Helen Wyman won the cross race in Wetzikon, Switzerland, yesterday in very cold conditions. She beat French rider Lucie Chainel-Lefevre by half a minute. Swiss rider Katrin Leumann came in third, already more than a minute back.
Temperatures were below freezing. "It was great to race in the ice and snow," Wyman said to Cyclocross Magazine. " It's really good to get some race practice in these cold conditions, as it's likely to be very cold at the World Champs this season. Every lap raced in these conditions is valuable data really."
Wyman went all out and took full risks. "I was pushing the bike pretty hard as I want to know its limits and my limits in these conditions. I guess when you ride on the edge, there is always the chance you could crash; that's cyclo-cross," she said.
Snow started to fall as soon as the riders huddled for the early morning start on this traditional cyclocross course.
There were two laps to ride on the track of the track and field stadium before it went offroad. Wyman took the initiative on the first hill, followed by Chainel-Lefevre. Ten leaders were chased by Swiss duo Leumann and Jasmin Achermann.
Wyman settled into her rhythm after two laps and steadily increased the gap over the Frenchwoman and the Swiss chasers. Only a slip in one of the technical descents allowed Chainel-Lefevre to get closer again.
Wyman changed bikes and pushed on to increase the gap again, allowing her to celebrate solo on the finish line. A celebration again after already winning in Italy on Tuesday.
"Two wins in a week is more than I expected when I left home last week, and Lucie really pushed me today. It was the hardest win of the season by a long way. I've just done five days training in Italy, and this was the last day of that block before I go back to Belgium to recover for the Christmas cross campaign. Fingers crossed for some good results," Wyman said.
Results
1 Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona-FSA 0:39:43
2 Lucie Chainel-Lefevre (Fra) 0:00:29
3 Katrin Leumann (Swi) goldwurst-power Sputnik 0:01:22
4 Jasmin Achermann (Swi) Fischer-BMC 0:01:24