This weekend – GB for Cross Worlds

BioracerBanner

This weekend will see Great Britain go into the World Cyclo-Cross Championships at Zolder with several medal chances (30-31 January)

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

This weekend – GB for Cross Worlds

The highlight of the cyclo-cross season is this weekend when the World Championships are held in Belgium (Zolder) and the Great Britain team have several medal chances.

In the Women’s event, where GB has already had several medals with Louise Robinson’s Silver in 2000 and Helen Wyman’s Bronze in 2014, GB has two medal contenders, Helen Wyman and British Champion Nikki Harris.

Helen Wyman 2016 Cyclocross World Championship course preview with data overlay from Stages Cycling on Vimeo.

The latter has had a breakthrough season, winning a World Cup and finishing third overall in the series. Harris finished off the World Cup season with a third place and importantly in that race, was in touch with the leaders on the day showing the form is there for the World championships and all she needs is a little luck.

Helen Wyman certainly has the experience to make the podium as well and on top of nine British titles and the Bronze in 2014, was 5th at the Worlds a decade ago (2006), 9th in 2007 and 7th last year.

NikkiHarris_01_web

Nikki Harris

But if the Women are holding the hopes of a World Championship medal, so is a youngster from Yorkshire, Tom Pidock. Denied the opportunity of racing for the British title this year because of riding for GB on the track in Holland, the demon sprinter on the road was second in the final CX World Cup of the season last weekend (interview here).

The National Trophy series winner for Juniors, Pidcock (below) demonstrated his ability on the international stage with an impressive eighth place at the European championships in Huijbergen, his first international cyclo-cross event and hasn’t looked back since then. Pidcock is joined by British junior champion Mark Donovan, Will Gascoigne, Dan Tulett and Ben Turner.

2015_Durham_Pidcock

In the Elite men’s race, GB will see former Commonwealth Games champion and Olympian Liam Killeen racing along with Ian Field who races for Hargroves Cycles-Ridley when not in GB colours. They will be joined by David Fletcher and Jack Clarkson.

Killeen has demonstrated superb form in the last month, taking a long-awaited British title and winning the final round of the National Trophy Cyclo-cross Series in Milton Keynes ahead of Frenchman Mathieu Boulo (Raleigh GAC). Ian Field however is more experienced in the world-class cyclo-cross arena. A regular on the World Cup circuit and a veteran in a number of World Championships, Field will know the Zolder course well.

Tweet_Killeen2

Ian-Field-southampton-trophy

Ian Field of Hargroves Cycles-Ridley RT

Under 23’s
Nick Barnes (Hargroves Cycles-Ridley) is Great Britain’s sole entrant in the under-23 men’s category. Barnes dominated this in the National Trophy series and took a Bronze medal at the British championships behind Iain Paton and Ben Wadey.

In the Under 23 Women championship, Evie Richards, who shot to prominence in 2015 with a junior cross-country silver medal at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Vallnord, has showed great form in cross in Britain, taking National Trophy wins in Ipswich and Bradford before clinching the British title in Shrewsbury.

Richards is joined by National Trophy Series winner Hannah Payton and runner-up Beth Crumpton with Alice Barnes and Ffion James completing a strong British line-up.

AlpsCyclesMidstory

THE GB TEAM
Elite men
Jack Clarkson
David Fletcher
Ian Field
Liam Killeen

Elite women
Nikki Harris
Helen Wyman

Under-23 men
Nick Barnes

Under-23 women
Alice Barnes
Beth Crumpton
Ffion James
Hannah Payton
Evie Richards

Junior men
Mark Donovan
Will Gascoigne
Tom Pidcock
Daniel Tulett
Ben Turner

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS

Saturday 30 January
10:00am – Junior men
12:00pm – Under-23 women
2:00pm – Elite women

Sunday 31 January
10:00am – Under-23 men
2:00pm – Elite men

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: