cyclephotos │cyclocross photograpy » 2011/2012 Cyclocross Season

Superprestige #7 – Hoogstraaten

balint — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:06:27 +0000

And I thought yesterday was cold… My hands were freezing, the cold found its way in at my collar and kneepads were slipping down constantly. On the other hand we saw some great racing and Tom Meeusen ruled today once again.

The frozen ground made the race fast but difficult – but it was quite a spectacle to see and especially hear these guys riding. On the fast and rocky descents it was almost painful to hear how the wheels and the tyres were trying desperately to cope with the terrain.

Tom Meeusen managed to pull off another win, just 24 hours after his first one in the season – when you get into the habit of winning… Sven Nys is comfortably sitting on the top of the Superprestige classification and the always smiling Thijs Al also had a great day and it could have been even better had he not smash his rear wheel into pieces during the race.

There is only two more races to go, the end of the season is nigh which makes me a bid sad I love every second of the races, that being said I’m looking forward to spending a few weekends doing nothing. But that’s a bit still further away as I have to finish the book which you can now pre-order. The super-creative title is ‘Cyclocross 2011/2012‘ and you can find the very best photos of the season, 35 races on 220 pages, hardcover, the works. If you pre-order now, you not only get €5 off and free shipping worldwide but you also help me to keep this blog running and keep the photos coming next season! Thanks!

GVA #7 – Krawatencross, Lille

balint — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:52:38 +0000

I never would have thought that I would talk to a fellow Hungarian on the podium of a cyclocross race in Belgium but that’s exactly what happened today. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I arrived in Belgium on Thursday morning as I spent Friday morning at Ridley Bikes for a behind-the-scenes report at their factory (more on that in my book and then I spent the afternoon in a hotel. As soon as I got to the hotel, it started to snow. First, it didn’t look serious but it soon turned out that the weather meant business and everything was covered with the white blanket within an hour.

A couple of hours and 15 centimetres of snow later it stopped and I was both relieved and excited. Relieved as I knew that I would be able to get to Lille on Saturday and excited because this was going to be the first snowy race of the season!

And it was a special day. Very cold (-15 degrees in the morning) but sparkly bright later on. Snow is always challenging to rice in and the white everywhere always gives it a a special flavour. Getting there was easy, except for a lady who misjudged the necessary speed to approach a roundabout and, being unable to slow down, flew straight on top of the little molehill in the middle of the roundabout. Miraculously, nobody was hurt.

The races were great, Wietse Bosmans beat Lars Van der Haar and it seemed for a couple of laps that Daphny Van Den Brand can make things hard for Marianne Vos. But she couldn’t and Vos finished first once again.

Then came the special race of the day, the Sterrencross or Star Cross. Local nobilities and old stars of the sport geared up to ride two laps of the course – the proceedings would go to a charity. For this race, the organisers invited Hungarian rider Gabor Schneider, who helped Paul Herygers to win the Worlds back in 1994. Check out the Sporza video here. Though his contribution was minuscule, it was a nice gesture from the organisers to invite him and it was very special for me to see a Hungarian rider at the start line of a GVA race, even if was only a fun race.

The men’s race was incredibly exciting and the bunch was so close together throughout the race that it remained an open question till the end. It all came down to a bunch sprint (we hadn’t seen that much this season) and Tom Meeusen pipped Zdenek Stybar who bagged his umpteenth second place this season.
It was great to see Meeusen’s first win of the season, after his great race last weekend (apart from the last lap, of course) his efforts finally paid off.

Tomorrow another race at Hoogstraaten, the penultimate Superprestige race, woohooo!

And while we’re at it, you can now pre-order my book about the season, the supercreative title is ‘Cyclocross 2011/2012‘ and you can find the very best photos of the season, 35 races on 220 pages, hardcover, the works. If you pre-order now, you not only get €5 off and free shipping worldwide but you also help me to keep this blog running and keep the photos coming next season! Thanks!

I was really happy that Wietse Bosmans won the race today with a pretty great margin. I really liked how he tried last week at the Worlds against Lars Van Der Haar but he failed to win the race. I had found that day really moving and I think today's win was a bit of a consolation.

I just love these snowy shots!

Micki Van Empel rips up the snow.

Another third place for Sanne Cant - and she's the youngest in the field, so I was wondering today if she can challenge Marianne Vos in the years to come.

