On a rainy and windy day the last race in the NL Crit Series of 2017 was held in Rotterdam on the circuit of the cycling club AHOY. The organisation held a separate men’s A, B, and women’s race. With David van Eerd and Tanja Erath safely leading the general classification, the outcome of the GC winners in the Men’s and Women’s categories was, without crazy things happening, set.
Text: Merlijn Spenkelink/Brian Megens
Photography: Merlijn Spenkelink
First up it was the men’s B, who started off on a completely wet technical parcours with four 180 degree turns. The pace was kept high from the start with Renwil Molina going on an all-out effort to to get the second lap prime, but Terence Driessen outsprinted him in the final meters. Because of the technical and wet parcours people were dropping out of the front group throughout the race, but nobody managed to escape. It was Casimir Nooitgedacht who attacked halfway in the last round, creating a big enough gap to win the race solo. Merlijn Spenkelink finished second, outsprinting his teammate Terence Driessen who finished third.
At the women’s race there were nine ladies at the starting line, a pretty big show up with some ladies new to the fixed crit scene! After the second lap prime, which was taken bij Isabel Tambach, three ladies got dropped out of the front group. The six ladies in front kept the pace high enough to not let anyone come back or escape, even though there were lots of solo attempts. In the sprint it was Isabel Tambach who took the win in her first ever fixed gear crit by just outsprinting Ashley Faye. Ashley got second, while Michelle de Graaf, who was also riding her first fixed crit, got third.
A strong field lined up in the Men’s A race. Several attacks were set and for a moment Tim Ceresa and Brian Megens separated themselves from the peloton but on the moment that the attack was neutralised it was Luc Ducrot, Richard Jansen, and later Rick Nobel who separated themselves from the rest of the field. In the peloton there was some cooperation but not enough to close the gap which was growing up to 20 seconds. However, with 4 laps to go Tim Ceresa increased the tempo and the gap decreased to 9 seconds. On the moment that Tim Ceresa lowered the pace it was Brian Megens who went all out. With the peloton being determined to let no-one go, it was Brian’s attack that meant the end for the break-away. In the bunch sprint it was the 8bar duo, Tim Ceresa and David van Eerd who showed that they are the fastest in the NL Crit Series bunch sprints. Tim got the win while David settled for 2nd and Edwin van Kerkhof sprinted to the last spot on the podium.
Men’s A Podium
1. Tim Ceresa – 8bar
2. David van Eerd – 8bar
3. Edwin van Kerkhof – FAST
Women’s Podium
1. Isabel Tambach – Wikkit
2. Ashley Faye – La Sweat
3. Michelle de Graaf – IRD C arrera Squadra Corse
Men’s B Podium
1. Cas Nooitgedacht – Unattached
2. Merlijn Spenkelink – Spacemonkey
3. Terence Driessen – Spacemonkey
Men’s A General Classification NL Crit Series 2017
1. David van Eerd – 8bar
2. Edwin van Kerkhof – FAST
3. Kai Verhaegh – WIT
Women’s General Classification NL Crit Series 2017
1. Tanja Erath – Fixepott
2. Nathalie Simoens – FAST
3. Ashley Faye – La Sweat
