National Cyclocross Championships D2 | Cyclocross Social Podcast S6E45

Great Podcast as usual! You guys really know what you are talking about and it is great to see other people so interested and invested in this fantastic sport. Here are some of my (additional) thoughts on the men’s race:

1) Hats off to both Sweeck and Aerts for riding a tactically great race. They were always between the second and fourth spot of the group in the first 40 minutes of the race and virtually did not waste any energy in attacking early on. Vandeputte, Verstrynge and Vanthourenhout all fell into that trap and it cost them any chance of getting on the podium. I thought that Sweeck and Aerts were going to fight for the title when they got away at the finish line, but the fact that Nys closed the gap so easily proved that he was by far the best.

2) Aerts’ medal collection in the elite category: National Championships: 1x Gold, 1x Silver, 2x Bronze. Continental Championships: 1x Gold, 1x Bronze. World Championships: 3x Bronze. He also has 2x Silver in the U23 National Championships.

3) Vandeputte literally threw away the bronze medal by going into the pits in the last lap. He entered with a two-second advantage over Aerts and exited with a two-second gap on Aerts. He did not have a mechanical problem. My guess is that he wanted a clean bike to beat Aerts in the sprint, and counted on the fact that he would be able to close the gap in the technical section that followed, but ultimately failed to do so.

4) Verstrynge and Wyseure rode a decent race. Verstrynge could have ended higher if he had not wasted energy on setting the pace in the first few laps, though he probably did it for Sweeck and to keep Iserbyt at a distance. Wyseure lost all his energy in trying to get back to the leading group after a bad start, but still managed to hang in there, so definitely decent for both.

5) Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout both had a bad day. After a bad start, Iserbyt never managed to get into a position to fight for the podium or victory and also made a lot of mistakes and fell a few times. Vanthourenhout wasted all his energy early on and as the race progressed, he made more and more mistakes and eventually crashed in the decent before “the curve of death”, after his crash he also had chain issues and never recovered.

6) I am getting fed up with Iserbyt and Vanthourenhout’s shenanigans. After Vanthourenhout crashed on the decent, he threw his bike on the ground to block Aerts from trying to close the gap on Sweeck, again a nice example of unsportsmanship. I get that he was frustrated, but it once again does not help the negative image the team already has. Iserbyt was fine today, but his interview after the race with all his theatrics was so pathetic. I get that his hands are cold and that he does not like cold weather, but come on, the weather conditions are the same for everybody. He simply tried to find a way to escape the interview asap and avoid tough questions.

Great podcast and recap across all the main European National Champs over the weekend. You guys deserve a well-earned rest and I look forward to a recharged dynamic duo after Benidorm (unless you are doing a pod for Otegem).