So the final round of the World Cup has come and gone. It’s always a strange race when you have one eye on the overall and one on the race itself. Let’s face it, on a course like this there was never going to be a challenge to Vos. The course was wide, fair and pretty tough. Muddy sections led you into little runs and a long road straight. There were small variations to last years event, but you pretty much know what you’re going to get when you come to Hoogerheide. It wears you down as the race goes on and it’s pretty easy to hold a gap, but really hard to close one down. I was changing bikes every lap, and it was pretty noticeable that when riders skipped a change they were losing time carrying a heavy bike around.

Although you try to focus on the race in hand, it’s hard not to try to beat a rider who’s sitting only 2 points ahead of you in the World Cup classification. Those 2 little points equate to one place in a race, so it’s a big incentive. With Sanne van Paassen also not on the start line for this event due to ongoing illness, it meant there was a potential gain of 2 spots on the final classification. I entered the race in 7th overall, with Belgian champion Sanne Cant just in front.

Anyway, the race was pretty much as predicted. Vos set out in the front group, decided to destroy everyone at her chosen moment, she did that with style and grace, and left a race of everyone else behind her (I would like to point out here I’m not happy this is happening and I’m already plotting how I’m going to match her next season. Me and Kona, we are going to set the balance back next year….honest). The only disappointment for me was despite taking the early lead, I made a few silly errors and was lying back in 8th when all this happened. It also meant I missed the front group of 5. Read More→