When talking about international cyclocross, one could almost bring it all back to the epic poems of ancient Greece, to the stories made of human beings and demigods and if not even a mechanical accident can stop the race of one of these demigods towards victory (specifically Wout Van Aert) it almost seems that for human beings (almost all others) there is no hope…
The story of the Irish World Cup stage in a cold but enthusiastic Dublin, with over 8.000 people in attendance, hinges primarily on one incident. We were in the second half of the race, and the race was already shaping up. Mathieu's absence Van der Poel winner of the last two stages and temporarily absent from the cyclocross fields because he is busy with the first pre-season training camp of theAlpecin Deceuninck, had mixed things up a bit. No one had taken the initiative, so apparently there were six of them playing for the victory. Apparently because among them were the two remaining Tenors, Van Aert and Pidcock.
The cursed towel
Passing in front of the pits, Van Aert asked for a towel to clean himself from the mud that was prevalent on the route, after the morning's ice had melted with the succession of passes.
Inadvertently, the towel (which Van Aert shows in the opening photo) slipped from his hands and got stuck in the rear derailleur. The bike was unusable, but luckily for the Belgian the pit area was still close by so he rushed to reach the post and get the other bike.This is at least the good fortune highlighted by many insiders, but there are two other reasons behind his victory.
The bike just cleaned
The first is linked to the bike: despite the mud, Van Aert had not changed his bike at that point, not considering it too muddy yet, so he was able to get on the other model which had been perfectly cleaned by the mechanics.The second factor is linked to the behavior of his opponents, who were careful not to attack him. Some might say it was a gesture of respect, but this rule may apply to the road; in cyclocross, "your death, my life" has always been the case. The fact is that the riders have developed an inferiority complex towards him and don't dare challenge him even when they could.
On this occasion the Belgian, with his first goal of the season in the Cup, showed off all his experience: «I stayed calm, the guys in front weren't ready to attack and I thought about doing everything in the best way possible.In cross-country, calm is essential, everything can change at any moment."
The inconvenience cost Van Aert a total of 16 seconds, but it didn't take him long to catch up with his rivals and then, on a sandy stretch, he accelerated and it proved decisive. The only one who tried to keep up was Sweeck, chasing the symbol of the record: «I had the balls to try to answer him» he stated bluntly at the finish line, satisfied with his second place at 14”.
Yet still too many mistakes…
As a good perfectionist, Van Aert welcomed the victory without too much emphasis, looking above all at what went wrong and reading his words carefully, it seems to hear his great rival Van Der Poel after his first victories: «It didn't all go smoothly: in the first part I struggled to catch up with the leaders, I also fell in a passage and overall there were many technical errors in the raceThere was really a lot of mud and it gave us difficulty."
And the other tenor? Tom pidcock He was very keen on the Irish race and in the end he was satisfied with the third place at 17”: «It was a strange race, in which I realized I was always going at the same pace, albeit fast, but when Van Aert made the difference I didn't have the energy to respond to him.The group was large in the first part, and there really wasn't a single spot where I could make a difference. I have to say, though, that I would have been very disappointed if I hadn't managed to get on the podium in the end. Third place in these conditions was the best I could have done."
World-class defense? No, but…
Even in a race that didn't go exactly as he had hoped, Pidcock opened a tiny glimmer of hope in his defence of the rainbow jersey, after all, at every race that's always the question journalists ask him: «I probably won't be there, but I'm not really sure. Ultimately, it's not even a problem that bothers me, I want to enjoy a high-level cyclocross season, but with the road in mind." It will be really difficult to see him racing in Hoogerheide on February 5th, but as Van Aert said, things can always change in cyclocross...
