2008 CX Worlds - Treviso - Day #1

Juniors - 11am start

Arnaud Jouffroy from France won the Junior race after working his way up to the lead group of Peter Sagan (Slovakia) and Lubomir Petrus (Czech Republic). The last lap had Jouffroy ahead to start, while the other two caught him through the back half when he was caught behind a lapped rider, but he caught them immediate
ly and attacked again hard, pulling away again for the win.

Canadian David Larson was the sole starter in the race. He had a slow start after being caught behind a crash before the first corner - causing him to take out his foot from the pedal. The rest of the race was working his way forwards. According to David, the long back climb was still in the shade of the trees keeping it frozen and it wasn't a difficult ride. The back corners were very slipper
y, making the riders look as though they were riding on ice. He had to take a
foot out again on the off camber section.

"The crowd was great, there were lots of cheers from everyone. I knew where all
the Canadians were on the course." says David.

Espoirs - 2:30 start

Surprise only to those who thought he would choke when it came time for the most important race of the year, Niels Albert rode away from the field as he has done many times this season. Niels had such comfort in winning that he dismounted and walked his bike across the line over his head.

Second and third for much of the race were Lukas Kloucek (Czeck) and Jonathan Lopez (Fra), but a group chasing behind caught the riders, and a new larger group emerged, including Kloucek and Lopez, along with Aurelien Duval Christian Cominelli(Ita) and another French rider.
Cristian Cominelli from Italy won the sprint from the group for third ahead of two other French riders.
Before the stairs, Kloucek attacked, but two French riders passed him on the stairs, and one blocked while the Duval attacked. The French team rode tactically, letting Duval get second easily, but then they mixed up the tactics for the sprint, with Lopez leading the sprint, expecting Bourgoin to go for the win, instead Cominelli took advantage and grabbed the sprint for 3rd.

Brian Robinson had the strongest Canadian race. He rode the race without any bike changes - though he thought at one point he had a flat tire - the low pressures run by the team may have been confusing him. Brian says he spent much of the race in the big ring along a fast course.

Kyle Douglas was caught behind a crash at the start and had an up and down race. He chalks it up to gaining experience and had a great race other than a bad pit change.

Ian Manning crashed when he hit the feet of a crowd control barrier. He rode another 1/2 lap and pulled self. He says the bike changes were so quick it felt like he like was stealing something. Ian hopes to come back again for a better finish. He'll be riding on the road next year - and depending what team he rides with, will put a full seaosn in of cyclo-cross next year to come back again.

Shawn Adamson thinks he wouldn't have been lapped - he was 50 metres ahead of Niels coming around the last corner, but they pulled him.

Shawn stayed ahead of the crash at the start. He found the track quite slippery and found that it was motivating to be in a big group, pushing you to go 110%. Shawn is happy with his season - he came to Europe not very motivated, but it changed around and he finished on a high. Next year he is racing again with Juventus where he hopes to be a mentor for the younger riders on the team. He also gave thanks to the support staff's help in getting it done.