I don’t know what the European Cyclocross Championships course looked like on the television today, but I think it was a good course. Not in the Namur-sense, there were no crazy drops, mad descents and wall-like climbs. But it was well laid out, it was spectator-friendly, and, most importantly, photographer-friendly.
At every race, with two laps to go, the ‘last-lap-anxiety’ kicks in: you want to make sure that you get back to the finish line on time, but you want to shoot that last spot you’ve been eyeing all day. Then you don’t, because you don’t want to miss the finish. The organisers in Rosmalen didn’t spare the expense of building a number of flyovers, and this enabled us and the general public to move around almost completely free. It made life a lot less stressful over the day.
The day, which was rather long. All five races was squeezed into one day and it turned out, that next year, there will be six days on one single day (the new, junior women’s race). Not sure why it’s not possible the stretch out the racing over two days, like they do at the World Championships. Three races each day would be nice and doable, not as hassled as today was. Maybe the business model needs the Masters day on Saturday.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos, the sun shrouded the park in wonderful light almost all through the day. Next up next week is Niel, which is a DVV Verzekeringen race, for the first time and then one of my favourites: Gavere!
If you enjoyed this post, check out my cyclocross albums, all previous editions are available here:
http://cyclephotos.bigcartel.com
