- HOT TOPICS:
- The new VeloNews.com (BETA)
Franzoi takes U-23 cyclo-cross title
Flying Dutchmen dominate junior's race
- Article Extras
- Photos
Enrico Franzoi said he had a lot of reasons to ride his heart out in the under-23 men’s world cyclo-cross championship on Saturday, but one was more important than all the others.
To be sure, Franzoi said riding in front of the home crowd in Monopoli, Italy, offered ample motivation. But Franzoi said he was driven by a promise he made to his late mother this past August, and as it turned out, he had little difficulty keeping it.
Franzoi was among the first to reach the critical first turn after a fast start up a slightly rising 600-meter stretch of pavement.
“I started strong, like I always try to do,” he said. “My start is better this year. I’ve been doing the World Cups, and my form has improved. I knew that the start is important here.”
Franzoi proved just how important as he quickly took the front spot ahead of the field of 56 riders stretched out in single file behind him. And there he stayed. By the time he hit the first set of barriers on the twisting 2.7km course along the beach of the Adriatic, Fronzoi had built an advantage of some 15 seconds.
“Once alone, I felt much better,” he said. “This course is designed for a road racer, and when you’re alone you can take the turns a little safer, and I felt comfortable to push it on the straights.”
By the midpoint of the 21.9km race, Franzoi had stretched his advantage to 30 seconds, a lead he would hold to the finish. Behind him was a tightly packed group led by Belgian Wesley van der Linden, Holland’s Thijs Verhagen and Czech Martin Bina, one of the stars of the 2001 world’s in Tabor.
The group tried to cooperate, but could make little headway.
“With the gap, I felt safe, even when they tried to close,” Franzoi said. “It is the sort of course where a lone rider can take things a little faster than the group.”
As Franzoi powered his way up the final straight to the finish line, a pair of Italian fans jumped the barriers to greet their new hero. The first Franzoi passed high-fived him, the second gave him a large Italian flag. He almost appeared to be in a state of shock as he finished.
“I still can’t believe the race went as well as it did,” Franzoi said at a press conference after his win. “I have to give thanks to my mother more than anyone. I promised her this before she died this summer.”
Franzoi’s mother had died of cancer in August, and he said he was driven by her memory.
The young Italian said Saturday’s result also helps him make another decision he has been wrestling with this past season.
“I raced in Zolder in cyclo-cross and then again in October in the time trial,” he said. “I have been trying to decide between cyclo-cross and the road for my career. Now that I am world champion, I think that question has been settled.”
If it weren't for bad luck...
Like Franzoi, American Adam Craig was aimingfor a good start, but he ended up with one of the worst. Craigmanaged 20 meters before his chain broke, hurling him toward hishandlebars and sending him on one of the toughest chases of his 'cross career.
Instead of charging into the first turn among the leaders, Craig found himself running in pursuit of the tail end of the field. He was forced to run for the first half of the opening lap until he reached Pit 1 for a bike exchange.
Remarkably, the young American didn't give up his chase and continued to race, picking off competitors until the final 200 meters of the race.
U.S. under-23 coach Geoff Proctor was duly impressed. "He came by and asked 'Should I just give up?' and I said, 'No! Go for it!'" Proctor recalled. "The cool thing is that he did and his lap times were right up there with the leaders ... it's another one of those 'if only' stories, huh?I figure he could have made top five, if only he didn't break his chain at thestart."
U-23 Men
1. Enrico Franzoi (I), 21.9km in 49:22 (26.617kph)
2. Wesley van der Linden (B), at 0:28
3. Thijs Verhagen (Nl), at 0:35
4. Martin Bina (Cz), at 1:25
5. Bart Aernouts (B), at 1:31
6. Jean-Baptiste Beraud (F), at 1:32
7. Tim van Nuffel (B), at 1:33
8. Steve Chainel (F), at 1:35
9. Pieter Weening (Nl), at 1:36
10. Theo Eltink (Nl), at 1:36Americans
30. Barry Wicks (USA), at 3:29
37. Adam Craig (USA), 3:58
46. Ryan Trebon (USA), at 4:47
48. Alan Obye (USA), at 4:54
DNF Joshua Anthony (USA)
Boom earns junior title
Flying Dutchmen take control of juniors’ race
Cold, cloudy and a slight rain. Gee, if you didn’t know better, you could swear this is Holland. And just to add to the effect, the junior men from the Netherlands dominated their race at the world cyclo-cross championships in Monopoli, Italy on Saturday.
Dutchman Lars Boom easily took the top spot in the 16km junior men’s race, the opening event of the two-day championships at this resort community on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Boom finished with a comfortable half-minute margin over teammate Eddy van Ijzendoorn and the Czech Republic’s Zdenek Stybar, and Dutchman Sebastian Langeveld took fourth, giving the men in orange three of the day’s top four spots.
It seemed as though the weather gods appreciate cyclo-cross. The cold front that has been threatening the area for the past two days moved in, dropped temperatures and, just as the field of 56 juniors put foot to pedal, started a slight drizzle.
The twisting course, which has been hard-packed for the last week, began to soften a little, creating a few slippery spots on what has been a relatively fast circuit. But the change in conditions did little to slow Boom, who left the bunch, gradually built up an insurmountable lead and stayed away all on his own.
American Jesse Anthony, the U.S. team’s best hope for a medal in the junior event, managed a strong start, breaking into the top group of riders to reach the first turn. Anthony hovered in the top 20 for the duration of the race, finally finishing in 16th, 2:18 behind the winner.
Anthony said he was a bit disappointed by the performance, but couldn’t chalk it up to a single incident beyond the Dutch rider’s formidable strength.
“I was expecting a lot of them,” Anthony said. “I know two of the Dutch riders personally and figured they would do well … but that was impressive. I had no real mistakes, I got caught up in traffic at the stone wall and couldn’t jump it like I had hoped, but no disasters."
Junior Men
1. Lars Boom (Nl), 16.5km in 37:51 (26.155kph)
2. Eddy van Ijzendoorn (Nl), at 0:30
3. Zdenek Stybar (Cz), at 0:36
4. Sebastian Langeveld (Nl), at 0:39
5. Romain Villa (F), at 1:01
6. Jan Sel (Cz), at 1:07
7. Niels Albert (B), at 1:34
8. Frantisek Kloucek (Cz), at 1:38
9. Clement L’Hotellerie (F), at 1:39
10. Torn Van den Bosch (B), at 1:55Americans
16. Jesse Anthony (USA), at 2:18
29. Konrad Lebas (USA), 3:48
44. Steven Cozza (USA), at 5:13
48. Zak Grabowski (USA), at 5:33
52. David Fleischauer (USA), at 6:28
