We are hoping for a great battle today and just to make a point that we can actually see W went out on the left hand side of the screen as you look in the yellow kit and he’s on the second row and we were watching some of the
Pictures before we came live on air and it looked like he missed his call up um so by the time that there’s basically a rule if you miss your call up as soon as you arrive you can then go get called up or you can go to the back but um yeah
They they tried to share it with him but he said no no I missed it so he’ll stay on the second Second the Riders are under orders here in the exact cross the Z Crossing mall we have green we have go we are off and racing wer on the left in the yellow can he move himself up from that second row Vander goes right has a glance across
But it’s Vincent Bast Dan gets a great start so does Clinton Herman in the blue of Al % deing it’s vandero that leads out with W vanart has moved himself right up to the front so that missing the start didn’t really matter there did the pressure for V best stands though
Was like extrem wasn’t it this is going to be the best start of your life think ding your boy start and then you’ll get out of the way for a while I mean they are good friends they know each other but yeah and but it’s given him a great
Start and he’s now into um fourth or fifth spot equ fourth spot going into this section which is the section that would call Lo of trouble if you’re not in the first two you don’t get to ride it um and so yeah it’s great for Vi as
Well even though he’s probably going to pay for that at the end of the lap Matthew vandero leading out on the first lap and this is this is we’ve seen this traditionally throughout his 150 victories as a pro but the the shock and all tactic just just go off the the
Start line like a rocket ship and then and see who’s left yeah and you have oh crash the uh it’s all man down oh just you can see just had to Bunny Hop that point there ouch is gone down really heavy there unfortunately that’s uh yiman and he
Just looked like he caught almost looked like a a route or something there yeah and when it’s on this kind of course uh on the sections in the Woody sections they are uh very much um single track and so you really have to just we’re going to watch it again he’s
Oh he’s bunny hopping that tree lump um but he didn’t manage to land it very well and then yeah he stays in one place so everybody can come around him but it’s just what happens at the start these things there are you know 60 odd riders in the race so these things can
Happen in the very first section and already these two Riders are trying to get them established themselves at the front of the race yeah indeed vandero looks back and he’ll see the face of his arch nemesis W vanard who’s just latched himself onto the wheel his teammate Quenton Herman’s though coming across
With Vincent B he was in front of w vard and that’s the again the pressure as Helen Wyman was saying of being in front of w on the start you don’t want to miss a pedal or anything like that on the on the start yeah that would be absolute
Disaster isn’t it um I neither I mean Matthew would regularly go go to the front of the race smashes out a couple of laps and then ride his own race um but in this battle this is the first time that they’ve met this year and neither of them really knows how strong
The other Riders are because they’ve both won their races so they’ve both beaten all the other competition around them so this is a a race where you can use power this is a race where you can use technique in certain sections but there are really long sections where it
Will be group riding and so you can’t just go to the front and smash it out so you’re going to have to see how they assess each other on the first couple of laps and then yeah see what they’re capable of and see what the other Riders
Around them are capable of and seeing if they can get in the mix and mess it up a bit for either these two Riders Quenton Herman up there it’s good to seeing Quenton Herman’s back in canw out R the section look at that beautifully done Vanderpool does the same her does the
Same Vanderpool Tes to get off and run and the power to get up that June there his something to behold yeah and I mean you see stuff like this that the back wheel starts to slide and W doesn’t get off even though that’s probably the best thing that he should do in that
Situation but because he’s already trapped Vander pole it doesn’t matter how slow he rid at that point it’s good to see qucon H’s back in here and I know he’s got as well designs on a on a big road career um just 14 race starts last
Year for Clinton Herman so he’s had one start so far this season so the man in blue just at the the left of your picture as you look at it there and it’s for me Quenton HS it’s it’s one of those rers as well just feels like it should
Stick with stick with a good cross program I know the draw the road and everything is is right there but it is good to see him back in and straight away two races in back here you know up in third spot yeah and the bonus is that um there’s a Rolling Road
There’s a rolling ranking for Cy cross big gap yeah W didn’t why had a bit of an issue there so he didn’t wasn’t able to ride that sand section and so these are the things that go wrong in sand you make one mistake you can lose 10 seconds
Really really easily uh because sand slows you down so much it’s really important to keep momentum in sand all the time and you need to jump off before you lose that momentum but these guys are trying to ride everything um and so they don’t even think we’re going to
Have to get off of this they’re just smashing through it until they make a mistake what’s been interesting the last couple weeks is the post race interviews with you know the lights of Tom pitock and the the other Riders and sometimes the interviewers and other people are
Surprised how quickly the W when off the mat vs and and the Tom pitcocks find their groove in Cross you know Tom was said I’ve been on the crossb a couple of times this week and you’ll see W vanart playing in the sand or out in the woods
And Matthew Vanderpool doing the same but that just shows the you know they they’ve grown up doing this and they and these two in particular changed the sport completely I’ve been reading a lot of interviews this week with the likes of Rob Peters and Nails Al butt you know
When w and W F and Matthew Vanderpool came into across as Elites you know from as very very young Riders they just changed the sport completely and sort of Old Guard knew their days were done that their days were numbered going to reach this level yeah they are the fle and P
