North American Cyclo-crossers in Europe

Since last season, I've been particularly interested to follow the experiences of various North Americans racing cyclo-cross in Europe. I think initially it was that a Belgian friend pointed out how American Jonathan Page was living and training in Europe (rather than racing in the US and only coming to Europe for the World Championships and maybe 1-2 World Cups just prior) that got me intrigued - then I saw some local TV clips and internet articles where I found out that there were some local racers going to Worlds last January and I started reading several of their blogs (thanks Shaun and Spencer).

So, I was concerned to read various articles about Jonathan Page's difficulties this year - he won a silver medal at Worlds after coming back from injury and got signed to a Belgian team, but seemed to be having some disagreements with his team recently. It appeared to culminate with the team claiming he couldn't handle the pressure (and they even sent a doctor to check up on him when he said he was ill and couldn't race), whereas Page claimed team management was putting inappropriate pressure on him and other riders which adversely affected his performance. More recently, they seem to have (temporarily) resolved their differences, in part by shortening his contract to the end of this season (rather than including next season as well).

I've been impressed reading about another American, Jonathan Baker, who is also living in Belgium this season to race cyclocross - I'd noticed his name in some of the results and wondered who this other American in Europe was (the other top American 'cross racers are mostly racing in the US at this point and will only go to Europe after Christmas if at all). An interview at Velonews with Baker showed that he has a admirable attitude, taking a leave of absence from his job as a software engineer and taking his wife and 2 kids with him:

I just wanted to see where I stack up if I give it 100 percent. If that is 40th, whatever. But I think I could get in the top 30 at a World Cup. I'd be pretty happy with that. And obviously I wouldn't be doing it if I weren't having fun. I'm not looking to make a job out of it. But at the same time I'm not just here on vacation. I take it very seriously.

He's also written a diary-style update for Velonews.

And it sounds like several locals are again planning to race in Europe in December-January including Worlds - I'll be reading the results on the internet and probably watching Worlds again on cycling.tv like I did last year (if I manage to get up early enough - so far I haven't managed that for the World Cup races).

FAQ - Tour de France finish line on Champs Elysees

My husband and I had a bit of disagreement before and during our trip - we knew that the Tour finishes on a circuit course on the Champs Elysees in Paris, but weren't sure where exactly the finish line was located. Ed recalled seeing previous podium shots on TV with the Arc de Triomphe in the background and took that to mean that it was located quite close to the Arc, but I wasn't so sure. I'd tried to find more information about the finish on the internet, but couldn't find any sort of map (the official TdF website only had the overall stage map, not anything specific about the finish).

So, on the final Sunday morning of the Tour in July this year, we were up early to scout out where everything was. In the two previous days we could see where they were setting up VIP seating (usually photos of the Obelisk don't include grandstands!) Our hotel was fairly close to the Arc, and we took some photos with our bikes on the Champs Elysees in the closed section between the race course turnaround and the traffic circle at the Arc itself. We'd wanted to try to ride on the course, but couldn't find anywhere to get onto the course as it was very well barricaded - it seemed if you could get on the course, the police didn't really care if you were riding (this was at 9am, long before the caravan or the racers would be coming along) ... but there was really no opening we could see to get onto the actual course.



So, instead we rode along the sidewalk of the Champs until we got close to the park areas where all the VIP seating started and access became a lot more limited. As it turned out, the finish line was where all the grandstands were (and therefore, where the general public without grandstand tickets couldn't get to or see all that well). The closest non-grandstand places to the finish line were already crowded by early in the morning. We took our bikes back to the hotel, and came back to a spot near the intermediate sprint line (right against the barriers) by about 11 am and waited.

That day's L'Equipe newspaper was the most helpful in terms of the actual course route for the circuit finish, so I kept the map and scanned it just in case it can be helpful to anyone else.