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World Cyclo-Cross History

The sport of cyclocross began at the end of 19th century in France. It´s creator was a French soldier named Daniel Gousseau, later secretary-general of the French Cycling Union, who frequently rode his bicycle over the rough trails and difficult obstacles to maintain cycling fitness during the winter months …… and cyclocross come into being. The other version is that the generals on horseback observed this strange discipline and moved quickly to train the French Army troops on bikes.

The first National Championships were run in France in 1902, Belgium organised their first championship 8 years later in 1910. Then others followed: Switzerland (1912), Luxembourg (1923), Spain (1929) and Italy (1930). In Czech republic, at that time Czechoslovakia, the first Nation Championships were run in 1952 in town Jihlava. The first competitions were more what a mountain bike rally in today. They would consist of leaving one point and arriving at another, after crossing fields, forests, hills and rivers.The first rider to pick-up the bike, carry it on the shoulder and run with greater agility was the winner of the 1910 Tour of France, Octave Lapize (Fra). Tragically this great French champion died during an air battle during World War 1. They helped to popularity of cyclocross with words: “I won by dint of great effort during winter months, by dint of cyclocross.”

The first important event of cyclocross was called the “Criterium International”, today be called “Non-official World Championships”, it took place in 1924 and was organized in a forest west of Paris. The race was in rural area and attracted great enthusiasm from the public. Year after year the competition continued and became increasingly popular.

“Criterium International” was held till 1949, the last winner was Roger Rondeaux, one of the biggest star of cyclocross´s history. As the delopment progressed, the “Criterium International de Cyclo-cross” gave way to th World Professional Cyclo-cross Championships in 1950. The first official World CC Champion was Jean Robic (Fra). He won the Tour de France in 1947 and he was the first ride who dressed the “rain” jersey by the beating his fellow-countrryman Roger Rondeaux in the sprint.

Since the time take place every year, but only in European continent. The most World Championships was in France (8x), than 7x in Germany and Belgium. In Czech republic (Czechoslovakia) was WCH in 1972 in Prague, in 1987 in Mladá Boleslav and in 2001 in Tábor.

Most often dressed the rainbow jersey Eric de Vlaeminck, namely seven times. He, who once own the Tour of Belgium and won the stage to Vorst in the Tour de France of 1968, always considered the road races as secondary. His attention mailny went to cyclo-cross. During his glorious career, Erik became world champion seven times. In the period between 1966 and 1973, the only time he did not triumph was in 1967. That i when the rainbow jersey went to the tall Italian Renato Longo, who preceded the Belgian as ruler of the field. Each race where he started, Eric de Vlaeminck attracted thousands of spectators. His often heroic battles with Albert van Damme provided a topic of conversation for days. The pair also fought out interesting battles for the Belgian title. Van damme proved to be an expert at the Belgian Championshps, while De Vlaeminck only became Belgian champion four times, while the florist from Laarne could wear the black-yellow-red jersey six times. Eric de Vlaeminck won approximately two hundred cyclo-cross races in his carrer. In the season 1970-1971 he took part in 34 races an won 32 of them. Albert van Damme won 419 cyclo-cross races.

Next cyclo-cross star is Roger Rondeaux. He had already won the Criterium International twice when in 1951 he won his first world title in Luxemburg at the age of 31. That day, the French even occupied the first four places, a superiority that was never displayed again. Roger Rondeaux really was the prototype of a cyclo-cross rider. Limber and with flexible muscles he moved acress the most difficult fields. In 1952 during the world championships in Geneva he gained an unapproachable lead withen four kilometres. He had wons three times world champion title and the rainbow jersey he dressed three times (1951-1953). It was the last international appearance of the sportsman (Saarbrucken, 1955) who had started his carrer as a race walker.

We may not forget about André Dufraissen, he is 5times the World Champion in cyclo-cross. After a failed road career, Dufraisse developed inte an all-round cyclo-cross rider who could ride fast, but could also run very well. In this mix of acrobatic power, flexibility, running speed and climbing skills he displayed such supremacy that he was given the nickname “The Coppi of the field”. In 1956 The Frenchman realy was superior that year, because he had won 19 out of 20 races in advnce. He had to settle for second place only once. The cyclo-cross rider from Limoges obtained a total of seven French titles. Five gold, two silver and four bronze world championship medals made Andre Dufraisse the first great ruler of cyclo-cross.

