
Update: Wout van Aert has announced he will race Elite at Worlds, following Mathieu van der Poel’s decision.

by Michael van den Ham

As we head in to the final stretch of the season, looking forward to the 2015 Cyclocross World Championships, we took a look at the contenders that will be wearing the American colors for the for separate events. While today we look at some of the other national championships around the world, there are a few important items to note heading to the Czech Republic. Despite taking a number of impressive wins in the Men’s Elite races this season, and more importantly, the Dutch National Jersey of the Men’s Elite Championship, Mathieu van der Poel has already declared that he will race in the U23 race this year . Update: Mathieu van der Poel has now has reversed his decision and declared he will race with the Elite Men.

One of his largest young rivals, Wout van Aert, is still undecided, is ready to make his final decision this Friday.

Netherlands

In the women’s race, Marianna Vos stormed to yet another national title ahead of Sophie De Boer (Kalas-NNOF) and Sabrina Stultiens (Brainwash Wielerploeg). This victory marks the fifth cyclocross national championships for the 27 year old Vos and leaves us asking, will anyone be able to challenge Vos for the world title in Tabor?

Foto van de Week! @marianne_vos is voor de 5e x op rij Nederlands kampioene veldrijden! Wat is jou foto van de week? pic.twitter.com/rM2aLktOQ4 — Team Brabant Sport (@TMBrabantSport) January 12, 2015

One hour later, Mathieu Van Der Poel (BKCP — Powerplus) continued his excellent form to take his first elite victory in the Dutch National Championships on a course filled with long running sections.

His older brother David van der Poel (BKCP — Powerplus) came across the line for second.

Two-time defending champion, Lars van der Haar (Giant – Alpecin) had to settle for third.

In typical good humour, van der Haar tweeted:

AU… Everything hurts from the race yesterday. Walking is almost impossible. Off to schiphol this afternoon to Spain. Someone carry me!? ;p — Lars van der Haar (@larsvanderhaar) January 12, 2015

The race was also the first for van der Haar in his new Giant-Alpecin kit. On Monday, Van der Haar boarded a plane for Spain to train with the team for the upcoming road season.

Following his victory, van der Poel annouced that he would forgo a chance at the Under-23 World title to race with the Elites in just his second year out of junior.

Final decision made. I will start the world championship in the Elite category! #stoked — Mathieuvanderpoel (@mathieuvdpoel) January 12, 2015

According to Het Nieusblad, van der Poel’s main U23 rival, Wout Van Aert (Vastgoedservice — Golden Palace), has made a decisions on whether he will race as a U23 or an Elite, but will not reveal it until this upcoming Friday. With van der Poel moving up, we’re predicting Van Aert will as well.

Update: Our prediction was correct:

Did a nice sprint training in the woods this morning. New goals are coming! #elite #worlds #nevergiveup pic.twitter.com/XCYIcTyExh — Wout van Aert (@WoutvanAert) January 16, 2015

Great Britain

Helen Wyman (Kona) brought home a ninth national title after winning the much anticipated battle between her and Nikki Harris (Telenet — Fidea) in Abergavenny Wales. Harris has been coming across the line ahead of Wyman more times than not this season, but Wyman demonstrated her improving form before Worlds to earn yet another British title.

After riding together for the first half of the race, Wyman escaped from Harris with 3 laps to go and grew her advantage to 28 seconds at the finish. 2012 London Olympian and Mountain bike star, Annie Last (Individual) came across the line a further 1:15 back to claim bronze.

On the Men’s side, Ian Field (Hargroves Cycles Ridley RT) rode to his forth consecutive title on the muddy, tree filled course course 40 seconds ahead of Liam Killeen (Specialized UK) and a minute ahead of Lewis Craven (Wheelbase Altura MGD). Field began to distance Killeen after a fast third lap and stayed after for the remainder of the race. Killeen managed to cut into Field’s lead on the final lap, but the effort was not enough to stop the pre-race favorite, Field, from another win.

Really proud to win my 4th consecutive British CX title today! Thank you @HargrovesRT @UKmadison @digdeepcoaching for the massive support. — Ian Field (@FieldyCX) January 11, 2015

Germany

20 year old, Jessica Lambracht improved on last years fifth place to win the woman’s jersey by nearly a minute over Lisa Heckmann and Sabine Epitz. Defending champion, Hanka Kupfernagel had to settle for fourth.

In the men’s race, Marcel Meisen (Kwadaro-Stannah) demolished the rest of the field, including defending champion, Philip Walsleben (BKCP — Powerplus), to win by minutes on route to his first elite title. Sascha Weber earned the second step of the podium, and Walseben the third.

2015 British National Cyclo-cross Championships, Men's Elite Race

Rank Name Nat. Age* Result PaR PcR 1 Ian FIELD GBR 29 1:04:41 100 100 2 Liam KILLEEN GBR 33 1:05:19 60 60 3 Lewis CRAVEN GBR 37 1:05:38 40 40 4 Jody CRAWFORTH GBR 35 1:05:54 30 30 5 Steven ROACH GBR 31 1:06:34 25 25 6 Alex PATON GBR 25 1:06:58 20 20 7 Nicholas CRAIG GBR 46 1:07:39 15 15 8 Steven JAMES GBR 23 1:08:50 10 10 9 Robert JEBB GBR 40 1:08:59 5 5 10 Tony FAWCETT GBR 37 1:09:22 3 3 11 James SPRAGG GBR 28 1:09:45 12 Giles DRAKE GBR 31 1:10:45 13 Michael BUTLER GBR 24 1:10:50 14 Tim DAVIES GBR 48 1:10:57 15 Bruce DALTON GBR 23 1:11:10 16 Daniel BOOTH GBR 35 1:11:11 17 Scott CHALMERS GBR 28 1:11:27 18 Andrew NAYLOR GBR 35 1:12:58 19 Daniel GUEST GBR 40 1:13:13 20 Chris METCALFE GBR 33 21 David LINES GBR 37 22 George ATKINS GBR 24 23 Scott WILSON GBR 36 24 Tom PAYTON GBR 25 25 Keith MURRAY GBR 40 26 Lee SHUNBURNE GBR 38 27 Scot EASTER GBR 35 28 Colin MILLER GBR 38 29 Joe LALLY GBR 31 30 Philip HINCH GBR 38 31 Perry BOWATER GBR 23 32 Luke GRAY GBR 23 33 Andrew PARRY GBR 40 34 Chris PEDDER GBR 33 35 Jamie NEWALL GBR 39 36 Gruffudd LEWIS GBR 28 37 James THOMPSON GBR 38 38 Matthew ZIETZ GBR 26 39 Simon MAUDSLEY GBR 36 40 Gavin HARDWICKE GBR 38 41 Kristian SPRECKLEY GBR 40 42 Charlie WILLIAMS GBR 38 43 James BRITTON GBR 24 44 Ben SPURRIER GBR 36 45 Simon FORSTER GBR 28 46 Dan VOCKINS GBR 38 47 James LEACH GBR 27 48 George KIRKIN GBR 25

2015 British National Cyclo-cross Championships, Women's Elite Race

Rank Name Nat. Age* Result PaR PcR 1 Helen WYMAN GBR 34 39:29:00 100 100 2 Nikki HARRIS GBR 29 39:57:00 60 60 3 Annie LAST GBR 25 41:12:00 40 40 4 Amira MELLOR GBR 18 41:33:00 30 30 5 Alice BARNES GBR 20 41:47:00 25 25 6 Hannah PAYTON GBR 21 41:51:00 20 20 7 Evie RICHARDS GBR 18 42:26:00 15 15 8 Annabel SIMPSON GBR 25 43:16:00 10 10 9 Ffion JAMES GBR 18 43:31:00 5 5 10 Isla ROWNTREE GBR 46 43:50:00 3 3 11 Tracy MOSELEY GBR 36 44:23:00 12 Sarah MURRAY GBR 22 44:42:00 13 Ruby MILLER GBR 23 45:01:00 14 Diane LEE GBR 30 45:18:00 15 Isla SHORT GBR 19 45:31:00 16 Abigail VAN TWISK GBR 18 45:52:00 17 Kate GEORGE GBR 38 46:26:00 18 Rebecca PREECE GBR 21 46:35:00 19 Rachel FENTON GBR 34 46:54:00 20 Martha GILL GBR 18 48:21:00 21 Claire BEAUMONT GBR 29 48:30:00 22 Joanna RYCROFT GBR 22 48:47:00 23 Laura GREENHALGH GBR 30 48:55:00 24 Emily BARNES GBR 20 25 Anna CIPULLO GBR 31 26 Alice MILLER GBR 26 27 Clover MURRAY GBR 18 28 Elanor CADZOW GBR 24 29 Hannah SAVILLE GBR 18

