Caught the highlights of the Zeven CX last night - WvA back in charge, MvdP second - just epic ability on the bike. Who is top dog between the two of them do you reckon Armel? I guess they have contrasting strengths and the course is so important in cross.
Been racing our local league this autumn - great fun but results are down on last year. Bought a new tubular wheelset without checking the rim profile and it's a bit concave for cross - rolled two tubs off in the races which is a massive ballache. All sorted now so looking forward to the last few - unfortunately the one in Everton park has been cancelled, with at least one rumour that it was down to the area not being safe for the event. Sad state of affairs if true.
Yep it really depends. VdP has superior agility, he can do crazy things on a bike and has a bit more speed. Van Aert is better on heavy circuits, with loads of mud that require brute strength. He's also a superior runner, so if it's a lap that that has significant running sections he'll also probably win.
Saying that, this year VdP is clearly superior to Van Aert for a couple of reasons. The first being that Van Aert wants to ride the majority of the spring classics, and has adjusted his training and racing regime for it - will be interesting to see if it can be done. Secondly Van Aert rides a Felt bike and they are apparently horrible. They are slow. Discontent all over his team, the ones in the road racing team even clandestinely tried to use taped frames of other manufacturers.
If you ever ride on tracks where you expect a lot of punctures (old quarry or something) you should use the old green Michelins. They won Van Aert the World championship last year. Was a brilliant championship tbf.