Peters of the women’s racing you know they are the two riders that have grown up through the sport before them there was an ERA with L boom Neils Albert and zenik stea and they brought the sport on again in that level and then these two have just got this ridiculous skill it’s just
Insane but Marty you should also not always believe when they say they haven’t really ridden their Crossfire yeah there is that as well I mean to be fair to these guys Matthew vandero has the most incredible bike riding skills in the entire planet so yeah okay W van incredibly skillful
Obviously in order to race against Matthew and beat him but he’s also this incredible power um and the two of them are very different way that they ride but they are very much equally matched and they will battle to the very Bitter End um and nobody gives up on anything
Between these two and that’s what drives the sport forward and the the 2016 finish between these two and hope we get you know it looks already very early on that we might get treated to one of those today and it was one of those races where they were just off on and
Off the the Dismounts The remounts Swinging The bike around it was almost like wielding an axe when they’re putting your bike on your shoulder trying to get the sort of Supremacy over there their opponent the thing we got to look at here though is alpus and dck
Have got three riders in the top four here yeah but are these other two Riders going to be able to come back and make a difference um sure if one of them makes a mistake at the front of the race but they’re already they they’re playing
About at this point neither of these two Riders are laying everything down on the line they’re just playing about and they’ve already got a gap so I don’t think the other two are going to be making much difference to um the race right now and you get this long shot you
Seen the uh the body movements of w mat Vanderpool mat just looks like he’s settling in here he he’s got that he’s got that look of um sort of cool calmness on his face W never gives anything away um visually no I don’t think either really do and I mean the
World championships in Huger hiy in uh last season were absolutely insane they just kept throwing punches at each other the entire time they just kept powering attacking powering attacking and they could not make a difference and it ended up in a Sprint to the line and that is
How these two Riders ride and race and they really they don’t hold back which is a really good thing because if they held back and then just waited and waited then you’d see different style of racing but it’s the way that they attack each other all the time during the race
In the middle of the race that makes it really exciting to watch just joining us welcome aboard it is the zver cross here in Maul and Matthew vandero wat verar leading from Clinton Herman’s Neils Vander T ven boss in the green and white and red colors there of prand
Coron here for the second lap managing to ride that section but has to get a bit of assistance from uh the barriers at the side T vandom BOS here making good inroads into that gap of the two Riders just ahead of him vandero manages to ride that one just finds his way
Through welcome back if you’re rejoining us on the TV we are in more today 12 region of Belgium for the exac if you need to this one it’s a series of races brought together under one sponsor no General class but some of some really historic and important cross races in this zver cross
Around the the Leisure um facility the lake that you have here the swimming lake is is one that has just grown in stature and importance over the years Clan torn out taking it in 2013 W Vernard backto back Wings in 1415 Matthew vandero in 2016 his brother
David we just got a little replay there watching this again you can actually see that uh W van has just shown a weakness to Matthew vle because he wasn’t able to make it up that bank and Vander pole even behind him was able to make it up
The bank and go around him and Vander Paul’s going to be thinking right that’s one spot I’ve got that that’s not a problem it’s the way just kind of shimmed through was nicely done and they can’t show weaknesses to each other because that’s when they really just brutally
Attack each other in those places yes show no weakness between the two of these they’ve been uh we’ve been treated to many a battle between W vard and mat vanderpol over the over the years I was having a little look um a little look back um in the week of the sort of
Head-to-head between uh Ward and mat Vanderpool so our friends over at Cy cross 24 it’s 120 to Matthew vandero 60 to W vard so 12060 if you put them sort of Head to Head between the the two the most of the time they’ve been first and
Second there’s been the odd dnf in there and the odds sort of top 10 for them but Matthew has the has the advantage over the two of them and as we said for anyone that’s new to cycl cross they’ve been doing battle since they were probably 12 I think over the years maybe
A little older but yeah definitely since the junior ranks definitely yeah that and you know they know each other very well they’ve grown up in the sport very well they’ve taken different career Parts but they’ve uh very much ended up racing each other Road and cross um for the win in big
Races like tour Flanders and and things like that and in cyc Cross World Championships every year um so yes they absolutely know each other very well and they know how the other one thinks um I would say mentally Matthew isn’t quite he will throw his toys out of the pram
Sooner than W will but I don’t but Matthew has huge confidence whereas W doesn’t seem to quite as [Applause] much our laps mag vul for 554 609 are our lap times so far as Janny V goes uh through the world gravel Champion quenon Herman
Has got back on here he did a 607 for that lap Neils Vander putter a 615 then we go back to Vin Bast Anton ferdin Tom mayus in there as well for the lot ex athletes for Hope team an Von going through Jansen next with sand sand DEET
So they’re outside the top 10 Anie verton rounding out our top 10 so good to see the liks of Tom mayus in that uh that top 10 Herman’s getting on here mu is a good s Rider as well and he’s also from this area so he’s probably trained on this
For like every day of his life since birth or something but uh he’s a really good sand Rider so um for him to be up there in this kind of race you would expect that it’s like we explained that a lot of the Riders because of the Christmas