2015 Dutch National Cyclo-cross Championships, Men's Elite Race

Rank Name Nat. Age* Result PaR PcR 1 Mathieu VAN DER POEL NED 20 100 100 2 David VAN DER POEL NED 23 60 60 3 Lars VAN DER HAAR NED 24 40 40 4 Twan VAN DEN BRAND NED 26 30 30 5 Niels WUBBEN NED 27 25 25 6 Patrick VAN LEEUWEN NED 30 20 20 7 Corne VAN KESSEL NED 24 15 15 8 Gert-Jan BOSMAN NED 23 10 10 9 Kobus HEREIJGERS NED 26 5 5 10 Hans BECKING NED 29 3 3 11 Micki VAN EMPEL NED 25 12 Bart BARKHUIS NED 25 13 Marcel LOMMERS NED 26 14 Joost SPRING IN T VELD NED 30 15 Jeroen JANSSEN NED 31 16 Bas VAN DALEN NED 29 17 Gijs VIERLING NED 27

2015 Dutch National Cyclo-cross Championships, Women's Elite Race

Rank Name Nat. Age* Result PaR PcR 1 Marianne VOS NED 28 100 100 2 Sophie DE BOER NED 25 60 60 3 Sabrina STULTIENS NED 22 40 40 4 Sanne VAN PAASSEN NED 27 30 30 5 Lucinda BRAND NED 26 25 25 6 Anna VAN DER BREGGEN NED 25 20 20 7 Reza HORMES NED 48 15 15 8 Esmee OOSTERMAN NED 19 10 10 9 Bianca VAN DEN HOEK NED 39 5 5 10 Lizzy WITLOX NED 20 3 3 11 Annemarie WORST NED 20 12 Maud KAPTHEIJNS NED 21 13 Lotte EIKELENBOOM NED 19 14 Suzanne VERHOEVEN BEL 19 15 Veerle GOOSSENS NED 22 16 Geerte HOEKE NED 25 17 Lindy VAN ANROOIJ NED 19 18 Annet EENDHUIZEN NED 41 19 Milou MEEUSE NED 23 20 Mascha MULDER NED 21 21 Evy KUIJPERS NED 20 22 Ingeborg BREMMERS NED 23 23 Laura KRANS NED 28 24 Tessa NEEFJES NED 19 25 Linda TER BEEK NED 28 26 Irene GERRITSEN NED 19 27 Mady KLEEVEN NED 23 28 Marieke VAN WITZENBURG NED 30

2015 German National Cyclo-cross Championships, Men's Elite Race

Rank Name Nat. Age* Result PaR PcR 1 Marcel MEISEN GER 26 1:06:48 100 100 2 Sascha WEBER GER 27 1:09:36 60 60 3 Philipp WALSLEBEN GER 28 1:10:31 40 40 4 Ole QUAST GER 26 1:11:41 30 30 5 Max WALSLEBEN GER 25 1:12:09 25 25 6 Markus SCHULTE-LUENZUM GER 24 1:12:29 20 20 7 Michael (JR) SCHWEIZER GER 24 1:14:02 15 15 8 Gerrit ROSENKRANZ GER 31 1:14:14 10 10 9 Yannick MAYER GER 24 1:14:56 5 5 10 Jannick GEISLER GER 23 1:15:37 3 3 11 Sascha WAGNER GER 28 1:16:21 12 Tim RIECKMANN GER 25 13 Ulrich THEOBALD GER 32 14 Maximilian HOLZ GER 25 15 Sven KUSCHLA GER 39 16 Hendrik VÖKS GER 38 17 Severin SCHWEISGUTH GER 29 18 Michael SCHUCHARDT GER 32 19 Tobias DEPRIE GER 23 20 Toni BRETSCHNEIDER GER 24 21 Thomas HANNÖVER GER 40 22 Tobias TETZLAFF GER 25 23 Sebastian GEUTHNER GER 36 24 Christopher MALETZ GER 31 25 Roman SEDLMEIER GER 26 26 Alexander SCHLENKRICH GER 25 27 Sascha BÖHM GER 30 28 Stefan FREUDENBERG GER 33 29 Tommy GALLE GER 26 30 Michael WALTER GER 32 31 Jan-David MANNTZ GER 37 32 Alexander LOOS GER 27 33 Mirko VOLK GER 35 34 Andre DEUSCHLE GER 36 35 Thorben WOELKI GER 41 36 Felix PAUL GER 33 37 Roman SCHALLON GER 37 38 Phil HERBST GER 27

2015 German National Cyclo-cross Championships, Women's Elite Race