January 26/08 6:41 am - Treviso Cross World's

Posted by Editoress on 01/26/08
 

CycloCross World Championships Treviso, Italy

Photos

The 2008 Cyclo-cross Worlds opened this morning with the Junior Men's 40 minute race. The race for the rainbow jersey came down to a two-up sprint between eventual winner Arnaud Jouffroy of France and Peter Sagan of Slovakia, with early race leader Lubomir Petrus finishing third. All three riders were within five seconds of each other. Canada's lone entry - David Larson finished 49th, 4:18 behind Jouffroy.

The weather is perfect - clear blue skies with the Dolomite mountains in the background, and temperatures gradually warming to plus 8 Celcius by race time. A frost overnight left the track slightly slick in muddy sections, which caused silver medallist Sagan to slip a bit in the final corner 200 metres from the finish line, possibly costing him a chance to outkick Jouffroy for the win.

The first kilometre of the race was marred by a crash halfway through the field, which held up many riders, including Canada's Larson. "I didn't go down, but I had to stop and then get going again. It cost me a lot of places."

The expected bottleneck at the 26% climb one kilometre into the race didn't materialize, since the field stretched out and the crash split it up. Petrus and Poland's Marek Konwa took the lead, with Sagan sitting fourth and Jouffroy well back in the low-20s.

At the end of the first lap (of five) Konwa and Petrus still had a six second lead over Jouffroy, with Sagan a further three seconds in arrears. A lap later the medal spots had been established, as Jouffroy surged to the lead, followed by the chasing duo of Sagan and Petrus. These three stayed within sight of each other for the rest of the race, while the remainder of the field slowly slipped further and further behind, with home favourite Elia Silvestri of Italy coming in for fourth nearly as minute down.

"I let one rider go in front of me [on the second lap]," explained Jouffroy "but I could see that I was better in the mud. Then they let me go to the front, and I think that was the big mistake of the race."

"As soon as I was in the lead, my only thought was about the finish line. But even in the last corner they were not far behind, so I just pushed as hard as I could on the pedals, and it was enough."

Larson, in only his third 'Cross race in Europe was pleased with his race. "I rode well, I think, and I learned a lot. Mainly about how steady and consistent the racing is over here. They never back off, it is hard the whole race."