Categories: Awesome Dutch GuysBelgian AffirmationsLa Vie VelominatusRacingThe Hardmen

Ride Like a Girl: Marianne Vos

"V"os plays in the sand. Photo: Danny Zelck

While it took seven Belgians to dominate the Men’s Cyclocross World Championship race on Sunday, it only took a single Dutchwoman to dominate the women’s race. That’s seven times more dominanter, if my math is correct – which it always is.

Cyclocross fascinates me, mostly because it is completely insane. But I admit: I like the idea of combining Cycling and miniature golf. Put some canti’s on your road bike, take to the mud and woods, add some water hazards, sand traps, man-made climbs and jumps, and now you’ve got a sport for people who hate the way their faces look.

Marianne Vos took her fifth World ‘Cross Championship (a record) to further crowd here palmares with rainbow bands. She’s been World Champion in every discipline involving drop bars, many of them multiple times. She’s also won La Fleche Wallone more times than I can count (I can only count to three), National road and time trial championships, and the Giro d’Italia Femminile. She was even World Champion in Mountain Biking as a Junior. One could easily argue that “V”os is the best active cyclist in the world, bar none.

To that point, we don’t pay close enough attention to Women’s cycling. I’m as guilty as anyone; if I was going to pick the winner of a Women’s race, I’d likely pick Vos or Cooke (if she’s not broken, which she often is) or Teutenberg if the race is likely to end in a sprint, which I wouldn’t be able to tell you without first doing some research. And that pretty much exhausts my knowledge in terms of naming riders, which is disgraceful. After all, if one is to understand the great mystery, one should study all its aspects. (Yes, I just quoted Darth Sidious.)

With the ‘Cross season coming to a close, we’re ramping up to start the 2012 Velominati Super Prestige and with it, we are dragging ourselves into paying attention to Women’s Cycling: the 2012 competition will include women’s races with the points amassed counting towards the overall title.

We are also making some coding changes to the backend system in order to fix some problems which means we’re probably only introducing new problems without necessarily fixing the things that needed fixing in the first place.

We’re also adding more races like the Strada Bianca, changing the scoring model, and eliminating certain things such as free DNF swaps. Stand by for further updates and keep a weather eye on the VSP Page for the updated schedule and rules.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Anjin-san says:

Jan 31 2012 at 9:07 am

@frank
No, Asheville, NC. I love Asheville. We have lived here for about 10 years after moving all over the country post-college. If you are into outdoor sports I really don't think there are too many places in the country that are better. That said, in my opinion, it's a little wonky from a political standpoint. Then again, politically speaking I am somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun, so I guess I shouldn't judge : )
eightzero says:

Jan 31 2012 at 9:22 am

@frank

@GillisIndeed. Slip of the finger. Corrected. And feeling a bit dirty.

All that lithium grease on the fingertips still?
scaler911 says:

Jan 31 2012 at 9:26 am

@frank

@Anjin-san
I agree thats the issue, but I also I believe that kind of short-term thinking is what causes 80% of our problems in society. As I said earlier, Women's racing is today is comparable to Men's racing in the 70"²s or 80"²s. Lower publicity, lower wages, a less tightly-packed field. People using your logic then, would have said many of the same things about Men's racing that you and @Calimante are saying now.
But as awareness grew, so did the interest and then so did the advertising opportunity and so on until were we are now where the difference between the top and second-tiers are negligible and doping helps fill any gaps there might exist naturally!
Maybe there's a middle ground...
Fundamentally, the argument that Women's Cycling is somehow inferior to Mens due to speeds or lack of competition is flawed; it has to do with exposure and publicity, which is something that we - as fans - have some small degree of control over.
Even a sport like Alpine Skiing, if anything, the women's races are every bit as exciting as the Mens, and there we have all the same conditions in terms of strength and speed and (previously) depth of field.

@Buck Rogers
Ha! Cross mojonations.

Fuck all I miss having Universal Sports! Watching both ladies and men navigate the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbuhel is as great as any spring classic to me. That left hander/ cross hill near the bottom (Zielschuss I believe) while doing 140+Kph? Good shit right there.
scaler911 says:

Jan 31 2012 at 9:32 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM2X_pOwBEI Bode Miller
Steampunk says:

Jan 31 2012 at 9:39 am

@frank

For anyone stating that Women's racing can't be as good as Men's: whether you're right or wrong, I'd prefer for us to find out, rather than to theorize.
After all, I find we can be more successful by believing something is possible than we are by knowing that its not.
As Ford said, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."

A-Merckx, but I think we're getting off-track.

1. Bikes and bike racing are awesome.
2. Our sport benefits from a broader base.
3. Women's cycling needs more support to help it grow.
4. The Velominati strive to learn about every aspect of this sport and serve as good ambassadors"”ethically, aesthetically, and socially. Who ever heard of an either-or?
eightzero says:

Jan 31 2012 at 9:43 am

Sport is about many things. Money and the business of sport is just one aspect.

My velomispouse raced cross for a while. While she didn't go quite as spectacular as Joey, she hit her head on a barrier, busting her helmet. If it wasn't for the fine folks at Bell, I would now be the widower Eightzero. She's OK, but the Other Dr. Eightzero is just a tad older than Jeannie Longo, and wants to stay ahead of her in that category. She digs cross, but schedule-wise, she couldn't make it work.

I can comment about a sport me and the velomispouse participate in: olympic fencing. We both fence epee, but the game between men's and women's is vastly different, even though the rules are identical. The women, while spectacular atheletes as well, are generally much more problem solvers. It isn't about raw power and speed for them, but finesse and tactics. It can be much more entertaining to watch, and it most certainly gives me insight into my own game. I think this is true about women's hockey and women's basketball - and probably just about any sport. As to the latter, I've never understood why the WNBA uses a smaller ball. But- vive le difference.

And just to the word appears somewhere in this thread: hot.
Calmante says:

Jan 31 2012 at 10:06 am

Yes, I think all of us want women's cycling to grow. Speaking as a flaming liberal, I would love to see equal wages, as well. When the amount of public interest reaches the same as men's, then I'm sure wages will follow!

The WNBA and the now defunct WUSA haven't been able to do it yet, but who knows...
Kyle says:

Jan 31 2012 at 10:26 am

@Dino
Nothing been announced but there's an afternoon ride in Madison on March 30th. Wiscot is also working on a ride in May.
scaler911 says:

Jan 31 2012 at 10:27 am

@scaler911
My bad. I forgot the Ladies don't ski at KB. I wonder why? Guess that's the discussion here now........
frank says:

Jan 31 2012 at 10:30 am

@scaler911

That left hander/ cross hill near the bottom (Zielschuss I believe) while doing 140+Kph? Good shit right there.

...On one leg over snow so hard you need crampons to walk across it, with totally shot canons! Downhill is badass...And yeah, there's no women's event there!