Entry to the Cyclocross World Cup season – Tábor and Plzeň (CZE)
Tuesday, 06 November 2012 17:49
The World Cup in Cyclocross was kicked out in neighbouring Czech Republic by two races, in Tábor and Plzeň. The series consists of 8 races – after the entry races in Czech Republic, races will more to Koksijde, Roubaix, Namur, Zolder and to Rome and Hoogerheide in the new calendar year.
The World Cup in Cyclocross was kicked out in neighbouring Czech Republic by two races, in Tábor and Plzeň. The series consists of 8 races – after the entry races in Czech Republic, races will more to Koksijde, Roubaix, Namur, Zolder and to Rome and Hoogerheide in the new calendar year.
We had one rider participating in the first race of the season in Tábor – Martin Haring in the Elite category. Lukáš Bátora who was also enlisted to the race didn’t start due to an illness. He also missed the race in Plzeň the following weekend.
Tábor race took place on 21 October on a race identical to the one prepared for World Championship 2015. Only a trio of Slovak riders took start on the fast and slippery road – Barényi, Metlička and Haring. The present Slovak Champion Róbert Gavenda didn’t start due to a knee injury and Lukáš Bátora due to an illness as mentioned before.
Martin Haring shared his impressions of the race: “I was lucky not to get involved in any fall nor any kind of incident after the start. I rode in a group riding in the upper 30. positions, but with about 2 laps to go I dropped off this group and finished in 45th place. We’ll be staying in Tábor over the week in a training camp with the national team. I’m looking forward to training with the local ČEZ Cyklo Team Tábor.“
The national team staying all week in Tábor returned to Slovakia to participate in a Slovak BCF National Cup in Bratislava. Martin Haring won easily and also got to lead in the general classification of the series. Martin later said about the Bratislava race: “I succeeded escaping the duo Barényi, Lami in the 3rd lap. I basically only took advantage of Milan’s mistake and got an adventage of about 50 metres that I kept untill the finish line. I thought they would ride tactically and observe and wait what the other one does, but Lami wasn’t willing to take any risk and started chasing really hard after me. Unfortunatelly the victory cost me actually more energy than I was hoping for today.”
The national team moved directly after the Awards Ceremony to Plzeň where the next WC race was to take place. Among Haring we also had our team reprezentation in the Elite Women category, Zuzana Vojtášová.
Martin finished in 51st place and wasn’t very happy about the race: “It really wasn’t my day today. The race demanded lots of power, and also a lot of running. It was very demanding for all the mechanics in the pit as well as we changes our bikes in each lap. I felt from the very beginning I was going to suffer big deal. I couldn’t somehow set my pace right in response to the muddy surface, well I simply suffered from the beginning today.”
Zuzana Vojtášová decided after few years of absence in the world cup peloton to compare herself with the best female cyclo-cross riders of the world: „I sacrifisied the Slovak national cup the previous day so as to save as much energy for today. I felt tempted to race since the later winner, Czech Pavlína was still riding only couple metres ahead of me the first lapt, but knew if I didn’t want to get lapped in the World Cup the following day, I only need to warm up and not use too much energy. I made a huge mistake myself this weekend – as I don’t have 2 cyclocross bikes, I always borrow a spare one from one of the guys and just change the pedals. And that was the problem, I have forgotten my spare pedals, a special trade mark, that works perfectly in muddy conditions, but not very many riders use it due to its high price. I got to learn that noone in the world peloton uses it, so because of my own fault I didn’t have a spare bike. The track was unriddable with only one bike, the mud was really think, so I abandonded. I am the only one to blame. I felt great, and I did like the circuit as well, I believe I would have finished without getting lapped. I also fell pretty hard on my knee and it started to hurt badly, so found it even difficult to run after a while.” The other Slovak in the Peloton, young and talented Tereza Medveďová finished in 31st place. American Katie Compton won, followed by two Brits, Helen Wyman and Nikki Harris.
Results Racing Schedule 2012
