T. VanWichelen Photo
With a stack of European C2 races spread throughout last weekend and into the week, it took a while to compile a wrap-up, but for those of you loyal readers who keep track of the minor UCI races sprinkled around Europe, here is this week’s Euro C2 Review:Â
Nacht van Woerden (C2)
Bart Aernouts picked up his first victory of the season a head of fellow countryman Lars Van Der Haar in Worden, Netherlands last Tuesday. Belgian Dieter Vanthorenhout finished third. The nighttime cross race has becoem a tradition in Wordern – this year marked the 11th edition of the race. American Jonathan Page had one of his best results of the season finishing eighth, though a pit error prevented him from taking a good shot at 4th place. Gerben de Knegt, the oldest rider in Europe, finished fifth.
Toi Toi Cup – Round 4 (C2)
Our pick for spoiler, Gernamy’s Christoph Pfingsten, made us look good by picking up the victory ahead of Czech’s Lubomir Petrus and Vladimir Kyzivat. Petr Dlask, our pick for top Czech didn’t compete in Klinsko and our other two picks, David Kasek and Jaroslav Kulhavy finished tenth and sixth, respectively.
Lignières-en-Berry (C2)
French National Champion Francis Mourey continued his domination in his native land with a victory in the first round of the French National Cyclocross series. Mourey can win at will in France and can put up decent results at bigger races, but we’d like to see him commit to a more challenging schedule. Meanwhile, 23-year-old Matthieu Boulo finished second ahead of Jerome Chevallier. Boulo was our pick for a breakout ride and was only 15 seconds behind Mourey. Jon Gadret struggled a bit coming across the line in sixth, nearly one minute behind Mourey. Meanwhile Nicolas Bazin rolled across the line in ninth, nearly two minutes down.
XIX Cyclo-cross de Karrantza (C2)
As we predicted, the Spanish finally regained control of their National races in Karrantza. Murgoitio Rekalde was the first man across the line, 14 seconds ahead of our pick Javier Ibanez. Belgian Bart Hofman, the only non Spaniard in the race, rounded out the podium. We were looking for big things from Mauro Fontant, but he finished ninth, not what we expected. The biggest disappointment was David Riba who finished 70th. We wonder what happened there.
National Trophy Seires – Round 2 (C2)
The battle between Brits Paul Oldham and Jody Crawforth was once again spoiled by a foreign rider. This time, it was Jelle Brackman picking up the victory, 40 seconds a head of the two Brits. Oldham was able to get away from Crawforth in the closing laps, beating him by ten seconds for second place. Our surprise pick was Lee Williams, who failed show what he’s capable of, finishing over a three minutes back in 15h place. As a results of his pair of second places, Oldham takes the lead in the series, a head of Crawforth.
Valdidentro Night & Day Giro d’Italia Ciclocross (C2)
Without a start list, we went with our gut in predicting that Enrico Franzoi would pick up the victory a head of Faboi Ursi and Elia Silvestri in Isolaccia, Italy. In an unusually long race, Franzoi picked up the win by 31 seconds a head of Marco Bianc and Cristian Cominelli. Franzoi’s winning time was 1:07:30, well past the traditional one hour mark. Silvestri just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth. Ursi rolled across the line in seventh place, almost two-and-a-half minutes behind Franzoi.
Internationales Radquer Steinmaur (C2)
Switzerlands Marcel Wildhaber got the best of Czech’s Vladimir Kyzivat in a two up sprint in Steinmaur, Switzerland on Sunday. Fellow Swiss Simon Zahner was able to edge out Germany’s Sascha Weber for third place. Our podium picks struggled in Steinmaur, but they all managed to finish inside the top ten. Lukas Fluckiger finished sixth, Nico Brungger was eighth, a head of Andreas Moser. Our suprise pick Rene Lang failed to finish.