In the second half of seventieth years last century appeared next cyclo-cross star, the Swiss rider named Albert Zweifel. In Swiss is known as Ferdi Kübler. Mailny because of Albert Zweifel, in the seventies Switzerland became the Mecca of cyclo-cross racing. When he reached fifth place at the world championships in London in 1973 he finally started to believe in a career as a professional rider. After that his career did develop more arpidly, which resulted in a silver medal with the professional riders in Melchnau. During the next season he won 28 of the 37 races that he took part in. He became the Swiss champion and won his first rainbow jersey. Albert Zweifel was mainly a mud expert. When the riders legs sunk deep into the mud and were practically unrecognisable afte a cyclo-cross race, Albert Zweifel really felt like a fish in the water.

As a road racer, Adri van der Poel was one of the best riders in the world for many years. The man from Netherlands mailny shone in the classics. Fro years, Van der Poel rode a few cyclo-cross races during the winter in preparation for the road season. It turned out that he was also a top-class rider in this field. He won the silver medal at the world championships five times and during that period he also won the Dutch title four times. As from 1996, Van der Poel completely focused on cyclo-cross racing and that switch was rewarded with the world title in the French Montreuil. There was nobody who could prepare for an important race like Adri van der Poel could. He was a fanatic who lived for his profession. He was still at the top when he took his leave at the age of 40. Now he construct new track in Hoogerheide 2009 and the race is nameless Adri van der Poel.

Marie de Clercq is a former cyclist who raced between 1991 and 2004. De Clercq is a three-time world cyclo-cross champion capturing the 1998, 1999 and 2002 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships. In additional, De Clercq won the 2001 and 2002 Belgian National Cyclo-cross Championships.

Richard Groenendaal, full name is Richard Marinus Anthonius Groenendaal, was bord in Den Bosch in Netherlands. His father Rein was an Elite cyclo-cross cyclist and was Dutch Elite champion in 1985. Groenendaal began to ride as a junior in 1987. He was Dutch Junior Champion in 1987-88 and 1988-89 where he also won the Junior Cyclo-cross Championships. The following season he joined the Amateur category which he stayed until the 1993-94 season when he turned professional. At the start of Groenendaal´s career he was often compared to his father Rein and one commentator in Belgium sometimes referred to him as Reintje. However after two seasons, Groenendaal had stood on more international podiums than his father and the comparisons stopped. His greatest acievements include winning the Cyclo-cross World Cup in 1998, 2001 and 2004 and becoming Cyclo-cross World Champion in 2000. He won 41 international races, 8times title of Dutch Champion, 3times overall rankings of World Cups. He was as the road cycling rider in Barcelona (Olympic games).

Erwin Vervecken is Belgian profesional cyclist specialising in cyclo-cross. He won the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championship in 2001, 2006 and 2007. In 1998, 1999 and 2005 he was second in the World Cup and 2002 he was third in the World Cup. Up to now he won 45 international races.

Next famous rider is Bart Wellens, but he started his medial cariier when he starred in the reality television series “Wellens en Wee”on Fremish TV Channel VT4. In this series, Wellens together his parents and his other teammates are shown in their daily lives and preparations to the weekend races. During his carries he battled Sven Nys. His greatest triumphs are: the World Champion in 2003 and 2004, 3times the winner of national Championshis in Belgium in the years 2000, 2005 and 2007, the winner of World Cup in 2003, the winner of Superprestige in 2004 and the winner of GvA Trophy in 2004.

Already mentioned Sven Nys began racing BMX at the age of 8. He won eight BMX National titles before switching his focus to cyclocross and road racing. In 2005 he became the first cyclo-crosser to achieve the Grand Slam: he won both championships (National Championships in Belgium and World Championships), ended as “1” at the UCI Rankings and won the Superprestige and GvA Trophy. On December 31, 206, Sven scored his 150th career win at Superprestige in Diegem in Belgium. In season 2007/2008 he won 21 international races, he was the Belgium Champion, he won in Tabor, Igorre and Hofstade (World Cups), the GvA Trophy. He is the big star in cyclo-cross sport, but he won only one title of World Championships - Sankt Wendel in Germany in 2005.

And the whole “walk” during the cyclocross history close with the last World Campion in category Elite from Italy in Treviso - Lars Boom. Boom is the current world champion, he has also been the Duth national cyclo-cross champion in his discipline since 2001 - being the Dutch Junior Cyclo-cross champion from 2002 to 2003, Under 23 National Champion from 2004 to 2006. Boom was beated by Zdeněk Štybar in a sprint for the Under 23 World Championships but returned a year later to dominate the race and to win the Under 23 World Championships jersey. In September 2007, Boom became Under 23 World Time Trial champion beating Russian Mikhail Ignatiev. In November 2007, Boom won the Gerrit Schulte Trophy as the Dutch cyclist of the year for his two World Championship wins. He went into the world championships in Treviso 2008 as big favourite and didn´t fail, he won the race and became the second rider after Radomir Simunek to win the world title in all categories (Juniork Espoir and Elite) !!

Masja Kemper

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