Block um a lot of the Riders picking the races where they want to get good training or racing experience I mean for these two it’s probably a combination um of start money they get paid incredible start money in these races in Belgium um but it’s also a combination of wanting to compete
Against each other without the distraction of the world cup or the super Prestige or something like that where there’s other battles going on within the races whereas for these two this is a race where they’re just going to test out each other and see who’s going strong what they need to improve
And for themselves what that person is better at and so um this is a good test for them and a lot of the Riders historically mul hasn’t been a really important race for the professional Riders over the Christmas block and so it’s more World Cup super Prestige x2o bag C trophy are
Three important series for the Belgian and Dutch Riders um and so they would put more of a focus on that and you cannot do every race over Christmas there’s something like 11 races in 16 days and you just cannot do it you’ll physically not be able to get out of bed
After about 8 days I know we we I’m all for most of them um I think the gpen A on New Year’s Day the only one I’m not here for so honestly I’ve been training really hard for this one I’ve been out every day doing my efforts in the sand
Some Hill Sprints all that so uh we’re here as well but look how closely these guys follow each other’s wheel like wow it’s so confident in following mati that he will ride within an inch of his back wheel knowing that that’s where he has to be because if he isn’t then mat’s
Going to get a small Gap like he has here because he was able to ride a section that W was and you saw in the sand as well W had to just sort of move off his Line in the Sand and vandero rides that section he’s
Managing to just open up some small gaps here so Vanderpool just throwing those little Jabs and he knows he can ride this section beautifully up there carries great speed vanard does the same this time they’re on lap three of 10 here and Matthew vandero is starting to
Make those uh those moves here and just forcing W Berard to make those efforts to try and come back to him so these are the first glimmers now Helen of some moves here from Vander this is what we saw in the last lap he showed vandero a weakness this I didn’t successfully
Achieve that Hill last time so uh sorry Matthew’s saying W didn’t successfully achieve that Hill last time so that’s why I’m going to try and make a move on him next time and make him hurt even if he comes back at least he’s had to burn
His matches not me and you can can see just how big the Crowds Are Here the draw of both Matthew vandero W vard and vandero looks like he’s just carrying just a little bit more speed along this sand section over W vard so going to have to burn some matches here W Vernard
To try and come back to mat Vanderpool if he can but this is just this is just the the way these two of these guys are just riding this this June here it’s just something to behold hermans has to dab the right foot there and a handling
Off that one but just a beautiful line yeah it’s absolutely amazing and we know Matthew isn’t an expert sand Rider alongside all his other expert skills because he’s one csider and he’s been able to ride some Jee sections that no other rider in the history of coxide
Have able to ride and coxide has been on the planet since the beginning in Belgium and so for for him to be able to ride up these banks that no other professional ride has ever ridden and he one lap one year in coxer 2019 when he
Was just winning by a large margin there was no one close to him he just trying out how he could ride stuff in the race like it was like a training session and it was insane the stuff that he could ride it’s just a combination of technique and power that’s just unheard
Of some really nice slow MOS here of the world champion and he is he has said isn’t he that he is chasing that cyc cross World Championship record that’s the one that’s that’s the thing that’s keeping him in the in the sport is it right how many is he away
From it two far away from it now it’s uh it’s just try it’s just that the the Last they’re they’re always sort of saying you know are you are you going to stay in cyc Cross are you you know how long you are you going toay stay with it and he and he is cha he’s just chasing chasing that record well he’ll get it for sure yeah
So seven seven for damic isn’t it that that that theyve that he’s got and mat is so he’s two off that one so Eric daming is the the record holder with with seven um and Matthew is chasing that wow yeah I mean Matthew’s you can see the way that Matthew’s riding these
Corners he’s slightly he turns in slightly sooner than W um and it’s he’s very slightly more um jumpy he can explo he has slightly more explosive power um and whereas W has this incredible turbo engine that he can just ride and ride and ride um and Vander Paul sometimes
Goes too much into that explosive power and then that’s when w come backs to him or W can be more consistent because Matthew might make a silly mistake saw we saw him do even on the highlights um from the first race he did this season because he was way ahead of everyone
Else and he took a corner to Quick um and slid out so it’s kind of the way that they ride is is quite different but it’s amazing how closely matched they are and it seems like Machu has come back in with a bit more cross form
Potentially than W has or is just I mean he is a really really good sand Rider to be fair de I don’t know if we will get any pictures of that but if you don’t know Rob he’s very famous YouTuber vapol is always doing videos with average Rob um
And they’re really really funny they’re they’re a great they’re a great pair and so it’s going to be interesting to to see if we get to see that at uh at Dean I think with when you look at this and you know we we’ both commentated many
Matthew vano wins over the years it’s the way he can take half a second or a second just through one corner we saw that bank section it was you know 5 m on one section 5 me on and that’s consistently his way isn’t it it’s half
A second on this corner he is on every single corner I mean if you add add them up if it’s 20 Corners a lap that’s out you know how much time he’s he’s taking glanc down at the bike there as he picked that up well he’s alsoo he’s running oh it’s gone on