We had a glimmer of hope today that it won't be yet another Vos time trial win and the hope was fuelled by Daphny Van Den Brand's great ride in the first half of the race. She couldn't hold back Vos all the way through, though, so she had to accept the second place.

Nikoline Hansen motion-blurs the lake.

My compatriot, Gabor Schneider and Paul Herygers before the start of the Sterrencross.

Things must have looked rosy through those glasses!!

Proficiat, Niels!

Klaas Vantornout makes sure everything is fine with his helmet.

The first big outing of Niels Albert's rainbow jersey.

Is the glass half full or half empty?

Look no further if you need a determined face - Tom Meeusen is one of those rare riders who's face displays all the intensity a race involves.

Kevin Pauwels wasn't today the dominant force he usually is but he still finished on the podium and he almost secured the overal GVA title as Zdenek Stybar is trailing 12 points behind.

Joeri Adams jumps back on his bike with only two laps to go.

Crowd anticipation before the finish.

Rob Peeters

Tom Meeusen, seconds before called onto the podium.

No, that kiss didn't end the way it looks like it ended.

Paul Herygers and his daughter, Femke Herygers with the (until last week) unsung hero of Heryger's 1994 World Champion title, Gabor Schneider.

World Championships – Koksijde, Day 2

balint — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:43:27 +0000

I’ve seen a few races but this has been the craziest, ever. Over 60 000 spectators, a very sandy course and kilometers and kilometers of barriers to keep the two separate. The only problem that it makes it moving around for us, photographers next to impossible, especially that they locked down the level crossings during the elite men’s race and both us and the spectators were only allowed to use the bridges.

Of course, the dedicated is hard to deter so most of us got around eventually but it was quite an adventure, especially with 15 kg of gear on our backs. What was easy is to follow the races. The women’s race? Marianne Vos leading with a mile. The men’s race was more exciting but only because the eventual winner, Niels Albert wasn’t a pre-race favourite, moreover, he even said that he would ride to help his fellow Belgians.

But then he pulled away from the rest of the field straight from the start and when he got rid of Zdenek Stybar, no one could get close to him ever again. And the best bit? The crowd as it went absolutely nuts when the front of the race approached. Even I got goosebumps and I wasn’t even riding!

Now I’m back to London, but here are the photos. And don’t forget, the 2011/2012 Cyclocross book is available to pre-order now – if you buy, you help me to keep this thing going!

Commotion in the first lap of the women's race, with Kaitlin Antonneau (l) and Gesa Bruchman (r)

The course wasn't exactly Katerina Nash's cup of tea, this was the first time ever she raced here.

It was inspiring to see how the love of the spectators almost pushed Belgian rider Sanne Cant ahead and made her ride harder and harder. After a not too good start, she made her way up to the podium. She was very happy on the podium.

One of the countless crazy fan costumes.

It wasn't clear what this guy wanted but it's very likely that firing that torch thingy is against UCI regulations.

I still don't get these beer tents, the hundreds of people, the thumping techno and rest.

Twitter queen @albertinapdc and her sparkly pink boots.

Niels Albert attacked straight from the start and tried to put a gap between him and the rest of field. Only Zdenek Stybar could follow him.

Commotion in the first lap at the Herijgers Dune.

Rob Peeters and the long line of Belgian riders.

This was one of the four designated areas for photographers. It was very busy, accordingly.

Sven Nys fought hard for a podium place but when it dawned on him that he wasn't going to win, he sat up and let the others race. He finished 7th.

The crowd

Niels Albert tackles a fast and sandy descent.

World Championships Koksijde – Day 1

balint — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:26:38 +0000

It’s been quite a day, long lulls proceeded by frantic running around and the crowd was insane and today was the less popular day! The angles weren’t too diverse as all photographers herded into four designated spots, so the usual me-lying-on-the-course method wasn’t an option. that being said, I managed to take a couple of pretty good photos, so all in all I’m satisfied, taking the constraints into account.

For security reasons, during tomorrow’s elite men’s race, all level crossings will be closed and everybody will be forced to use bridges and underpasses. Just what we needed, it was pretty hard to get around already, this will make things way harder tomorrow. But it will be fun, nonetheless.

Cycling Santa - the welcome installation in the middle of Koksijde.

Zdenek Stybar had asked his fans to dress in pink on Sunday - and they duly obliged. And it's only Saturday!

The Swiss corner had prepared with impressive choreographies that heavily featured singing, dancing and flag-throwing.

The insect equivalent of Sven Nys - if I'm not mistaken. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Photographer's pit #1 - Belgian riders stroll causally in the first lap.

