above via nos.nl (second video, beginning around the 4:20 mark) shows just how impressive Van der Poel’s move was.
As the riders approached the finishing kick, Van der Poel powered out to the left while Sinkeldam drifted from right to left as he started his sprint. With Van der Poel running out of real estate, he calmly reached out to let Sinkeldam know he was there.
Mathieu van der Poel at Dutch Road Nationals. photo: NOS NL screen capture
Van der Poel then snuck his way between Sinkeldam and the barrier to squeeze past his rival and avoid a bad crash.
Mathieu van der Poel at Dutch Road Nationals. photo: NOS NL screen capture
From there it was clear sailing to take the Dutch National Champion’s jersey.
Mathieu van der Poel at Dutch Road Nationals. photo: NOS NL screen capture
After winning the race, Van der Poel was named to the Dutch team for the European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, setting up a potential pre-cyclocross-season showdown against his rival Wout van Aert.
Full results from the Road Race and ITT are available from procyclingstats.com.
Vos, Brand Take Home Dutch Nationals Podiums
After winning the Points Classification and finishing second overall in the GC at last month’s OVO Energy Women’s Tour in England, Marianne Vos (WaowDeals Pro Cycling) returned home for the Dutch National Road Race. Vos has won the race four times and finished on the podium in five other editions since first winning in 2006.
Vos added another Nationals medal to her collection with a third-place finish last weekend. Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) won her second straight Dutch Nationals title by finishing 19 seconds ahead of runner-up Amy Pieters (Boels-Dolmans) and Vos.
In the Individual Time Trial, it was 2013 and 2015 road race winner Lucinda Brand’s (Team Sunweb) chance to shine. Brand took home third in the time trial, finishing just 13 seconds behind Ellen Van Dijk (Team Sunweb).
Full results from both the Road Race and ITT are available from procyclingstats.com.
Compton Tours America’s Dairyland
Last week, we covered the first part of Katie Compton’s (ISCorp Pro Cycling) annual preseason training session at the 11-day Tour of America’s Dairyland series in Wisconsin. Compton continued her podium roll with third-place finishes at the Janesville Town Square Grand Prix and the series finale East Tosa Grand Prix.
Compton held the leader’s jersey after Days 6 and 7 and finished the overall omnium in third behind Rebecca Wiasak (Fearless Femme) and Sharlotte Lewis (Roxsolt Attaquer). Australia’s Peta Mullens (Hagens Berman / Supermint) finished fourth in the overall omnium.
Noble Rolls to Overall Win at New England Crit Week
While Katie Compton had to do some traveling for her crit racing, Ellen Noble (Trek Factory Racing) got to stay closer to home at the New England Crit Week. Last week, we looked at her win in the five-race series-opening Greenfield Criterium, and following that, Noble stuck around for more crit racing to mix up her training before the next round of mountain bike UCI World Cups.
Noble dominated the five-race NE Crit Week series, winning four of the races and finishing second at the Grand Prix of Beverly. For her efforts, Noble took home the omnium title.
Regina Legge (Green Line Velo driven by ZipCar) took home second in the omnium and Laura van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom / Van Dessel) finished third. Natalie Tapias (Jam Fund / NCC) and Erin Faccone (B2C2 p/b JRA Cycles) also finished in the top five in the overall in fourth and fifth, respectively.
See necritweek.com for final series standings.
Myerson Pulls Off Nationals Encore
Last month, Adam Myerson (Cycle-Smart) won his age group at Masters Road Nationals in Augusta, and never one to rest, Myerson kept the crit party going at NE Crit Week.
After finishing fourth at Greenfield, Myerson rolled to wins at the Exeter Classic and Grand Prix of Beverly. His win at Exeter was the fifth of his career.
For his efforts, Myerson took home the overall title for NE Crit Week.
Curtis White (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis) jumped in a few of the crits and capped his outings with a win in the series finale at Fitchburg. Cooper Willsey (CCB Foundation – Sicleri) also grabbed a fourth-place finish at Fitchburg.
Helen Wyman Finally Gets a Puppy
After a whirlwind tour of crits and road races, we finally get to the important Rumors & Rumblings news. I am, of course, talking about Helen Wyman’s new puppy.
If you follow Wyman on social media, you probably know she has been itching to add a new member to the Wyman family. At the end of June, Wyman adopted Alonso, a Brittany spaniel mix.
He’s so cute.
This may have happened today……😂😂😂 we got Helen a puppy!! Meet Alonso he’s from caracassonne dog home and he’s lovely pic.twitter.com/InY8kVxTPt
— Helen Wyman (@CXHelen) June 27, 2018
Look for Alonso to come to a podium near you…
Is CrossFitCross Coming?
Last year, the CrossFit games in Madison, Wisconsin featured a cyclocross race to pay homage to the state’s cycling heritage. The Games return to Madison at the beginning of August, leading folks to wonder if a cycling event will again be part of the competition. Okay, so maybe at least I am wondering; it’s right near my house!
CXM contributor Chris Mayhew spotted an Instagram post from 2016 and 2017 winner Matt Fraser showing him working on his bike in between carrying sand bags, sprinting, lifting, climbing, erging, swimming, lifting and snowblowing.
Is it foreshadowing, or is it just that Fraser kind of enjoys riding bikes? We will all have to stay tuned to find out since the CrossFit Games organizers often do not announce the competitions until the week or even day of an event.
For more offseason news, see our Rumors & Rumblings archive.