To chains come off that’s what we always say about cyc cross mat man gets has an issue chain it was just the way he looked down at the bike there when he when he dropped up to the bottom of that section yeah and that section we saw him ride last time so
Obviously it happened and he jumped off because he heard or felt something not be quite right let see look oh he caught it with his foot yeah the pet cranks just spun back yeah he caught it with his foot and spun the cranks back and I mean quite often in
Sand um the the in sand and and dry Earth um it gets all in your chain and everything and it gets a bit grindy and things like that and they’re not going to change bikes in this course cuz the um pits are in the sand and you’re not
Going to get off in sand to change unless you’re already running um and so you can get quite Sandy and quite gritty in there but hopefully that was just a user error cuz he kicked it with his foot and as you said the the battle remember 2016 vard caught as he as he
Always does spun his pedals back as he shouldered his bike and the chain the chain came off there didn’t he that that bank section though up and down he’s definitely sort of riding at a couple of seconds quicker than W out even with that issue and he’s lapping Riders
Already yeah yeah he’s tighter on those Corners which mean that he’s able to put his power down quicker and because he’s got slightly more explosive power he can actually uh get away quicker as well and that’s where you’re going to gain those seconds and I mean it must be tough when
You’re running through the sound and you’re getting lapped by somebody that’s just riding past you so we are on lap four of 10 a 554 a 609 and a 545 with a g with a laps for Matthew vandero so far so that 545 lap that was the on lap three gave giving
Him that Advantage W when out was at 11 seconds the last check that we had 554 609 556 the lap time SC we not behind them Quinton Herman’s is not far away not a million miles away at 557 607 and 601 for quing Harman I’ve just run you
Through at the end of the lap um we had time fourth Neil Vander put AZ wans Tom Anon fer9 and Vincent Bast um was your top 10 if you back up to the front of the race though it’s alers to kernick Matthew vandero the world champion that is leading
In this race in Ma and the battle between W Berard and Matthew vandero as he comes around for the end of the lap so cool so calm at the end of lap four we’ll see how much that unship chain has cost him not a huge amount he’s about to take the
Uh the corner at the end of the start finish straight look at that as Tom May uh we we always called him the ice man but he is a sand he is a sand man as well that that was something else there yeah definitely and it looks like the
Riders behind are getting a little bit closer to W on this section um maybe W’s just not quite enjoying it today or because match’s already got a gap and he doesn’t feel he could close it he’s going to try and save himself for the World Cup an ANW tomorrow again another
Sand race um who knows the first of many races over the course of the Christmas period so this a little bit earlier on just repeat so you know where we are so an tomorrow kavra on the 26th of December oing gate kav then the 27th hon Zer the super Prestige learn on
The 20 and then Hol on 30 are we can we kick off 2024 at the GP Spen in ball Jan go through at the end of the lap Quick Check of the watch as V goes through W vard second spot does look like he’s just sort of riding within
Himself now just as you said Helen perhaps a little eye on the races in front of him and then you’re almost hoping that that you get those unforced errors ahead of you as well that we that we just saw with the unship chain on that last lap yeah but look at the way
That Matthew vandero is just surfing across the sand on his bike like the bike goes wherever it wants to go and he just follows it and drives it forwards it’s he is a really really incredible sound Rider and you know that even W makes it look incredibly uh impressive but matchi just
Seems to have just a little bit of an edge in this race today and and probably W sees that and he’s like okay well there’s another nine of these races so let’s uh let’s just chill take second spot it doesn’t matter if you’re second
By half a meter or you know 500 M it’s it’s second is second isn’t it it is and this battle for the podium is an interesting one so two members of the AL into KCK team in cinton Herman’s on the front Neils Vander put her on the back and to Vander boss
In the middle of the of the group here this is this is a good group Vander BOS now attacking over the top of Quenton Herman on the sand it’s a good place to attack because you’re coming into um a couple of little tricky sections and if you can make the
People behind make a mistake then you can then attack again um but I mean hermans is just holding that wheel super tight as well band puta just sitting on the back aling deck having a good day out today come to this this June that vandero is just nailed
Repeatedly throughout this race this has been one of the sections of the course has perhaps not been W vard’s favorite throughout this race so far really the only rider that’s consistently riding these Bank sections yeah and vanard is just not quite getting that turn point right on that
Acceleration point right on that section and I mean now he’s riding this Bank whereas on that second lap that was where he didn’t ride it and Matthew rode past him and so as sometimes in sand particularly it takes a long time to remember those skills um if that’s not naturally where
You come from and you always see videos of Matty vapo doing figure of eights in the beaches or when he’s on training camps and like that so I’m fairly sure that he practices hisan skills more than W vanart would on a road training camp um with the rest of his team in November
I’m pretty sure that matchu has the freedom to be able to go and do some cross training in the sand whereas W probably doesn’t have quite as much freedom to do that long shot here and both Riders one from one so far and really why this is
Why we saw W van in wasn’t it because he felt that he needed Maybe One race before his yo visma training camp to to get that that cross Grove again but it’s just such different races today I mean ESS was just an absolute mfest yeah and
We saw even in those highlights he was making a few mistakes um and it does take some even for the very very best Riders like Pitcock said in the interview of his um second race back that he didn’t anticipate being so cross ready so quickly um didn’t anticipate
