As I said yesterday:
Sunday 31/01/2016
Today we had the Under 23 Men’s and the Elite Men’s Races. I didn’t get home in time to see the Under 23 race but by all accounts it was a good one. It was won by the Belgian rider Eli Iserbyt in a sprint.
For the full race click here
The Men’s Elite Race was a classic;
After the initial sort out, it looked as if the race was going to be dominated by the three Vans, Wout Van Aert (Belgium), Lars Van Der Haar (Netherlands), and Mathieu Van Der Poel (Netherlands). It didn’t stay that way. For one last hurrah of a half lap Sven Nys took off and everyone – even the Dutch willing him to stay out front
At the risk of being lynched: I am for @sven_nys. Just because it would be so beautiful, the old Fox in the Rainbow Jersey.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. After the lead group had come back together a tangle where Mathieu Van Der Poel managed to get his foot stuck in Wout Van Aert’s front wheel, gave Lars Van Der Haar the chance to take off. He built a lead of about fifteen seconds at one point. Wout Van Aert didn’t panic he worked his way back up to Van Der Haar steadily and with a lap and a half to go re caught him. They seemed pretty evenly matched until the final run-up where Van Aert had just a little bit more left in his legs and made the decisive gap that would bring him the Rainbow Jersey.
Sven Nys finished fourth in his last ever World Championships
Full Race replay here
Added Road Racing
Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise
I found this footage on YouTube. I think someone has shot it on their mobile phone. It gives a flavour of the race, which was won by Dries Devenyns (Bel) IAM Cycling
Cycling News report here
Challenge Mallorca – Final stage.
The video above shows the highlights of the stage won by André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal.
Cycling news report here
An excellent article in Trouw by Marijn de Vries on Femke Van den Driessche and her electric bike. Use google translate if your Dutch isn’t too good.
A Scotsman in Suburbia 