One Day As A Lion/It’s Good To Be Belgian
is Better to live one single day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep
- motto of the Battle of the River Piave
Katie Compton and Niels Albert both tried bold moves early with different results. In the women’s race Katie took it to the other girls early with a wicked start that opened up a big gap Hanka Kupfernagel, Marianne Vos and France’s Christel Ferrier-Bruneau chasing. Ferrier-Bruneau popped and it was up to Hanka to close down the Comoton train. Vos had her teammate Daphne Van Brand chasing so she was not obligated to work. Around the 4th lap Katie did get caught and Hanka was really putting th pressure on. Katie showed what she was made of and got back on every time. In the final sprint Mariane was just too quick and added to her already full closet of rainbows, Hanka 2nd and Katie 3rd. All these girls are Big Ring but it is really great to see Katie over there and going toe to toe with the best in the world and doing it with class. She left it all on the track today, she was racing to win and had the guts to go for it in a big way. Much respect Ms Compton, much respect.
Rachel Lloyd had a super ride for 11th. She was in a big chase group of 8-9 riders and looked really strong all day. I read on Velonews that she lost track of the laps and kind of botched her sprint. Doh! Anyway great ride and a great season for her. Georgia Gould (13th) and Sue Butler (17th) for a really strong showing for the USA. Congratulations ladies.
I though Lars could use the home crowd to get another world title but he was a total non factor today. The Belgians were the party guests from hell. The barged in, drank the bar dry, and stuffed as much of the buffet as they could into their gaping pie holes. In the opening laps it was pretty clear that the Belgians were riding as a team and it was only a matter of which attack stuck. Niels Albert went on the first lap and only Zdenek Stybar was able to chase. At that point it was pretty much a boat race. Any attempts to close the gap were met with wedgies and purple nurples by the Belgian bullies.
Jeremy Powers was the top American in 35th, Matt Shriver 44th, Brian Matter 49th. Trebon got taken out by a camera bom!? Anway that shows just how deep the talent is in Europe. If any of these guys showed up at your local race you would probably get lapped, you would definetly get beat. Cross is getting bigger every year in the US and someday there will be an American on the top of the podium. Everyone who races a World Championships is Big Ring.
4 Responses to “One Day As A Lion/It’s Good To Be Belgian”
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Don’t forget LVG’s pretty damn good ride. Considering it is her first full season racing cross and didn’t head over for a euro campaign like Katie, Rachel and Sue.
Some big ringing going on yesterday morning for sure!
The Rev writes the big ring report. Good call.
My bad, totally missed Van Gilder. If it is any excuse i wrote about the women,s race after watching in live at 3am.
It is better to die as a Tiger than to live as a pussy…
-variation on a theme