His skills coming back so quickly and so these Riders even though they are the very best in the world they still need to take a few races to get back into the rhythm of cross and how many times how your brain has to think because in road
Racing your brain is thinking at certain points but in Cross your brain has to be thinking the whole time about your gears about the corners about where you want to be on the exit to the corners about what obstacles where you have to get up
Get off and your gears the whole time is for every obstacle so it’s what gear do I need for the next Corner what gear do I need when I remount my bike what gear do I need coming out of this corner what gear do I need and it’s just constant
Constant thinking um and that’s tough to do when you you know 195 heart rate because you know we look at Matthew vandero out in the lead and they will say at the end of these races you made that look easy but it’s not because he’s still riding his heart rate through the
Roof as well oh yeah they’re not they’re not taking it easy there were a couple of laps where they’ll watch each other but they’re not even then they’re going far faster than a normal human being can ride Ward goes through the line at 27 seconds ahead of the battle for the
Podium which at the moment is between t Bandon boss and Quenton Herman with Neils Vander not far away 5 46 that lap for Matthew vaner so it’s he’s been very very consistent so far that only that previous lap that the the time lost from the the uni chain but
546 laping this uh very Sandy cross here in M yeah they’re really fast laps actually uh they’re not short particularly but I think with all these sections being so hard packed um and there’s quite a bit of Road and the sand is very much riding whereas in previous Seasons we’ve seen a
Lot of sound that isn’t rideable at all um and running is obviously slower so the course just seems to be particularly short this [Applause] year and Tire Choice between this one today um as we see mat just hopping up over that that that pathway in in terms
Of tie choices it is it one of those where you don’t want to go too heavy with your tread cuz the sand kind of gets sucked up into it yeah yeah you want the file tread the the tread with absolutely minimum grip you don’t need any grip on this course there’s no
Sections where you need it the banks and things are a dry dry Earth and sand so everything is sand and so you want a lower pressure so it’s quite soft so you get a good surface area um and you want zero sidewall traction because then it’s like velcro when you ride through the
Sand so you want zero of that and you want them everyone will be on a file CH today there’s not a I’ve seen on this course where you’d want anything of any kind of grip so um yeah they’ve all if you live in Belgium you have these sand
Tires there is actually a sand Tire called the G which is even less traction on the file tread um but you will have like a file tread option um and if you didn’t you might ride a Grio which is an intermediate tread but that’s only because that’s all you having your uh
Camper not because through Choice yeah if you’re just tuning in it’s Matthew Vanderpool that is coming out on top at the moment in the battle with his long time rival here wow vard 27 seconds it was at the end of the lap 48 vandero back to the battle for the podium which
Is T vaneros and Alon deer teammate here C Herman’s in the blue on the back with Neils vuta not far away lost s seconds at vuta with Giani V at 144 Alon de kernick having a good day out good to see Giani V back up in in the top 10 we
Saw Anton Ferdinand of Thea Mass containers going through in seventh Tom mayus in eighth sand devette in ninth and Yano bellance rounding out our top 10 so some really some really good top 10 today good see Yan V back in the top 10 and also Tom mayus still riding high in in
Eth yeah we watching here something on his back oh gel they’ve all taken to using gels in the races it seems this year particularly more than others and there’s a big uh a big of research in the minute about carbs in racing and uh in competition
Whereas in the past a lot of tour Riders and things have gone away from heavy on Cs and now they’re coming back into it but you can actually uh stimulate your body to uh use more energy with a carbohydrate rinse in your mouth which is basically a gel um rather than the
Actual gel going into a system it it actually stimulates your body to work [Applause] harder as you said there’s a huge amount of research going at the moment as there always is it’s a constantly evolving thing isn’t it Sport Science and and all of the teams put so much research into in research and development into that you know the sugar hit that you’re going
To get from a gel after about 20 minutes is at the end of the race when you’ve got a bit of a diff in your energy anyway so you’re going to get it in the last lap um and that’s helpful you only have a certain amount of glycogen in
Your body and you use it up in Cross races because not because of the endurance but because of the intensity so yeah it’s really it’s really interesting nutrition is a fascinating subject um and obviously I’m not expert I was a bike racer did you just get eat what you were
Told I I had a sports nutritionist and uh I took his advice to the latter um he did allow me M&M’s in my diet which was very good of him he was a kind Sports nutritious um but all his advice was around yeah um pre-loading in races caffeine uh between recovery between
Races so not just your recovery drink after a race but what you should eat in order to reload that glycogen for the next day um all stuff like that it was AB brilant yeah and a lot of the team chefs you know they work with the Riders
Throughout the year send them what they need to eat at home and there’s a lot of riders is sort of they have teams have chefs you’ve seen Now teams have chefs that they take out on the tour to France and on the big races throughout the year
But a lot of those chefs you know so so so knowledgeable as well the nutritionist in guiding their Riders sort of 365 days a year and then there’s there sort of almost like personal trainers now with the performance jef Allan mergerson from the UK is one that
That that I know really really well and you know I know Allan sort of sends the riders that he’s working and sends them pictures of all the bits that they need to buy when they’re uh when they’re at the at the supermarket and he works really really closely with with the
