The day started with the team relay race and I used it as an opportunity to map out the xco course. I quite liked it but it became obvious pretty soon that I won't be able to cover the whole course: it's just too stretched out to do that. I caught Katerina Nash at the beginning of the lap, she was the third rider of her team.

This ascent turned out to be pretty tricky as the surface loosened up and it became too loose for most people to be able to climb up.

It was probably his badass trucker 'tache that helped Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos on top of the climb - he was the only one who could do that that morning.

Pauline Ferrand Prevot is only 18 years old but acts like a pro already: she immediately started to smile once I pointed my lens toward her. She also seems to know the secret to a sparkly smile.

Different teams took different approaches to combat the exhausting heat. The Swiss took a more high-end road and used these cooling vests.

The US team went for rather lo-tech solution, also known as the icepack.

Young Canadian riders prepare for the race with serious grinning.

And then off they went.

Valerie Meunier tackles the longest and probably hardest climb in the cruel heat.

German rider Helen Grobert finished third place. This descent is much worse in reality than it looks here.

After the high-tech Swiss riders dropped out of the race, no one really threatened Ferrand Prevot's win.

Nino Schurter

Julien Absalon and Schurter were riding together for the most of the race, but 300 meters from the finish, Schurter put the hammer down and opened a small gap that Absalon wasn't able to close until the finish line.

Winner of last round in Champery, Switzerland, Florian Vogel just wasn't strong enough to win again.

Maja Wloszczowska

Catherine Pendrel let the pack right from the beginning, but in the last lap Wloszczowska overtook her, but the silver medal still meant that she is leading now the overall standings.

Irina Kalentieva

Probably it was the beginning of the chase for the olympic qualification, or just the good weather, but there were more than hundred women riders, which meant that the best riders had to wait more than fifteen minutes before start.

She is one of my favourite riders, she is always smiling, always chatty. Also, a damn good rider. Her season started kind of slow but her form improved in Houffalize, so she had a positive outlook for this race.

Current junior women world champion, Pauline Ferrand Prevot.

I spotted 'cross legend Sven Nys by the course during the juniors' race. I asked him what he thought of the course, he said he liked it, it was quite technical which definitely is in his favours. When I aked about his plans for the rest of the season, he said that he won't do any more World Cup races but he was planning on going to the World Championships in Canada.

Yesterday, I have spotted another legendary but retired rider, Paola Pezzo. At one of the hardest drop-offs, a young Italian rider crashed and was taken in to hospital. Pezzo was standing next to her while medics were putting her into the ambulance.

Junior 'cross world champion Tomas Paprtska.

Cyclo-cross legend, Sven Nys

Roel Paulissen