Julien Taramarcaz was the revelation of Roubaix. Photo: Balint.
After podium last weekend in Sterling, Shawn Milne battled New England’s best in Warwick, Rhode Island, picking up a pair of UCI C2 wins. Milne has been around for a while, but these two wins have marked his arrival in elite cross. In LA, Tim Johnson (who in my defense was not on the start list) and Jamie Driscoll picked up wins, while Ben Berden won the Cross After Dark overall. As usual, Sven Nys kept everyone on the edge of their seats in Roubaix where he would win the fourth round of the World Cup. Nys took his time to get to the front before smashing Niels Albert and Kevin Pauwels into the ground during the final lap.
As far as my predictions went, clearly I had a bad week in the US. That shows the depth of cross in this country, where podiums can look entirely different from day-to-day. I actually managed to score a zero, which has only happened once or twice this year. In Europe, things fared much better. While I didn’t have a perfect podium, I correctly predicted the winner of every race. Here’s a breakdown of how I did this past weekend:
US Cross
NBX Grand Prix – Day 1 (C2)
1. Jeremy Durrin – 7th
2. Dylan McNicholas – DNS
3. Shawn Milne – 1st
Points: 1
CXLA Weekend – Day 1 (C2)
1. Ben Berden – 3rd
2. Ryan Trebon – 2nd
3. Chris Jones – 7th
Points: 2
NBX Grand prix – Day 2 (C2)
1. Dylan McNicholas – DNS
2. Mike Garrigan – 5th
3. Jeremy Durrin – 4th
Points: 0
CXLA Weekend – Day 2 (C2)
1. Ryan Trebon – 2nd
2. James Driscoll – 7th
3. Zach McDonald – DNS
Points: 1
Total: 4/20 (20%)
European Cross
National Trophy Series – Round 4 (C2)
1. Floris de Tier – 1st
2. Paul Oldham – 4th
3. Oli Beckingsale – 3rd
Points: 4
Day of Cyclocross (C2)
1. Elia Silvestre – 1st
2. David Kasek – 3rd
3. Martin Haring – 4th
Points: 4
XIX Bryksy Cross (C2)
1. Marek Konwa – 1st
2. Lubomir Petrus – DNS
3. Zdenek Mlynar – DNS
Points: 3
World Cup – Round 4 (CDM)
1. Sven Nys – 1st
2. Klaas Vantornout – 27th
3. Niels Albert – 3rd
Points: 4
Total: 15/20 (75%)