As I have mentioned on Twitter earlier today: Styby's fans really need to sort out their spelling.

British rider Joseph Moses

Like there are not enough unhealthy dietary temptations around the course...

Lars Van Der Haar looks into the future with a firm gaze.

The race looked pretty straightforward in the first lap - Van Der Haar leads the race.

However, Wietse Bosmans followed Van Der Haar closely.

Bosmans led the race from the second lap and while he couldn't get rid of Van Der Haar, the two of them pulled away from the rest of the field.

Bosmans and Van Der Haar exchanged the lead a couple of times.

The two at the front just pushed and pushed and no one else seemed to have an answer to their moves

It wasn't Michael Vanthourenhout's day, he seemed to have cramps. He finished the race eventually, kudos!

US Champion Zach McDonald had a slow start but he constantly moved further up and finished at 12th.

Wietse Bosmans

Van Der Haar and Bosmans seemed to be in a different league, so it was quite a surprise when with two laps to go, Dutch rider Michiel Van Der Heijden bridged the gap and caught up with the leading two, making things a bit harder for Bosmans.

After losing the race to Van Der Haar, Bosmans was in tears and understandably so. He did everything he could and still wasn't enough. It must be pretty hard to come to terms with that..

It's all in his eyes. A few journalists gave him a hard time at the post-race press conference, asking whether he made too many mistakes or wasn't trying hard enough or whether he regrets he just finished second. I think Bosmans rode really well, clearly gave it all he had. He is my hero today.

World Cup #8 – Hoogerheide

balint — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:07:24 +0000

This is just a quick update as I’ve got a Eurotunnel train to catch, but the photos are here nonetheless. The post will be updated in a couple of hours.

Luke Gray suffers properly during the U23's race.

Lars Van Der Haar won just another race - so the overall World Cup title is his for this season. Can he hold onto the rainbow jersey next week?

Niels Albert grimaces as he signs a young admirer's hat. There was an older, bald guy who wanted an autograph on his head but that was a bit too much for Albert.

World Cup #7 – Lievin

balint — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:35:18 +0000

I have a tendency to start these quick reports with the words ‘What a day’ but today proved to be very exciting again. The weather forecast promised cold but sunny weather and it was exactly what greeted me at Lievin. I got there after an unusually short drive and got started straight away.

Maybe it’s just me but the French seem to have a special style when it comes to course design – today’s course reminded me largely to the World Cup course at Nommay, two years ago. It was fast with long straights, not particularly technical, but because it’s fast, certain ascents/descents can be pretty tricky. Anyway, it seemed like a good day.

The U23 race was my first one and while Lars Van Der Haar’s dominance wasn’t surprising, the number of laps they did was – it’s quite unusual that the ‘beloftens’ would do 8 laps.

The women’s race started just like any other race: Marianne Vos started strong and tried to pull away from the field with Daphny Van Den Brand in tow. Come lap three and to my utter surprise Van Den Brand led the race, Vos not too far behind and they were closely followed by a smaller group, containing Caroline Mani, Helen Wyman and a couple of other riders. As rewatching the race revealed, both Vos and Van Den Brand went down in a muddy corner and that allowed their chasers to close the gap but that didn’t last long, the duo in white pulled away again and didn’t stop until the end – another impressive Vos win.

And then came the elite men’s race. After the initial commotion, Zdenek Stybar and Kevin Pauwels pulled away from the field and only Dieter Vantourenhout and Radomir Simunek were able to follow them. As the race progressed, Stybar and Pauwels comfortably made the gap bigger and bigger and it became obvious that one of the would be the winner. ‘But where is Nys and Albert?’ – that was the question most of us asked from ourselves. Nys looked slightly bored and pedalled to a fourth place – it keeps him in contention for the overall World Cup win but his chance is rather mathematical than a real one. Albert didn’t look too convincing either – the question is whether they were just taking it easy in preparation for the Worlds or they were genuinely tired.

In the meantime, Stybar kept attacking Pauwels and the decisive moment came in the last lap: Pauwels slipped on one of the descents and went down. It didn’t hurt him but it did hold him up and he lost a couple of seconds. This mistake proved to be a key one as Stybar stepped up the pace and rode to his second big win of the season. Upon crossing the finishing line, the understandably happy Czech lifted up in the air his new, pink Specialized and walked a few paces. Not much later another happy Czech crossed the finish line, a grinning (and very tired) Simunek was pleased with this third place, his best this season so far.

