Christian Rocha is THE MAN. He is the organiser of the Bern World Cup race and I can’t recall how or when we first met, but him and I have been chatting on and off about cyclocross for the last few years. He has established the EKZ Cross Tour in Switzerland and brought back regular, high-level racing to the country after a long hiatus. Every year, he invited me to one of his races, but the date clashes never allowed me to come until this year. And I am very glad that I’m here.
Because he put on a fantastic race, and what is even more impressive is that it seems to be standing on solid foundations. You often see World Cup races popping up in the calendar, only to disappear after a year (Lignieres-en-Berry, anyone?). Rocha has been running this series of races since 2014 and every year, it’s a bit bigger and it’s a bit better. And so here we are. I admit, he was lucky with the weather, but he put together a remarkable race. The course was great – fast, but challenging and offered spectators many opportunities to see the race from one spot. The crowd was big, loud and enthusiastic. Everybody got cheered on, regardless how close to the front they were riding. There was a serious expo area with numerous exhibitors and these were very popular during the day, offering valuable return on their investments.
I really hope that this race will stay in the calendar for the 2019/2020 season, it was one of the best new races in the last couple of years. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
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