The 2018/2019 UCI Cyclocross World Cup kicked off this week with the first round in Waterloo, Wisconsin. In what can only be billed as a 'duel of the ages', Marianne Vos emerged from the women's race victorious, leaving Trek Factory Racing's Ellen Noble to snatch a well-deserved second place.
How the battle unfolded
After racing conservatively for the most of the 2017/2018 season, Ellen Noble vowed to come into this year's races with a wolfish, aggressive attitude. She duly delivered and by the second lap both she and Vos were leading the charge at the head of the field, gapping an elite group behind by a sizeable 10 seconds.
The pair continued to forge on, working together well to quash the spirits of the chasers behind. However, lap three saw disaster strike for Noble, the Trek Factory Racing star somersaulting over the barriers as she misjudged her bunny hop. The crash also held up Vos who frantically tried to untangle herself from the grounded Noble. The pair remounted their bikes together, but the gap behind to the chasers was soon slashed to 13 seconds, forcing the pair to work together once more to stretch out the lead.
The chase group failed to capitalise on the duo's mistake up front, leaving the pair to duke it out for the victory. Vos remained patient, sitting on the wheel of Noble as she set an electric pace going into the final lap. On the final climb, Vos launched a blistering attack - oozing with both power and poise. Noble was no match for the acceleration and had to settle for second place, a result that she was more than happy with following the race's finish:
"This is a really exciting result for me, and to do it at such a significant race at the factory of the brand that supports me is really important," Noble said. "To balance that 'Okay, you have to try to beat her, but this is Marianne Vos,' was difficult."
Vos, after taking the World Cup win in Waterloo, was humble in her victory speech, claiming that it was her - not Ellen - who suffered the most during the race:
"Experience probably helped in the last lap," Vos said. "She had a fantastic race, and it was not easy for me to beat her today."
In the men's race it was Toon Aerts (Telenet Fidea Lions) who snatched the World Cup win, beating the world champion, Wout van Aert, into second place. It was a game of numbers in the men's race, Telenet Fidea Lions outnumbering the isolated van Aert as the race entered its business end. By the time Aerts attacked at the start of lap seven, van Aert had nothing left to give - leaving the former European champion to claim the title by a large gap of 34 seconds.
Start your cyclocross journey with The Bike Factory
Both Ellen Noble and Toon Aerts ride Trek's super-speedy Boone, their fastest, smoothest and lightest cross bike ever. Complete with competition-crushing race geometry and their exclusive, bump-absorbing IsoSpeed technology, the Boone is a mud-eating monster - the results so far this season more than proof of its elite credentials.
Featuring ultra-lightweight OCLV Carbon technology, not only is the Boone a featherweight cross-blazer, it's also coated in a Carbon Armour to protect it over some of the roughest courses on the cyclocross circuit. With flat mount disc brakes making an appearance, there's never been a cross bike with such reliable and powerful stopping power, inspiring even more confidence to those riders looking to push their cross bikes to the extremes, and beyond.
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The Boone isn't the only 'cross bike available at The Bike Factory, Trek also supply their tamer and more beginner-friendly Crockett and Crossrip models.
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If wacky, memorable paint jobs are more your kind of thing, we also stock the new 2019 Specialized Crux - from the premium S-Works model down to the entry-level Sport E5 model. The Crux may not have scored the same kind of impressive results this season as the Boone - yet - but you've got to remember, we're only one week in and when it comes to power and panache, the Crux has it in abundance.
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