As the road season gets going again the 'crossers are facing their final weeks on the bike, and with that, their most important races.
For those who'd like to brush up on their 'cross knowledge:
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A59587...
Hoogerheide, last leg World Cup 24/01
It all starts off with the last leg of the World Cup this Sunday in Hoogerheide, in Holland just outside the Belgian border. With 80 points for the winner Niels Albert has to hope for Stybar to mess up his game if he still wants the win. Sven Nys lost the Cup during the very first leg in Treviso, after he forfeited half-race. That first stage of the World Cup was won impressively by Niels Albert, who finished solo 42 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic's Zdenek Stybar. The next two legs were for Albert as well, but as winter came around the corner Zdenek showed that you don't have to be Belgian to win at 'cross as he gathered impressive wins in Koksijde, Igorre and Roubaix. In between both Pauwels and Nys grabbed a World Cup win as well, but with one race to go it's Zdenek Stybar who's got the best papers.
1 STYBAR Zdenek 565
2 ALBERT Niels 551
3 NYS Sven 480
For the girls things are a whole lot more exciting, as the top three are only 25 points apart. Both Vos and Compton once failed to score any points - the Dutchie in Treviso and the American in Roubaix - which has left Van den Brand at the top. Moreover, Compton injured herself pretty badly during recon of the Roubaix race and it's still unsure whether or not she'll even be at the start tomorrow. So it looks like we're going to see a repeat of what's been going on all season, as the two Dutch ladies Vos and VDB duke it out for the win.
1 VAN DEN BRAND Daphny 285
2 VOS Marianne 265
3 COMPTON Katherine 260
Points for the top ten:
80 - 70 - 65 - 60 - 55 - 50 - 48 - 46 - 44 - 42
Tabor, World Championships 31/01
The week after it's the World Championships in Stybar's own Czech Republic. Not only will Zdenek be riding on home territory, he's shown the past few weeks he's in good shape, he'll have a solid team to back him up and the race will probably be on his beloved icy grounds. The Czech isn't the only one with a love for frozen roads though, and his biggest competition will come from Sven - The Hulk - Nys. Other names to look out for are of course Niels Albert - depending on how well his injury has healed - Kevin Pauwels, Gerben de Knegt, Bart Aernouts and a handful of random outsiders to top it off.
For the girls there is every chance that it'll once again come down to a Dutch battle between VDB and Vos. Compton has an injury holding her back but one would be foolish to not keep an eye out for her if she's healed sufficiently to start. Other girls with a shot at winning are Germany's Hanka Kupfernagel and local MTB'er and surprise victor at Roubaix Katerina Nash. Brit interest will come in the form of Helen Wyman, Nikki Harris and Gabriella Day.
The course isn't exactly the same as the World Cup leg organised in Tabor, but there are plenty of animations on the website to give you a feel. There's nothing in movies 2 to 5 that they don't show in movie 1. Movie 3 - Eye of the biker - is fantastic, it's basically an animated version of Crazy Camera Guy (also part of movie 1, just simply download that if you wanna see it all).
www.mstabor2010.cz/en/index....
Source:bbc.co.uk
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