Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, December 4, 2022

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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. - Vince Lombardi

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Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2020: The Tour During Covid-19, Better Late Than Never is available in both Kindle eBook and Audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• Dec 4: Scheldecross Antwerp

Upcoming racing

• Dec 10: Exact Cross Essen
• Dec 26: Gavere Cyclocross
• Dec 27: Heusden-Zolder Cyclocross
• Dec 29: Diegem Cyclocross
• Dec 30: Azencross-Loenhout
• Jan 1: GP Sven Nys Cyclocross
• Jan 14 - 22: Schwalbe Classic & Tour Down Under
• Jan 22 - 29: Vuelta a San Juan
• Jan 25 - 29: Challenge Illes Balears-Volta Ciclista a Mallorca
• Jan 28 & 29: Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Latest completed racing:

• Nov 20: Vlaamse Druivenveldrit Overijse Cross
• Nov 5 & 6: European Cyclocross Championships
• Nov 1: Trofee Oudenaarde-Koppenbergcross
• Oct 29: Superprestige Ruddervoorde Cyclocross
• Oct 11 - 18: Tour de Langkawi

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Men's & Women's Superprestige Boom Cyclocross race reports

Men's race:

Here's the report from winner Tom Pidcock's Team INEOS Genadiers:

Tom Pidcock sealed his second cyclo-cross win of the season after leading from the front, in an emphatic first race in this week's double header.

Tom Pidcock wins another big one. Getty Sport Pictures.

The world champion led from the first lap, initially with Mathieu van der Poel, until the Dutch rider crashed infront of him.

Pidcock went down, but was able to avoid a heavy fall and continued to attack, opening up a lead of around 30 seconds on the chase group of Lars van der Haar, Eli Iserbyt and Michael Vanthourenhout.

He was then able to maintain his lead at he front, with only Van der Haar and Iserbyt in contention.  Pidcock's gap dwindled slightly in the closing laps as the duo attacked behind, but he maintained control to secure his second win of the cyclo-cross season

Tom Pidcock:
"I got a good start and I wanted to push on after the crash. I kept my own rhythm, but it’s a hard course with the steep climbs. The last few laps were hard and then Eli and Lars were coming and I had to keep the gap to the finish.

"They started racing and the gap came down, but I kept it under control and I didn't need to win by 30 seconds, 15 second is enough."

In the women's race, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot continued to build her form with a strong, determined performance to finish 12th from a tough grid position.

The Vélo d'Or France 2022 winner was racing for the first time this winter, with the World Championships in January her early season goal in 2023.

Results:

1. Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) 59min 42sec
2. Las van der Haar (Baloise Trek Lions) @ 10sec
3. Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) @ 13sec
4. Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) @ 43sec
5. Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Fristads) @ 1min 10sec
6. Ryan Kamp (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) @ 1min 17sec
7. Jens Adams (Hollebeekhoeve) @ 1min 21sec
8. Kevin Kuhn (Tormans) @ 1min 28sec
9. Jente Michaels (Alpecin-Deceuninck) @ 1min 32sec
10. Niels Vandeputte (Alpecin-Deceuninck) @ 1min 46sec

And here's the report on the women's race from second-place Denise Betsema's Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal team.

This is a machine-translation from Dutch:

Denise Betsema is having an excellent Superprestige season, and that was also the case in the Tomorrowland setting. Just when she was driving away from her strongest competitors in Boom, a flat tire threw a spanner in the works of our Texel girl.

Here's Aniek van Alpen enjoying her Boom cross win.

Aniek van Alphen came back from the background and, after an exciting duel, kept Denise from winning in a sprint with two. Denise, again the sole leader in the Superprestige, was our only participant in Boom.

Results:

1. Aniek van Alphen (777) 46min 56sec
2. Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) @ 1sec
3. Shirin Van Anrooij (Baloise Trek Lions) @ 27sec
4. Kata Blanka Vas (SD Worx) @ 46sec
5. Inge Van Der Heijden (777) @ 1min 35sec
6. Anna Kay (777) @ 1min 52sec
7. Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck) @ 2min 23sec
8. Alicia Franck (De Ceuster-Bonache) @ 2min 38sec
9. Amandine Fouquenet (Arkea) @ 3min 0sec
10. Manon Baker (Crelan-Fristads) @ 3min 13sec

New Dirty Feet bike book video

We recently posted a YouTube video about Les Woodland's latest book, Dirty Feet: How the great unwashed created the Tour de France. It's Les who voices his thoughts about the Tour. I know you'll enjoy it.

You can buy Dirty Feet in print, kindle eBook or as an audiobook here.

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