It was a great day and it was surprisingly warm in the afternoon but I didn’t like the course and I didn’t have a great day either, so I’m not 100% happy with my photos, I need to work harder next week to find better angles. Next will be very exciting and busy, I’ll be visiting the Bioracer premises to shoot a special feature on the factory for my new book and then it’s the last World Cup race at Hoogerheide on Sunday, so stay tuned for some more cyclo-cross action.

Lars Van Der Haar proved to be unbeatable today once again. He is clearly the favourite of the World Championships.

GVA #6 – GP Sven Nys, Baal

balint — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:37:29 +0000

Hello 2012! It was going to be an interesting day as Zdenek Stybar was about to reveal his new team kit and his new Specialized bike and BKCP was also due to switch to Colnagos. There were some rumors that the Landbouwkrediet team might change to Scott bikes, but either misunderstood something or the deal fell through, either way, Sven Nys paraded on his good old Colnago.

That being said, he and the rest of his team sported a new, predominantly green jersey, but the fasion-related star of the day was clearly Stybar, who wore a pink fedora while riding up and down, right before the start. Check to photo below. His performance was less stellar but he has probably already set his eyes on preparing for the road season. On the other hand, it was great to see Bart Wellens riding strong, his third place looks promising for next weeks Belgian National Champs.

All in all, it was a great way to start the year – there are still 10 more races until the season ends, so plenty more opportunities for great pictures. I’m returning to London tomorrow morning and will head up to Ipswich on Sunday to find out who will be crowned as the British Champion. It will be a good one, that’s for sure!

Consistent riding can get you far. Micki Van Empel hasn't won any of the U23 GVA races this season but he has been so consistent that he is now leading the rankings, with only two races to go.

Another one in the bag for Lars Van Der Haar. Now he's trailing with only two points behind Van Empel in the overall, so at this point he seems to be the most likely winner of the U23 GVA rankings.

Sanne Van Paassen and Sophie De Boer attacked early in the women's race.

In the absence of Marianne Vos, Daphny Van Den Brand dominated the race and established her lead early on.

Nikki Harris flew to another podium place today - great performance, she is looking strong with just a week before the British National Champs.

Gabby Day had a good day as well, finishing sixth - she will be another strong contenter at the British National Champs.

Nikoline Hansen in her last lap, her left knee wasn't still 100% - hopefully it will be ok for the Danish National Champs.

Pauline Ferrand Prevot showed off her new Rabobank colours - and she clearly hadn't seen any youtube videos, that teach you how to get off your bike (right leg in front of your left leg) during a cyclo-cross race.

The picture of the day - Zdenek Stybar proudly shows his new team colours. It's unusual and it's bold and I like it a lot.

Imagine an slight incline, then two large steps, imagine that this is all very, very muddy. Then look at this photo again - these guys jumped the stairs like it was nothing. Amazing.

Thijs Al cuts through the mud.

Even though Stybar became THE fashion icon of the cyclo-cross lot in one fell swoop, this wasn't his day. He surged to the front on his brand new Spesh ride but then he ran out of steam and finished fourth, ten seconds down from Bart Wellens.

Kevin Pauwels is often categorised as a subpar bike handler when it comes to riding in the mud but he is clearly getting better at it.

Sven Nys bagged another impressive win - his winning margin was 46 seconds. He is very, very strong, the question is whether he can hold onto his form and the winning formula for the next couple of weeks.

These logs look small on this photo but they are HUGE in reality and what's mind-blowing is that most of the top10 guys jump through them even in the last lap.

After giving up the race on Friday, Bart Wellens was back with a vengeance. His start wasn't that great but he worked his way up through the race and beat the still very fashionable Stybar by ten seconds.

I'm not the Grandmaster of portraits, unlike the guy in the photo, the always cheerful Kristof Ramon, but I like how I managed to capture a typical Ramon smile accidentally.

There's no denial in that today we were in the Svennyland.

Bart Wellens Special

balint — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:56:12 +0000

When I started to think about this year’s book, I wanted to make it a bit more interesting – having 28 races in it, one after another, there has to be something that breaks it up a bit, something, that’s different. And I thought that that special thing could be a behind-the-scenes feature on riders, crew, supporters, etc. Bart Wellens has always been one of my favourite riders, so I got in touch with him through the ever so helpful Nancy Van Peer and he agreed for me to follow him for a day. Splendid!