Riders and with their trainers as well you know it’s so important yeah it’s a massive thing that you can actually improve without having to train harder and it makes you better minute and 11 back to our chasing group from Matthew vandero uh 150 cyclocross wins and M Matthew as well has already
Won 50 Pro Road victories on the road as well I it’s such a hole isn’t it yeah like we say he’s an incredibly talented bike rider um W out the same um there’s there’s Talent there talent and these Riders are like the very very best and everyone else that we’re watching right
Now this group for third with t Vander Quinton hermans Neils Von are talented bik Riders but they’re not the extreme cases that we only see a couple of per generation and rers like quinon homes and nian Neils Vander putter because Vander putter races on the road with the
Development team of alp and Deering they’ve also got that program to vaneros does the same CU he’s kand corendon he’s also part of the road Hof setup as well even though in the winter as they split out into into lots of different teams but these two guys here in second and
Third they of third and fourth rather they race with the Alon kic development team the rest of the year yeah yeah they’re part of the dynasty um yeah I mean and it’s great they’re providing fantastic opportunities for their Riders they’re able to ride Continental events um the women’s team are able to ride
Um a really high level as well and it is Road training for cyc cross Riders you can’t get better than uh a stage race because the stage race gives you backto back consistent hard efforts that will help you when it comes to the winter as long as you’re able to pick your program
If you do too many races you’ll just be exhausted but if you’re able to pick your program which the um Rudolph brothers are able to do with their teams mixed in together um then you can really really Target the cycle cross season well a look at the power now of Neils
Vaner putter on this uh sand another man that uh races well in he really sort of found his way in the in the snow as well um in recent years as uh as Neils van putter still only 23 23 and 24 are Neils Vander and W ver starting to pick up
Sort of some consistent podiums that the put now as well so I don’t think that you know those big wins are far away from him but then all all the time as well you you start to hit some form just as matth van W an AR come back into race
Yeah did you just see there though that W has finally got that corner right um he’s adjusted his speed appropriately but he also managed to turn the corner at the right time um and was able to lay the power down at the right time and got through that really nicely and it’s
Amazing to be able to watch these Riders evolve during a race and because W’s on his own in second he’s not going to come back to vle the Riders behind a another 35 seconds back they’re not going to come back so he’s using it to right I
Can do this I’m going to do this and if I’m not able to I just jump off and lose a second but you know I’m capable of this so let’s practice in this race and as you were saying earlier on with Tire Choice today in terms of the tread that
You go for in the sand that section of the course you can see if you’re managing to ride it the amount of body weight management for the want of a better word in order to keep traction when you’re on that s of section is is is incredible isn’t it so
It’s you don’t actually need traction those sections because they are like Earth colored sand basically so the the tires aren’t going to give you the grip that you need you actually need to get your weight right but the one thing that was really interesting is that you could
Can see the tire pressure you can see they’re running these low pressures um in the sand to give them the biggest surface area which means it’s easier to ride through the sand and because you can see the tires are squishing as W is trying to get the power down to go up
That hill and and that it looks like mud but it’s really dry earthy sand and so it it kind of feels more like slightly grippy sand really than mud so you don’t really need traction but you do need like you say weight distribution we just s of nails B to put just
On that run just roll that chain forward see if we get a replay if he had an issue we’re on to lap eight of 10 as Matthew vaner goes through at the end of his lap W vanard still in second spot with seeing it’s about just over half a
Minute um but it’s it’s metronomic matth V lap seven 546 lap 6 546 lap 5 554 lap 4 44 45 he had a 609 on lap three and a 5 40 a 554 on uh on lap two but to be able to ride this course at the same time each lap is just
Incredible yeah he’s clearly just riding at his threshold and it works out at at 5:45 546 there are his lap times at threshold yeah he actually did a 542 it’s just popped up on my timing so at the end of lap eight 54 two so uh 4 seconds quicker that lap for Matthew
Vanderpool W going through in second Neils Vander put has managed to put a bit of a gap in got some sand on his shoulder as his teammate goes warp speed down the other side of that one they’ll just be able to glance across and uh catch a glimpse of that I’m really I’m
Pleased to see Quenton Herman’s going so well so well today yeah and so this is his first race back so yeah um to be right up there was really impressive and I mean these guys they’ve all been on training camps they’re all Super Fresh when you start your cross season the
Cross riders that race the entire season September to February they start their cross season with all of the speed and endurance and everything of a road Rider um and then they into the season you’re racing two times a week sometimes a bit more and you’re it affects your training
So before a race you have an easy day after a race you have an easy day so that’s two days in a week where you can’t train you’re Racing 2 days a week so that’s four days in a week where you’re not training so that gives you three training days whereas these Road
Riders that are on training camps and things have been training like the cross Riders do in August and they’re able to drop in with that higher level of endurance so even for the likes of hermans he’s able to come in without necessarily the cross skills being fresh
In his brain but he has that better level of endurance to start with that better level of power because he’s been able to do bigger blocks of training um and that will fade during the season as well but you always see this dip of the September to February Riders
