After two long, dry months, the mud will finally retake its place at the centre of cyclocross in Belgium this weekend, following a week of rainy weather. The lack of rain in the country so far this winter has meant that the majority of races have been run over fast, sometimes dusty, circuits; this is set to change though, in the GP Rouwmoer in Essen on Saturday, and the World Cup race in Namur on Sunday.
As well as the mud, World champion Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step), Belgian champion Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) and Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) are all set to return to racing, after fatigue, injury and illness respectively, has kept them out.
The Essen race is the fourth round of this season’s Gazet van Antwerpen (GvA) Trofee, and marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the competition. The race was one of the original seven events in the series, and is the one remaining original in the current list of eight. The occasion will be marked by the series’ key sponsor, which will certainly keep the race organisers busy.
“It is true that the Gazet van Antwerpen will be bringing 25 buses in late from all corners of the province,” said event secretary Françis Michiels. “I understand that all 25 will be full, so it is a busy affair.
“A busy affair in the mud in any case,” he added. “The rain has answered the wishes of the cyclocrossers who have been shouting about it over the past few weeks.”
Both Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet) and Albert have spoken in the media in recent weeks, complaining that the dry spell in Belgium was going on too long. They, and fans of tough, sloppy racing, should be happy now, since the rain sould turn the fast courses of the season so far into much more of the kind of mudfest that Belgium is famous for.
“On Wednesday there was a youth initiation and it was already a mud bath,” said Michiels. “On Saturday it will be even worse, it’ll be a real old-fashioned mud cross."
Nys has won four of the last five races in Essen – with Albert taking the 2009 edition – and the Kannibaal will need to add to that list if he is to begin to challenge the lead of Kevin Pauwels (Sunweb-Revor) in this season’s GvA Trofee rankings.
The mud will also be present in abundance in Namur, in Wallonia, as the Citadelcross becomes part of the World Cup for the first time.
Saturday will also see the second round of the GvA Trofee for women, which is currently led by Sanne van Paassen (Brainwash), the winner of the Koppenbergcross on November 1st. The Dutchwoman leads British pair Helen Wyman (Kona) and Nikki Harris (Telenet-Fidea), but the three of them will be faced with a challenge from World champion Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit), who starts only her second cyclocross race of the season.
US champion Katie Compton (Rabobank-Giant) will also take the start in Sunday’s race in Namur, hoping to make up ground in the overall classification.