Rochette eleventh in penultimate World Cup race in France
Final round will determine title race between Alvarado and Worst
Maghalie Rochette placed 11th behind Annemarie Worst in Sunday’s second to last 2019-2020 UCI Cyclocross World Cup in chilly Nommay, France. With a round remaining, Rochette is in sixth place all around, eleven points behind American Katie Compton, who was third on Sunday. In the men’s race, Eli Iserbyt and Toon Aerts took advantage of Mathieu van der Poel’s absence–several top riders were missing from both races to get in a training bloc ahead of Worlds–to engage in a ding-dong battle in which Iserbyt earned his fourth round of the season.
The early races both involved Canadians: Cody Scott was 46th in the Junior men’s race as Thibeau Nys continued his domination in winning all the rounds of the season, and Malcolm Barton placed 44th in the U23 men’s race.
In the elite women’s race, series leader Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado didn’t have a clean start to Lap 1, which aided Ellen Van Loy (Belgium) in nabbing the lead. Alvarado’s Dutch compatriot Annemarie Worst, winner of the first two European rounds, led after one lap.
The race came down to a thrilling three-way sprint between Alvarado, Worst and Compton, with Worst earning a hat trick of 2019-2020 World Cup victories and narrowing Alvarado’s series lead to five points. Rochette, 14th in her last World Cup outing, was also eleventh in the Bern, Switzerland round. Ruby West was 28th and Claire Steciuk came 68th. All three women will be at the final round in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands next week and the World Championships in a fortnight.
Another amazing show from the Elite Women. ? #TelenetUCICXWC pic.twitter.com/19kw01V2yA
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 19, 2020
2019-2020 UCI Cyclocross Round 8, Nommay, France Elite Women
1) Annemarie Worst (The Netherlands/777) 41:42
2) Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) +0:01
3) Katie Compton (USA) +0:03
11) Maghalie Rochette (Canada) +1:23
28) Rudy West (Canada) +3:50
68) Claire Steciuk (Canada)
In the men’s race Aerts and Iserbyt forced a gap on the second of ten laps, with the duo leading a chase of five riders by 17-seconds going into Lap 3. On Lap 6 Aerts scampered away and ran up a 20-second lead, but on Laps 7 and 8 Iserbyt dug very deep to catch his compatriot.
Around a minute behind, Laurens Sweeck distanced fellows like Tom Pidcock and Lars van der Haar in an effort to stand on his third World Cup podium of the season.
It’s @ToAerts ?? and @IserbytEli ?? still leading.
With the gap stretching to 30 seconds, there’s now fresh impetus from the chase group as we see @Tompid ?? – who retained his British title last weekend – liven things up. #TelenetUCICXWC pic.twitter.com/8LtXaTxlvL
— UCI Cyclocross (@UCI_CX) January 19, 2020
The Belgian duo swung haymakers at each other on the bell lap. Aerts looked like he had forced a winning gap midway through the lap.
Once more Iserbyt came back and pushed ahead of Aerts in the final 500-metres. Aerts had nothing left to pull Iserbyt back in the finishing straight. Aerts is well placed to repeat as World Cup champion, 41-points clear of Iserbyt. Sweeck will surely be looking to knock Michael Vanthourenthout off the World Cup podium in Hoogerheide.
2019-2020 UCI Cyclocross Round 8, Nommay, France Elite Men
1) Eli Iserbyt (Belgium/Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) 1:07:13
2) Toon Aerts (Belgium/Telenet Baloise Lions) +0:08
3) Laurens Sweeck (Belgium/Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) +1:16
