Michael van de Ham, ‘we were racing the course’ at Valkenburg worlds
Canadian champion finishes 34th in muddy race at the UCI cyclocross world championships
As the racing concluded on Sunday at the 2018 cyclocross world championships in Valkenburg, Netherlands riders were left picking up the pieces from a hard and muddy weekend. Canadian elite men’s champion Michael van den Ham finished 34th in the elite men’s race and reflected on the course and his race.
“Of the five worlds I’ve raced, this was by far the hardest course I’ve seen. More than racing the people out there, we were racing the course,” van den Ham said. “Laps stretched to over ten minutes and massive segments of the course turned to running.”
Up front, defending champion Wout van Aert displayed a masterclass taking the win by over two minutes and leaving compatriot Michael Vanthourenhout and pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel in his wake.
“I don’t think there was a single person out there who had a clean race. Rather, success was more about moving forward from mistakes and trying to minimize them as the race wore on,” van den Ham described racing the muddy course that had deep, unstable ruts.
Lap times were long in Valkenburg as compeditors were forced to run descents and long sections of the course making it a very physically demanding affair. “All in all, I’m happy with my race, the goal was a top-30 and I managed to be there for a while before falling back a few spots to 34th,” he commented about his own race.
Canada’s top result from the weekend was Tyler Clark’s 19th place in the junior men’s race on Saturday. The 13 athletes lined-up without official financial support from Cycling Canada. Instead the program is self-funded.
“A huge thank you the the cyclo-cross program and all the volunteers that made it happen,” van den Ham said. “With the conditions being what they were, their roles were even more crucial to our success.”