Around November December time um and then they were able to go away everybody’s basically been on training camp for two weeks um in like the likes of um Michael VOR now and isab Al those kind of right L vanar they’ve been away training and but that won’t kick it to
Their legs until uh Nationals worlds time back to our leader Matthew vanol and the crowds the organizers getting the draw of two of the biggest names in cycling in mat vandero and W R arts and that’s important as well for the cross and important for this exact cross
Series to have the two big names here in this one and you can see just how deep the crowds are on this course that’s how much of a draw they are yeah it’s really popular I guess there are sections they can’t get to by the by the lake but it’s
Really popular this course and this is the heartland of cyc cross in Belgium um a traditional cycl cross in Belgium you know it’s a sport where your Heroes areou at some point in come to you get the chance [Applause] first on the road an option at to perhaps take that coming back to C across as well what seasonall as well the road that world Road R title crashed there as well in the world championship I’m sure my not right on the limit and yeah he was completely on the
Limit even though he was already had like a 45C lead like Li he doesn’t know how to not go not happened historic and I think that br we’ve seen well he pulls that out it’s a very yeah yeah I think so show way heac all the limit the beginning yeah he was completely
On already had yeah I mean they just he doesn’t know how but when they both that’s we yeah yeah I think so um they really on the road stage some of them have been some of the greatest attacks I’ve seen just two of riders but when they’re both super both peing for
On the road you know really the attack that Mat vandero made in Glasgow was so similar when you look back stage of the Roy why you keep that they love and even I remember back in my Magnus back par rebate and Roger Hammond wasn’t allowed to do cross and
He was allowed to do do it that year for the first time in ages properly and he he’d done maybe 10 races and he said because of that that was how he got on the podium per Bay so even back then they know that cross is really good it’s
A fantastic way to train your top end in uh and like your train your heart rate train your power like to really be racing top end in the winter in a short distance where you don’t get cold it’s an hour you’re not going out on Long Road rides but you’re still getting that
That familiarity with racing and you’re not forgetting for 4 months what racing feels like and it genuinely is so much fun so much fun and they get paid a lot of money to do it he is a great sport we love it that’s why we that’s why we we
Love cycling this and and it is great to have the big man back here and putting on an absolute show and it’s just watching the technique of you know you saying the the power that cross gives you all the different every course every course is different you got the sand
Here and the power that riding through the Sands gives you those but not only every course is different every course can individually be different year on year so um I worked with a guy um a sports scientist who was trying to work out um pacing strategies and races and
He put Power meters on our bikes and took the information from world C and a repeated year a race like zolda two years in a row you would not see the same power files so even the race itself produces a different style of riding based on the weather conditions based on
Who’s riding based on how the rid is feeling you know if they’re at the front of the race your power file looks different if you’re Racing for fifth because you know if you’re at the front in a battle your other person changes how you race and but even even on Sand
Which isn’t as affected by the weather we have had a particularly dry year and nobody could ride anything at cockx cider because the sand was so dry that it didn’t form any rut and nobody could follow those routes to get through so any course changes year on year and sand
Particularly changes lap on lap it’s it’s that variable and that slowmo that we had there of mat riding through the sand we we touched on it in the women’s R of that little hover that that sort of hovering above the sea into and that in itself gives you know you can see with
What out you’re not you got kind of all your weight there that youve got allow that bike to to move around underneath you so you have that little hover just above the seat a lot of the time to take that into into account yeah and it it’s very intense
Racing as well it’s very um it’s very hard racing it’s very mentally tough it’s making your brain make decisions when the blood is trying to be pumped to your muscles and it’s yeah it’s just such a great sport that it doesn’t it Young Riders have come through the sport very well into
The road racing because they’re able to train for shorter distances shorter times not stress their bodies as much um in order to be the very best whereas on road racing you do need to do a lot longer longer distances in order to ride a race like um like 250 Kil race
Requires different training to a 1H hour cross race but Matthew W will quite cou of K after they’ve done a cross Paul did it the year that they canceled coxer because of the wind and then him and maybe V or someone one of his teammates they rode back to to Holland from coxide
And it was about 4-Hour ride I think they had a Tailwind yeah they probably had a gale force 50 it was G Force cuz they had to they had to Absolute treat being gifted to here watching the world champion right at the head of the race
Like this is his Nemesis W vard behind him is having to give way to his to the big rival that he’s had throughout his uh cycling career the ybo vi marer going through here just over the minute down minute and five to Matthew vaner NE man put in
Third and it does look like Helen that mat wow did as soon as mat opened up that Gap um on those that bank section that tricky Bank section that out back just didn’t quite have the measure of for for quite a few laps he’s sort of throttled back just kept Neils Vander
Put it behind him at Bay he had Quentin Herman and T vanderbosch for a while and it’s just a way of sort of keeping the keeping a little bit of freshness perhaps for cuz tomorrow is another day yeah and particularly over this Christmas block and you can see was 5 to
10 seconds slower a lap for the first couple of laps when um VAP Paul went away and the last lapy was 15 seconds and slower so he’s just kind of uh sorry it was only 5 Seconds to last up like but he he’s just kind of riding his race
