Preview Belgian Bike-O Champs

Next Saturday, the Belgian Bike-O Championships will take place north of Antwerp, close to the Dutch border. Judging from google earth, the newly mapped terrain Stoppelbergen looks promising with a dense and complicated network of paths in a forested area. Dry weather, temperatures forecast around 16 C and the sandy Kempen-soil will make it a mud-free and fast race. Map scale will be 1/15000. No GPS devices or even cycle computers will be allowed during the race.


Grotere kaart weergeven

In principle, winning times should be 110' for men elite and 90' for women elite. Most likely, next Saturday's winning times will be shorter as courses have been designed with last year's Belgiam champs' distances in mind. Winning times back then were 83' and 77'.

Looking at the women's start grid, some big names will compete for the medals. Katrien Geuens holds an impressive MTB CV and was runner up in Halen last year. The 2008 champion, Miek Fabré will also start but last week she was beaten by Sofie Herremans at the Schaffen event.

The men's race looks to be a thriller with a lot of fast competitors on the start list. Jochen Verdeyen will be very eager to take the title on his nice Cannondale. Roel Smolders, winner of the very fast MTBO in Wechelderzande, will have to navigate carefully if he wants to beat the youngster from Tielt-Winge in this more technical terrain.

A big question mark is Wim Peers, the 2008 champion of Groot Nijlen cross country and defending MTBO champion. He opted not to compete in the prep races in Wechelderzande and Schaffen but instead did some winter duathlon races, combining cross country running and MTB. The two VdK brothers can be considered dangerous outsiders: always keen to do well at championships and equipped with the best material since last week. Might be a good bet next Saturday.

Finally, DLP is very happy to see Jan Gilot again on the start list of a big O-event.