I decided that one of the Fidea Classics race would be the best as they weren’t part of my original plan, so it would be easier to focus on just Bart during the day. But then I didn’t hear back from Bart for a couple of weeks and I kind of gave up on the idea – so I was nicely surprised last night when Nancy notified me that Bart was expecting me to meet him today. Great news. I got to Leuven pretty early and knocked on Bart’s camper van’s door as soon as they got there. It was a great day, it turned out that Bart is a extremely nice guy, he’s got a lovely family and it was interesting to see how a pro rider prepares for a big race. What you will find below is only a couple of photos, you’ll have to wait to see the full story in the book in March (more on that later)!

Bart receives his number and the entry passes for his pit crew.

Even the greatest riders need to pin their numbers on their jerseys.

Anyone who turned up at Bart's campervan played a little with Lily, Bart's (almost) three year old daughter.

Bart pre-rides the course.

Bart relaxes before the warm-up for the race begins.

He puts on his skinsuit and his serious face as well.

Bart swaps bikes.

Bart abandoned the race with only one lap to go as he crashed three times and that was too much even for him.

A young admirer.

And some more admirers.

GVA #5 – Azencross, Loenhout

balint — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:54:20 +0000

Bosmans' teammate Gianni Vermersch attacked in the first lap and led the race for a while.

Vinnie Braet

Wietse Bosmans took back the lead soon from Vermersch and he tried to pull away from the rest of the field.

World Cup #6 – Heusden-Zolder

balint — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:08:02 +0000

The Heusden-Zolder course is hard, very hard from the photographers’ point of view. It’s very streched out and it takes ages to get from one end to the other. I remembered the layout from two years ago and found it difficult again to be everywhere where I wanted to be.

That being said, I managed to cover most the spots that I wanted and I came away with a few shots that came out pretty well. That being said, there was one very annoying fuck-up, when I got a bit overexcited and my camera strap got in the way. It’s annoying as it would have been THE perfect photo and it’s also a super stupid mistake, but there’s not much I can do about it. I’m too embarrassed to add it to the post but if you want to check it, you can have a look at it here.

One race down, three more to go during the festive week, so stay tuned for more ‘cross action.

The U23 race wasn't part of the official program, so half of the field raced in that age group, while the other half decided to try themselves out with the elite men. Among those who decided to race with the other U23s, Wietse Bosmans was the fastest.

I wasn't sure where should I start the women's race. After a quick recce, I decided to start in the woody section of the course and while most of the riders came in a single file, I was lucky enough to catch Christine Majerus overtaking Maureen Bruno Roy right in front of me.

Maureen Bruno Roy and the cameras.

While the lead of Marianne Vos and Daphny Van Den Brand was never really threathened, Sanne Van Paassen and Pauline Ferrand Prevot worked together for a while. Van Paassen probably sat too on Ferrand Prevot's wheel, who gestured towards the Dutch to take her turn at the front.

Marianne Vos and Daphny Van Den Brand dominated the race from the start, the only question left was whether one or the other would win. Eventually, it was Vos how powered away from Van Den Brand, she managed to put a convenient, 30 sec gap between her and Van Den Brand.

Rapha-Focus rider Julie Krasniak runs up on the muddy hillside.

Pauline Ferrand Prevot is always ready to flash a lovely smile. Even after hard and miserably muddy race.

Living up to the expectations, Sven Nys, the then-leader of the World Cup overall rankings, tried to ride away from the field.

Zdenek Stybar is about to tackle one of the steepest descents of the course. Oh, and it was muddy, too.

As always, the Heusden-Zolder race attracted a massive crowd and the created an amazing atmosphere.

Kevin Pauwels keeps an eye of the chasing group.

I've been photographing cyclo-cross for a while now but it still amazes me how these guys power up on muddy and steep ascents. My jaw drops every single time.

Stybar spits.

Stybar seemed to regain some of his strength finally. As he added after the race, in the last couple of weeks, he hadn't managed to leave some energy in the tank for the end of the race but today was different and he felt good even in the last lap. Maybe he found out how to tackle the fatigue?

My favourite shot of the day.

With Nys crashing in the final corner, it all came down to a sprint between Stybar and Pauwels. Though Stybar was leading until the last couple of meters, Pauwels managed to pip Stybar once again. Stybar's frustration was clearly visible.

Lars Boom used well his better start position and while he was never really a contestant for the win, he finished 7th, only 48 seconds behind Pauwels.

Loud and happy Pauwels-fans.

The podium.