CX!

May 6, 2013 7:58 PM

Last February, the cyclocross world championships came to Louisville, Kentucky - the first time it had been held outside Europe.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Championship Highlights
Women's Elite
Men's Elite
Men's Under-23
FULL RACES:
Elite Men's
Elite Women's
Junior Men's

And much more in the sidebars.

CX, previously: Mud, sweat, and tears, Extreme Cyclocross, More Fun Than Going Shopping

posted by the man of twists and turns (5 comments total)

Yes! I was there, and it was kind of a disaster, but it was good to finally make the europeans race on this side of the pond, since it's really brutal to travel to Belgium several times a year for American riders.
posted by mathowie at 8:41 PM on May 6, 2013 [3 favorites]

It's actually pretty incredible how dominate the Belgium team was this year, and how utterly completely, without any attempt at a worthy adversary they were a year before. Fun also to see the differences of thousands that attended the race in Belgium, as opposed to in the US.

Also! Don't forget the (completely separate) Cyclocross Single Speed World Championships, featuring the, "take a shot of Tequila, get to cut the course", section and the ever-changing course!
posted by alex_skazat at 8:42 PM on May 6, 2013

without any attempt at a worthy adversary they were a year before

I was in Belgium for that race too and yeah, the rumors on the ground were that they whole team was doped to the gills, their team manager was famous for getting busted in the past and the total domination pointed to the whole team being strangely stronger than anyone else that foul play was suspected.

It was pretty crazy to witness 60,000 people watching a bike race vs. the 6,000-8,000 that went to the US one. I remember during the men's race I could barely get space near one of the many jumbo-tron TVs around the course, much less get anywhere near the actual course.
posted by mathowie at 8:48 PM on May 6, 2013

This helps explain a bit why, when I was at a pub in Bruges in February, they were showing cyclocross. A couple of friends of mine in the States are active in the scene, and one got a mention on NPR a while back for riding with Ernest Gagnon.
posted by knile at 5:22 AM on May 7, 2013

My sources say that the Europeans who attended were aghast they had to wait on line at the beer tent.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:25 PM on May 7, 2013