The XC season kicks off this weekend in Albstadt with XCO and XCC races before we head straight to the Czech Republic and the classic Nove Mesto track for round 2 a week later. It's a rapid fire start to the season and will mean racers have to be on top form from the very beginning to avoid slipping behind the pack before their campaigns have really got going.
XC racers spend most of their off-season away from the race track, instead punishing themselves in the gym and on the road bike to eke out extra watts, but there have been a few outings for even the top riders. Let's take a look at who has shown some good early form at the biggest races of the winter:
Cape EpicDescribed as the Tour de France of mountain biking, the Cape Epic stage race kicks off the season for a lot of riders. The race is run in pairs over the course of a week in the heat of South Africa. Nino Schurter regained his title with Lars Forster while Annika Langvad partnered with road race legend Anna Van Der Breggen for the fastest women's team.
Men
1st. Nino Schurter & Lars Forster
2nd. Manuel Fumic & Henrique Avancini
3rd. Damiano Ferraro & Samuele Porro
Women
1st. Annika Langvad & Anna Van Der Breggen
2nd. Candice Lill & Adelheid Morath
3rd. Ariane Lüthi & Maja Wloszczowska
Full ResultsSwiss CupThe Swiss Cup is one of the more hotly contested National series, mainly because of the calibre of the Swiss riders taking part. There have been three rounds so far, the first of which was the least competitive as it fell just after the Cape Epic. Rounds 2 and 3 attracted a stacked field of riders though and produced some super interesting results.
Round 1 - Tamaro TrophyMen
1st Mathias Fluckiger
2nd Titouan Carod
3rd Jordan Sarrou
Women
1st Alessandra Keller
2nd Ramona Forchini
3rd Kathrin Stirnemann
Full ResultsRound 2 - BuchsMen
1st Lars Forster
2nd Mathias Fluckiger
3rd Florian Vogel
Women
1st Ramona Forchini
2nd Jolanda Neff
3rd Rojna Eibl
Other significant results Nino Schurter - 9th
Full ResultsRound 3 - Solothurn Kate Courtney took the win in the women's race in round three but drama spilled out onto social media as the current under 23 women's champion, Alessandra Keller, called out Jolanda Neff for a crash that left her with two fractured wrists and unable to race until Les Gets. Neff, who stopped during the race to check on Keller after the crash, claims that the course design was to blame and Keller was not aware of an upcoming corner, which led to the crash.
Men
1st Nino Schurter
2nd Mathias Fluckiger
3rd Lars Forster
Women
1st Kate Courtney
2nd Jolanda Neff
3rd Ramona Forchini
Other significant results Alessandra Keller - DNF
Full ResultsSea OtterNorth America's big races came at Sea Otter with two chances for riders to test their form in Monterey, California. Christopher Belvins showed strongest for the men with a first and second over the week. There was also a win for Simon Andreassen and two third places for Andrew L'Esperance. In the women's race, Annika Langvad showed early season form once again with two wins, while World Champion Kate Courtney finished second and third in the two events. Erin Huck and Catharine Pendrel showed they're strong coming into the first race with podium spots.
ThursdayPro Men
1st Christopher Belvins
2nd Peter Disera
3rd Andrew L'Esperance
Pro Women
1st Annika Langvad
2nd Erin Huck
3rd Kate Courtney
Full ResultsSundayMen
1st Simon Andreassen
2nd Christopher Blevins
3rd Andrew L'Esperance
Women
1st Annika Langvad
2nd Kate Courtney
3rd Catharine Pendrel
Full ResultsItalian NationalsThe Italian National Series is also hotly contested with the likes of Schurter, Forster, Kerschbaumer, Frei, Lechner and more making appearances.
Round 3 - TitanoRound three in Titano attracted the biggest names but it was a total washout so take the results with a pinch of salt. Scott dominated the men's race with Lars Forster and Nino Schurter on the podium, split by Bianchi's Nadir Colledani. Eva Lechner took the win in the women's race.
Men
1st Lars Forster
2nd Nadir Colledani
3rd Nino Schurter
Women
1st Eva Lechner
2nd Martina Berta
3rd Vera Medvedeva
Full ResultsThe rest of the seriesStephane Tempier currently leads the men's series with wins in the first two rounds and a second place in round 4. Gerhard Keschbaumer has also been flying and sits second having won the fourth round in Pineto.
Martina Berta sits at the top of the women's leaderboard currently with wins in round one and four but she only has a slim lead over Eva Lechner who won round three. Sina Frei took the win in round two but sits outside the top ten rankings as she has not raced any of the other events in the series.
Full ResultsOn the skinniesThere’s a lot of crossover between skinny tyres and chunky tyres and riders are increasingly contending races on both.
