Waterloo Cross results.

[oldpotatoe]

YIKES...8 of the top 10, 14 of the top 20..from Belgium.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci...te-men/results

[nalax]

This weekend’s Jingle Cross will likely be very similar. Hopefully Hyde can finish into the top 20. The women’s race will be interesting, harder to guess the podium.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by nalax

This weekend’s Jingle Cross will likely be very similar. Hopefully Hyde can finish into the top 20. The women’s race will be interesting, harder to guess the podium.

What about 'Belgium' makes for such lopsided results? Curious, been this way for a while. Never been to Belgium...

[Lewis Moon]

Originally Posted by nalax

This weekend’s Jingle Cross will likely be very similar. Hopefully Hyde can finish into the top 20. The women’s race will be interesting, harder to guess the podium.

Hyde is injured and out. Bummer. Love seeing someone other than WVA or MVdP winning races...although that probably won't last.

To tell you the truth, I'm more apt to tune into the women's races. The battle between Voss and Noble was epic.

[chiasticon]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

What about 'Belgium' makes for such lopsided results? Curious, been this way for a while. Never been to Belgium...

honestly I'm not sure I've ever heard a convincing argument as to why. there's been many things people have pointed to though: cycling/cyclocross are big part of the culture so talent is identified/encouraged/funded from early on, the best riders are there so you just naturally get better by racing against them, their courses are more technical so the riders improve those skills faster, the best pros race kermesses all summer which drastically develops their engines, the landscape is flat and they're always fighting the wind which develops their aerobic engine better, the winters there aren't as harsh so they can ride/race completely through them, etc...

maybe it's all of these, maybe none of them... the real baffler is: why is it not this way for the women's field?

[Jad]

The Belgian domination is an interesting thing; I always hear that the kids are riding through muddy cow pastures as soon as they can, along with their other sports. Cyclocross is hugely popular there, but beyond that and starting early?

And what a race Noble put on! So fun to watch. They were really ripping the turns and descents. Psyched that Crystal Anthony got 13th too.

[93KgBike]

Well, we've all heard the champions and their cultures talk about how much harder they work, but what does history inevitably reveal?

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

YIKES...8 of the top 10, 14 of the top 20..from Belgium.

If you held a world cub cross country ski race in the use, 8 of the top 10 would be from Norway and Sweden (combined population 15.1 million, as compared to 11.5 million for Belgium). And certainly at least 8 of the top 10 in a sumo wrestling match would be from Japan. Some sports are more popular and more culturally significant in certain countries.

(As a side comment, I was in a conversation with someone who was serious when claimed the US has the best athletes in the world, and he used as an argument that the US has the best football players in the world.)

[batman1425]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

If you held a world cub cross country ski race in the use, 8 of the top 10 would be from Norway and Sweden (combined population 15.1 million, as compared to 11.5 million for Belgium). And certainly at least 8 of the top 10 in a sumo wrestling match would be from Japan. Some sports are more popular and more culturally significant in certain countries.

This was always my interpretation, and not just for CX but cycling in general. There are plenty of athletes who could be world level cyclists, but they were drawn to other more popular sports in their native countries. The nordic countries and XC skiing is a good example. The culture of CX in Belgium fosters more interest per capita than other countries, so more of the elite athletes choose that direction. It's not just a raw numbers game.

[93KgBike]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

If you held a world cub cross country ski race in the use, 8 of the top 10 would be from Norway and Sweden (combined population 15.1 million, as compared to 11.5 million for Belgium). And certainly at least 8 of the top 10 in a sumo wrestling match would be from Japan. Some sports are more popular and more culturally significant in certain countries.

The Local
news@thelocal.se
@thelocalsweden
4 February 2018
13:17 CET+01:00

The reporters claim that the results prove that doping is widespread in cross-country skiing, with leading athletes routinely allowed to continue competing, despite blood test scores, some of which the reporters claim have less than a one in a million chance of being natural.

The reported identified skiers, 12 of whom were Swedish, who had red blood cell levels which would only normally be seen in one percent of the population.

“The most egregious values happen during the Olympics or the World Championships,” Stray-Gundersen told Uppdrag Granskning of another skiers’ profile. “This is cold-blooded cheating.”

[JimmyTango]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

What about 'Belgium' makes for such lopsided results? Curious, been this way for a while. Never been to Belgium...

As others have mentioned-- I get the impression that CX (and road racing) is genuinely YUGE in Belgium. The National Federation puts a lot of money into finding and developing young riders. And probably most importantly, CX makes money there. It is a spectator sport with tons of TV coverage, and I think the crowds at the races are regularly in the tens of thousands (and they probably pay a cover to get in) so the race promoters turn profits (and are able to pay the big name racers start fees!). From what I've read CX in Belgium is like Football or Baseball in USA... Tons of kids interested in making it big so the level is just higher.

EDIT: And as to why the Belgie women aren't as dominant? I'd guess it is the same issues as with US major market sports: tradition and sexism. The sport has been big money for a long time, and the big money has been in the men's side. Of course women are able and willing to play as hard as the men, but if the promoters aren't able to sell tickets the women can't make the same living at the top level and so aren't able to develop at the level that the men are.

[Andy sti]

Whenever comparing riders WvA and MvDP should be removed because they are two of the best cyclist in the world regardless of discipline.

I think when we talk about cross and how the US riders do we need to look at their preparation. The Eruos/Belgians are all on UCI Continental teams. In the summer they race many of the UCI Eurotour races. Guys like Merlier, van der Haar, Hermans, Vermeersch, etc. have all won pretty big road races this year. They all do their road national champs race also. These guys train and put in the hours. Both Powers and Johnson used to race road in the summer but none of the current crop of US riders do. Of course they do some races but they are not doing Tour of Utah or other big races like the Euro guys are doing. I don't think any did road nats. Hyde did do a good ride at MTB nats though.

The US has way too many cyclocross UCI points available so the US guys get a decent start position but the strength difference is apparent within one lap.

Elite cyclocross in the US needs to determine what it wants. Do we just want a US series or do we want to be world class? Elle Anderson is doing it right. She may not be the best US rider but I give her the most credit.

My .02

[Onion]

w/o weighing in on belgians vs. the world, there are still some very fun, very fast young americans to keep an eye on. sammi runnels from squid squad went 18th in her very first WC and had a great showing in australia and china. tobin ortenblad, aka mctubbin, gage hecht, cody kaiser, kerry werner all promise to make domestic races very fun to watch. given the broken contract, i wonder how long til WvA just goes full stybar and rides only protour and the world champs.