Interesting to see British Cyclings lack of willing to invest in cyclocross in comparison to track cycling once again. A squad of fifteen riders (and countless backroom staff and coaches) have been at the European track cycling championships in Guadeloupe, which last time I checked wasnt even in Europe. The European cross champs take place in Germany this weekend and there is a squad of two women, world no.2 Nikki Harris and world no.5 & defending champion Helen Wyman. BC had this statement (below) on their website explaining their decisions. The track team brought back 8 medals - 6 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze and they topped the medal table, which is a fantastic achievement. Looking down the list of riders, there are a lot of familiar names who have benefited from years of funding and support from the track program. The two riders representing GB at the cross champs are predominantly based in Europe all winter (at the expense of their sponsors and Im sure to a certain extent, their successes), so, for the cost of a skin suit or two, GB has a great chance of bringing back more medals and hopefully retaining the jersey. Surely it wouldnt have worried the coin counters too much to stump up enough cash to send at least one rider for each race, after all, experience at the top level has lead to huge success on the track and road and Im sure we have the talent to achieve similar success in cyclocross.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 09:40:54 +0000
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