World ‘cross champions praise American experience
Wild fans recreate Belgian energy in Louisville



What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in enthusiasm. Lining the course of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships from the early morning junior race through the late afternoon elite men's event, screaming themselves hoarse, clanging bells and bl𝐆owing horns, crowds in Louisville may have been a sixth of what Belgium produced in Koksijde for last yea♌r’s event, but many of the competitors praised the American fans for their non-partisan support, and the ebullient atmosphere they created.
Although American Katie Compton was one of the top favourites to win a world title on home soil, she suffered a less than ideal first lap and had to settle for a 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:distant second place. Marianne Vos (The Netherlands), who beat Compton, may not have realized that her exploits - five st🐼raight world championship victories as well as road and Olympic titles - have earned her great respect and admiration over here, and equally ear-splitting cheers from the fans.
“I have to say, the Americans were really cool and cheering for me, too,” Vos said with a smile. “Becom🗹ing world champion is an amazing feeling, it’s different be🃏cause it’s the first time overseas, and that makes it special.”
Klaas Vantornout, who rode to second behind his Belgian teammate Sven Nys in the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:elite men’s race, was equally impresse🎀d by how the fans 𓆉supported every rider.
“When I rode the course before the race, the atmosphere was great. It was sp✤ecial. It was another atmosphere like Belgium. The people supported everyone, and it was very nice to ride here.”
Nys was imꦦpressed with the amount of support and respect he got from the American fans in the week that he was here, and enjoyed the race-day enthusiasm.
“There was a good🧸 atmosphere, everyone was yelling for all the rid🔥ers, and that’s what we want for the world championships,” he said.
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“🧸I felt before the race that I got respect from all the fans over here, and I felt really calm and that’s what I needed to win this race.
“For me it’s the best race of my career! The race itself was a European – it was hard, technical a🌼nd it was a nice🎶 world championship race. It was difficult until the end.”
Nys has been working to hel♍p promote the sport internationally, and this year joined the UCI’s new athlete commission. He acknowledged that hauling a team’s worth of gear across the Atlantic for one day of racing was a lot of work for every European country, but thinks it will be worth it.
“I hope a lot of cyclo-cross fans saw this race and the young guys are now motivated to also do ‘ꦐcross. It was little stressful for the riders to do all this in one day, but that is what we want, to promote the sport.
“For me it’s special, I’m not the youngest anymore. I try to do a lot of things for ‘cross, to promote our sport. To win here is maybe more special than to ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚwin in the home country. Maybe here, there were five, six thousand people, but I felt that the respect I got here that it helped me a lot.”

Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer w꧑ho dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.