The ridiculously, hilariously, slippery hill in Tabor that caused cyclocross chaos
A little innocent feature that many of the leaders were able to ride but became a nearly insurmountable obstacle to those who had to crawl up it
There was this tiny little muddy hill on the course of the Tabor UCI Cyclocross World Cup that looked innocent enough at first glance. No more than five feet high, five metres long and not soo steep that it was impossible to ride if you had momentum on your side. That was on paper and in reality, it was a slippery mess that caused massive slow ups in both the men’s and women’s races over the weekend. A small little innocent hill became an obstacle of monumental proportions.
To see the absolute carnage this innocent little hill created on an otherwise very fast course, take lap 2 of the women’s race as an example. The five leaders hit the hill with momentum and no obstacles in their path. Then one rider is forced to dismount flinging the bike wildly to the side slowing up the riders behind her. Then riders who have dismounted begin to slip and push the rides behind or stop them from even making any progress on the hill. Eva Lechner, the Italian champion, who rode the hill leading the race on the first lap takes multiple tries at the hill tackling it from various angles but slides down time and time again. It took her 36 seconds to get to the top of the hill with a little help from the barrier on the side of the course.
Maghalie Rochette was one of the riders caught behind the carnage and she crawled her way up the hill with riders slipping and sliding ahead of her. Needless to say, most riders didn’t have spikes on their shoes to get a good grip on the slippery hill. The course was narrow at this point and with riders struggling to make it up the hill, there were more obstacles to dodge than anyone probably expected or predicted in the chaos of a race.
Big slow ups on the first technical features of a race often cause traffic in the back of the field before the race gets strung out and the technical features become easier to tackle without a big crowd around. On lap one of the women’s race, six riders get up the hill on their bikes then it became very chaotic. Riders were constantly unable to get a good hold in the mud and slipped pushing the riders behind them causing even more of a bottle neck.
It was the same story in the men’s race but nearly 20 riders got up the hill clean on the first lap. Then the struggle bacame real for nearly every other rider who needed to wait until the rider ahead of them crawled their way up it.
Mathieu van der Poel took a solo victory in the elite men’s race while Lucinda Brand won in the women’s event. Maghalie Rochette finished a strong 13th despite being one of the riders stalled by the little hill.
The next round of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup is in the famous sand dunes of Koksijde which always provides quite the venue for exciting racing. Unfortunately, last years race had to be cancelled because of inclement weather.
