The 2018 Cyclo-cross World Championships took place over the weekend in Valkenburg, Netherlands with three racers from BC taking on some very tough competition and some of the muddiest conditions ever seen. Riders slipped and slid their way around a technical and physically demanding course. The course made it virtually impossible to avoid crashing and riders struggled to limit their mistakes.
Canadian Elite champion Michael van den Ham of Abbotsford came in 34th in the Elite Men’s race, while seventeen-year-old Conor Martin from Kelowna finished 29th in the Junior Men’s race. Mical Dyck from Cumberland finished in 31st place in the Elite Women’s category.
Overall Winners:
Men Elite – Wout Van Aert (Belgium)
Men Junior – Ben Tullet (Great Britain)
Men U23 – Eli Iserbyt (Belgium)
Women Elite – Sanne Cant (Belgium)
Women U23 – Evie Richards (Great Britain)
Men Junior – Ben Tullet (Great Britain)
Men U23 – Eli Iserbyt (Belgium)
Women Elite – Sanne Cant (Belgium)
Women U23 – Evie Richards (Great Britain)
“Of the five Worlds I’ve raced, this is by far the hardest course I’ve seen. More than racing the people out there, we were racing the course. Laps stretched to over ten minutes and massive segments of the course turned to running. I don’t think there was a single person out there who had a clean race. Rather, success was more about moving forward from mistakes and trying to minimize them as the race wore on. All in all, I’m happy with my race, the goal was a top-30 and I managed to be there for a while before falling back a few spots to 34th. A huge thank you the the cyclo-cross program and all the volunteers that made it happen. With the conditions being what they were, their roles were even more crucial to our success.” – Canadian Elite National Champion, Michael van den Ham
Source: Cycling Canada