He’s riding the tempo that he needs to ride he’s practicing the things in order to do them successfully which we saw him do on those Banks um and he’s just saving the energy for the other races that he have over over the Christmas period and just there’s no point in absolutely killing us
To ride for second when you’re a r Rider like Ward that is a natural winner you only kill yourself to win so that’s basically their mentality and it’s going to get second anymore and we’ve also got to remember that they’re coming back from training camp completely different
W did one R before he went away mat vanderpol started in head and so there is that there is that just might waking the body up in a way from to the Cross effort again from you might have been doing doing you know four five 6our
Rides if you’ve been going old school on the on the training camp with some big big big hours yeah yeah definitely if you’ve not done as much racing and if you’re trying to remember how it feels to put out all that top end effort um yeah and these guys you never quite know
Where they are in their training structure because even though they love cross and they’re doing Cross Road is their thing right now road is their focus and so you never quite know where that structure is and um obviously they love Classics and the classics will be
High in their priority list um I know W was going to ride the jro um was going to focus on the jro sorry and so maybe their training for that are in two different places as well W’s not racing the world championship so far he hasn’t
Said he is and so his focus is very much on this intense period of cross racing and Vander pole wants to ride the world championships as we’ve already discussed he wants to win another one um and so they are definitely a different places and so maybe Matthew is more cross ready
Than wter is right now because of Matthew’s focus is on such a big event like the world championships in less than six weeks I get some really nice slow MOS of mat vandero in the sand as Dan V go through the line so he’s still sitting in six spots abson to ker having
A great day out here at the moment that was a 541 for Matthew van go back to W Berard in the sand and manages that first section to see that body on left and right and you’re just trying to control that b keeping moving forward underneath you find the P taking the steps
Even just the times today the 540s you know has been just a few seconds inside 6 minutes so far today but it is it seems like it’s that sort of as we sort of say a half second second per Corner per lap yeah vle is just completely on
It this lap he’s like this race sorry he’s just so consistent it’s really impressive to see and like we say he’s got amazing skills um and sand is one of his favorite things so yeah you would expect him to do well here and he is what a day out for
Matthew vaner in that rainbow jersey it’s not going to be long now before we uh we get him back into the start finish St and here he is two from two this season for the world champion what an absolute treat you got to say to see
This man ride a cycle across course like he has here in mole today to take the victory in the exact cross series he last won it in 2019 he also won here in 2016 in an absolute epic battle so close between the man that will ride through
In second spot today but 151 now career victories as an as a pro Rider in cyclocross for Matthew Vanderpool and here comes wav is’s not far away from the start finish St himself the yo visma Rider it’s going to be second place for him today and it’s
Going to be another Podium today for Neils at Vander put’s just using the barriers along the side no nothing against that is the Helen no no not at all not at all I mean he’s still got speed so why not why not just use the barriers yes little hand slings final
Corner for w for not it is going to be second today for the man from Yambo V many times how many times 180 times they’ve gone head tohe m w today it goes to Vanderpool but we can we can bet this season that this man is going for victories as
Well takes second for yo visma minute 16 is your time Gap as W crosses the finish line and then we wait for the arrival of Neils Vana not quite as close in the end as it promised at the beginning the battle between those V just got got quenon harman’s though not
Far away from him now to bandam boss in the background B just got to be a little bit wary of the fast finish of quent we think I think he’s realized he’s there now yeah uh yeah I think they’re not far from the Finish now it always the camera
Always makes it look shorter than it is it’s totally fine I I did actually expect a better closer battle between Vander and vanard I must admit I anticipated more from that however like I say sand is probably more natural to bander pole so you know potentially W needed to be
Slightly like needed to be at a better place in Vander in order to make that battle exciting but there’s plenty more races and when you throw pig coock into the mix as well I mean we saw de last year we had the privilege of commentating that race last year and
That was epic with the three of them so yeah maybe hopefully we’ll be able to see something like that soon yeah definitely Neils vanut fourth Podium this year he’s at a win a second and now two thirs this season and for the AL KCK man Quinton Herman behind him then turn
Vand boss with kand coron 231 down and Yanni V is going to be fifth good to see Yanni out here smashing it today yeah another one of the Riders has come back to cross this late in the season we like to call it late it’s pretty late
Isn’t it December um and yeah these guys are just so strong and they there is a there is a level of muscle memory isn’t there that you know you you did it for whole Seasons back to back to back growing up there’s going to be some form
Of muscle memory but he’s got a big gou on his KN so he’s obviously crashed somewhere at some point yeah it looks like he’s taking a bit of a tle at some point Yanni verz so the former World gravel Champion forson deck and you have to throw that
Into the mix now as well don’t you managing gravel within programs as well for a lot of riders yeah absolutely although I mean casy new won the a road Rider won gravel Wells when GI R is Road Rider one gravel world so I think it’s more of a gravel
Of a road thing than a cross thing we’re used to racing like super hard for 50 minutes to an hour we’re not used to Racing for 200 miles in the in the races in America yeah and so third announce and the Sha Mass they have announced they have