Hey cyclocross fans,


Last Sunday I went to Ruddervoorde, 20km from my home, to see the first race of the "Superprestige". I took some pictures I want to share with you.

It was a very sunny day and a fast course. WW-member Simon participated in the pro races; he can tell you more about the course and race circumstances if wanted.


Here some pictures of the U23 race (the ones from the pro race will follow):


This is a swis team mate of simon:



He is followed by my friend and team mate Jan Soetens (http://www.jansoetens.be). Jan is the Belgian U23 cyclo cross champion:



Allready in the first lap their was an attack from young talented rider Niels Albert (BEL) and the world champion Zdenek Stybar (Czech Republic). Does any one know what kind of tape he is using on his right knee?



But Albert managed very soon to be on his one. He would stay in front the whole race and took the win impressively. Here he is laughing at Roland Liboton (a great cyclo cross champ in the early '90, the man with sun glasses left; a good friend of my mechanic) in the last lap, when his victory could slip away any more:



My friend Jan on the stairs. He finished 2nd in the sprint for the 5th place, not bad after his injury from last week:



And cooling down after the race:




U23 race results:

1. Niels Albert (Baal/Tremelo) 47:12;
2. Kevin Pauwels 0:26; 3. Dieter Vanthourenhout; 4. Eddy van IJzendoorn (Ned); 5. Rob Peeters 0:43; 6. Jan Soetens; 7. Pirmin Lang (Zwi) 1:15; 8. Clement L’Hotellier (Fra) 1:25; 9. Tom Van den Bosch 1:45; 10. Rafael Visinelli (Ita) 1:50; 11. Zdenek Stybar (Tsj) 1:53; 12. Maxim Debusschere 2:00; 13. Wim Leemans; 14. Kenny Geluykens; 15. Jempy Drucker (Lux) 2:18; 16. Nick Sels 2:38; 17. Quentin Bertholet; 18. Maarten de Jonge (Ned); 19. René Lang (Zwi) 2:50; 20. Rik van IJzendoorn (Ned) 2:51; 21. Jeroen Dingemans 3:07; 22. Gianni Denolf; 23. Jan Van Dael 3:28; 24. Felix Gniot (Dui); 25. Dennis Verhoeven 3:43; 26. Bouke Ridder (Ned) 3:55; 27. Bart Verschueren 4:00; 28. Harm Vandekerckhove 4:20; 29. Jerry Kallensfels (Ned) 4:29; 30. Kay Van den Brande; 31. Kevin Demeester 4:46; 32. Anthony Cailleau (Fra); 33. Guus Magielse (Ned); 34. Davy Depaepe 4:50; 35. Stijn Huys 4:56; 36. Joeri Kouwenhoven (Ned) 5:10; 37. Koen van Grootel (Ned) 5:16; 38. Frank van Grootel (Ned) 5:19; 39. Bart Senders (Ned) 5:42; 40. David Claerebout (Lux) 5:48; 41. Benjamin Verraes 6:00; 42. Jan Verhaegh (Ned) 6:06; 43. Djuri van Rijbroek (Ned); 44. Jan Mikkers (Ned) 6:40; 45. Jeroen Thielemans 7:00; 46. Ward Demets; 47. Mattijn Motshagen (Ned); 48. Emler Walraedt; 49. Dieter Fossaert; 50. Joachim De Maesschalck; 51. Gedric Papegaey (Fra); 52. Kenneth Van Renterghem; 53. Wesley Derynck; 54. Charles-Antoine Vanboquestaels; 55. Tom Decock; 56. Robin Deroeck

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nice pictures but isn't it a little bit too good weather for cyclecross

Hi casran, the tape on the knee is to keep it warm, in dutch its called a 'thermische pleister', these are designed to keep your knee warm, and offer extra support. Some riders use this for a better switch between bike and run parts.

@ Simon: By what for team you do you ride? Can you use the materials you want? because you ride with Campa Ergpowers and I guess you other teammates with Shimano

Uses such a bandage with 20 degrees? Is it not to prevent a knee injury?

right, it's for helping to control an injury. First really public spotting was with Bartoli after his crash in Germany. Will Frischkorn was sporting one at the tour of Georgia and in Europe this year to helpd with his knee problem.

Yes, offcourse it is, how do you help an injury? By keeping it warm, 20°C isn't warm for a body part

casran, super service and pics!
our team is called swiss ridley team(because we're swiss and we ride ridley ), the team has no other sponsors of cycling business, just "money sponsors". so with the money the team buys the bikes exactly like the riders want them to be. i like campa more for cyclocross, the others ride shimano.
where can i buy this tape?in switzerland there's nothing similar, the only product is for the lower back(over the a..e), on the knee it falls off imediatly.

If you don't know the difference between "heat plasters" and medical tape being used to help prevent movement of certai muscles, ligaments, etc then I'd stop laughing. In Bartoli's case, the tape was put (gee, just like in this pic) around the knee to help keep it from moving in unwanted directions. Think a knee only moves one way? Wrong, not when the muscles/tendons/ligaments aroudn it are injured.

Heck, during my PT, my therapist pointed out that when I tightened my quads, my kneecap slid sideways, not vertically.

There are LOTS of ways to help an injury besides just heat.

The plasters tend to be larger, squarish and usually WHITE, not thin blue medical tape.

Hey casran, nice pic's, thanks for sharing

The tape is to prevent knee injury (as mentioned) to become worse. It should be put on on a special way to relieve certain muscles and tendons you have problems with. There are two ways these can work. The tape is super elastic and can be used to work two ways. It can pull on the muscles very little so they react by resisting and in that way relieving. It can also be used to 'lift' the skin a bit so there is more room just under the skin so fx. fluid in the knee will drain away faster. The tape can be used for a lot of injuries and problems, not only in the knee but over the whole body. I'm no expert in this, but maybe some fysiotherapist will come up and explain exactly how/why it works.
By the way, the tape should be put on in a special way, so I don't think it will work when you apply it yourself, unless you know what you are doing.
For more info try and google Fysiotape or Medical Taping Concept.


The plasters Ridley is thinking about are warmth plasters. You can get these very big so you can stick them on your lower back or a bit smaller to stick them on the big tendon right under your kneecap. They get hot and keep your muscles a bit warmer when it's really cold. I have used these, but in my experience they first start to work really good when you take them off and are standing under the shower, au

Thx Boonen and others for helping me out with my question about the tape. This kind of "blue tape" was described in one of Armstrongs book (I think Every second counts) and said to be a "wonder tape" (Heras' words) for all kinds of injuries.

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Excellent Pictures Casaran!

@Boonen, I've noticed that a lot of riders use pink tape as well... is it the same thing?

Casran...More pro pics?

The tape when used like this is to correct knee tracking issues. This would be a bigger problem with cross than road generally with all the twisting.

The tape is applied to the side with the greater muscle strength to pust the knee cap away fron this side an keep it tracking straight.

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Success is how far you you bounce back up after being knocked down

They come in different colours. I have seen them in light brown, white, blue and pink, but maybe there are more. I don't know if there are slight differences between the colours, but AFAIK they all work the same.