EKZ Cross Tour Bern
After my 9th place at the EKZ Cross Tour in Baden and my 10th place at the international Radquer in Steinmaur I was extremely motivated to give my best at my home race in Bern. The track in the outdoor swimming pool Weyermannshaus is unique and it’s a lot of fun to race there. For this reason, the starting field was huge and there were several top cyclocross riders from Belgium and Holland at the start.
The start didn’t worked out as I wanted and I had to avoid crashes several times. Even with a big effort, I didn’t managed to place well on the decisive starting lap in Bern.
The start in Bern is so crucial because the race is extremely fast and there are practically no overtaking opportunities on the winding course. The only real overtaking opportunity is on the extremely long start-finish straight on the closed “Stöckackerstrasse”, but that’s exactly where it would be an advantage to be able to recover a bit in the slipstream of other riders.
With this unfortunate starting position from the first lap, I always had to invest a lot of energy on the start-finish straight to catch up the riders further ahead. Nevertheless, this effort was only moderately worth, because I often pulled riders, who I had previously overtaken with some risky actions in the tight corners, back to the front riders in my slipstream on the start-finish straight.
When I went into the last lap, I was between 19 and 30th position with several riders, but now I realized that I needed a bit too much power on the previous eight laps and unfortunately I wasn’t able to be in front of the decisive attacks for a top 20 position.
In the end it was enough for 25th place. I felt extremely strong today and could really go to my limit. Basically, the result isn’t bad, but I definitely started the race with a different goal, but I’m proud that I was able to ride an active race after the first lap despite the bad start. This will certainly help me to progress for the next races.
The feeling of riding in front of a home crowd is always incredible. Thanks to all fans!
In terms of my result I would have hoped for a bit more, but in terms of my performance I rode a great race.
Thanks again to all the fans who cheered me loudly in the “Weyerli” today. So the suffering is a little bit easier. You were simply unbelievable!
There are not many races left until the training break in November, but I’m still extremely motivated and I’m looking forward to the last two to three weeks. But for now, the focus is on the final race of the Proffix Swiss Bike Cup in Hochdorf. This race will take place next weekend.
//Joris
