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A letter from Belgium: Diegem SuperPrestige

By Geoff Proctor
Published: Dec. 27, 2004
Wicks finished in the money
Wicks finished in the money
Photo: Marcel Van Hoecke

Hello all,
Thanks for the all the emails back! I really am just writing these reports quickly for your general interest, maybe offering a few details that you won't find elsewhere in all the race articles. But these are written hastily, so sorry if I neglect equal coverage of all riders and if I forget a few things...

Everything is going well! Yesterday, Diegem SuperPrestige, one of the oldest venues, which obviously holds sway over the UCI rules like the double-pit mandate (there two separate pits a long long ways from each other). I was reckoning that winner and good friend Erwin Vervecken has probably raced this exact same parcours 15 years in a row, as a junior and so forth. Nothing like knowing the circuit.

The juniors had some troubles with rolled tires and the like...but all are better riders for having achieved a result. They all talked about how fast the downhills were (Adam said he'd never gone that fast downhill on a cross course on pavement!), and how the other riders stay on the gas THE WHOLE TIME. Very good experience for them.

Jeremy was off a bit as he reacclimatizes from the U.S. And John Hanson had a solid ride. Both were in the talent packed espoir field; Radomir Jr. benefitting from Radomir Sr's pit help to take the win.

JP was tired, but happy
JP was tired, but happy
Photo: Marcel Van Hoecke

For the elite race, whoa! none of the photo sites capture the magnitude of the crowd on post Christmas Sunday. It was massive all the whole way around the course. We were very busy in the pit as it was faster than the parallel course section, but it being a left hander, it was chaos. I was proud we only had one dubious feed throughout all the races. At first they were letting us stand in the median but then UCI comm. waved us all back after a lap. Then Sven Nijs starting dumping his old bike in the middle of the track, thereby obstructing Wellens and Co. We saw a new pit tactic!

Finally, after some very choice words from Wellens, Vantourenhout, pit crews and others complained, the UCI comm changed his mind (for the third time), letting those catching bikes to stand in the median with the new bike holder still on the riders' left. (It's really no wonder that Sven has trouble making friends, is it?)

The crowds are Crazy! here. Massive as I said, there are 10,000 PAYING! customers everywhere. Ryan T was really at a good level for his first Euro' race, ahead of Dlask and Zamalink until the last third of the race. Jonathan Page's best SuperPrestige finishes this year have run from 11th to 16th or so. So Ryan's 18th is a very strong start. And Erik "Not afraid of anyone" riding to a far better result this year than last in the same race. Both he and Barry finished in the money, with top-30, although I think we haven't seen the best of Barry yet. For Ben not to get lapped and beat the guy he was with was super for his first big Euro’ race.

It was great to see Jonathan P too and Cori. JP just arrived that morning!! He literally hopped off the plane with no sleep. He pulled out half way through.

So, quite a day. We're taking it one day at a time. We decided to be conservative today, and not do the big travel to pre-ride the World’s course for tomorrow. I know the circuit and we'll be fine to do our pre-ride on the day of the race. I go to the manager's meeting tonight to do things like draw lots for which pit box we get, and make final roster confirmation and number pickup. In any event, it's gonna be huge. These folks take their ‘cross very seriously. Many of our riders finding it peculiar yesterday as they're warming up on their trainers, the throngs simply standing there staring at them, their equipment, their souplesse. Autographs, rider postcards and the Fidea RV convoy are the norm at these races.

And for the juniors, the thrill of racing, getting a shower and getting back home in time to watch the pro race live on the same course they just finished on. They were thrilled...and, to top all of that off, Ryan's dad arrived from Hawaii to surprise him 10 minutes before his start!

It's Monday am now and Het Niewsblad, the biggest Belgian sports daily, just here for interviews and photo shoot.

Geoff Proctor
Euro Cross Camp II

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