Mathieu Van Der Poel enjoyed a stunning cyclocross season, where he won 32 of 33 races he entered, including the World Championships. He also took to the tarmac to take wins in the Amstel Gold race (a performance that has been called one of the
greatest of all time), Dwars door Vlaanderen and Brabantse Pijl in the Spring Classics.
His only mountain bike race so far was the Belgian Mountain Bike challenge, in which he won all four stages despite being stuck behind a tractor on stage one...
Anna Van Der Breggen, the current road Olympic and World Champion, dipped her toes into XC racing at Val di Sole last year and came back to win the Cape Epic with Langvad. It will be interesting to see if Van der Breggen returns for more mountain bike racing this season.
The pair have also been enjoying good form racing for the Boels Dolmans team on the road with Langvad picking up three top-five finishes in the Spring Classics and Van Der Breggen winning the Fleche Wallonne.
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MENTIONS: @trek /
@SramMedia
Yet, you link telegraph? Come on, PB.
I think this year is gonna be his
Put in an insane effort and came 4th.
Albstadt is basically 4 minute steep climb, 30s descent, 1 minute flat, repeat.
He is a big dude, at 77kg he needs to be able to hold around 450+ watts to ride near the front. That is a big ask for 1.5hrs. But in 2017 if hadn't hit the deck he would have sprinted (and crushed) Nino for the win at Albstadt.
Let us just look at MVDP. He does 6 pro-tour races on a C-level team. Wins 3, and is 4 in the other 3. Mean while after three season of mountain bike racing he is yet to stand on the top step of an XCO world cup.
And are you really surprised that one of the best sprinters in the world can sprint through a field of climbers?
Road riding is full of ex-mountain bikers. But the other way around, not many. Vos at her absolute peak raced mountain bikes for a year, I think she managed a top 10.
MvdP has had crashes after climbs where Nino just keeps this relentless pace over the top and into the descents. MvdP seems to have a crazy lactate recovery for repeat 100% efforts but when the pace is non-stop relentless from Nino the mistakes seem to creep in. Who knows though? Maybe he can drop a bit of weight and get up there?
Either way he's the most talented roadie since Hinault/Merckx. Maybe even better than those guys when you consider the level now.
He's 24...
Surely Kulhavy can't be shorter than him, and he had great sucess.
youtu.be/rZcxikw6wFo
Probably MvdP has never been at his top form for Albstadt (surgery before the race in 2018 ) plus the cyclocross season. Maybe he was a 'little' tired. And Kerschbaumer doesn't peak until later on the season.
So, I don't think is all about being too tall.
Last year in the rain Jolanda's technical skills were a huge factor. She was light years quicker than any other rider on the course. Same conditions this year, Jolanda lucky will pull a couple of bike lengths on any of the other top riders.
Like it or not there are some course where superior technical skills do not make a real difference.
no technical factor here...
Wanker.
When I look at the results some riders with notoriously bad technical skills had some very good finishes. So even in horrible conditions those were vastly superior technical skills had no significant advantage.
The crashes that happened were largely due to people getting caught out on dry tires.
Instead, its probably more attributable to Fluckiger being the better mtb cyclist - having an edge in line choice. After all, Van Der Poel is a cyclocross racer who otherwise should be more experienced and capable in wet weather and muddy racing.
Sure SOME of the crashes were due to tire choice, but lots of top riders were getting caught out coming too hard into corners and descents; the better riders used technique to make it through while supposedly stronger riders with worse technique went down (I think Avincini might be a good example).
There is no doubt that MVDP is the best cyclist in the world right now. But if you had a basic understanding of training you would know that even the top riders take recovery periods where they drop their form. It is highly unlikely that he is packing the form that he had a couple of weeks ago. I would expect him to be planning to hit top form again come August and September.
Today he was just out climber by a rider with superior form. And all though he is very technically proficient he is typically just off the very best. On this course his technique deficiencies do not hurt him. Probably why his top career results have been on this course.
BTW I am pretty sure that Avincini broke a spoken but stayed up right.
As for the rest, as I said in my last comment, it's clear we have different opinions and there is no use in arguing.
Stoked for him.
Try putting some time and thought into your post.
"32 of 33 races he entered" is not correct. He won 32 of the 33 races he finished (the only race he completed he didn't win was Koppenberg Cross). He entered another race but crashed, badly twisting his ankle and recorded a DNF. He still raced the next day and won.
The first time really showed world class potential was at Sea Otter in 2017, when she took down Jenny Rissveds and Catharine Pendrel (Olympic champ and World champ). In a way it was that performance that sort of derailed both of those riders careers.
During her Kate's 2018 season she actually underperformed (World being the obvious exception). Within the sport it was expected that she would be regularly on or near the podium.
There is a really good story behind Kata and Specialized. I do wish it was mine to tell.
Oh come on man! PM me and Jaydawg69. I'd love to know.