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David Trimble:
“With only 2 events on the calendar this year we are expanding the points system so that the championship will remain open until the final lap in Milano. The new system awards points to the top 20 finishers in the heat races. In addition the top 5 finishers in the Another Chance Race receive points to keep their championship ambitions alive. With this system everyone in the men’s field who makes it into the final will already have points on the board.”

“In the final the top 50 finishers score points as long as they finish on the lead lap. In the men’s race we typically have more than 50 finishers but in the women’s race usually the number is far lower. This will give a huge incentive for the women to try and fight to the finish line even if they get dropped. I’m excited to test out this new format. So many athletes still have a strong chance to take the title in Milano. It will be a fight for every last position on the road. I’m also happy that this system will finally rank athletes outside the top 25. With over 300 men at each RHC, we were overdue to expand the points. The team championship is also expanded to include the top 50 finishers which will make every team member more critical.”

Brian Megens:
“From the perspective of an athlete I think that the new point system in general is a good thing as in the old system only the top-25 of the final were rewarded (with only a hand full of points going to the heat). As in the Men’s race there are around 300 athletes starting I think it is fair to reward those making the final and doing well in the heats because making the final is an achievement in itself nowadays. To see this rewarded is great. However, I can also understand that the absolute top riders of RHC are not so happy with this system as now it will be much harder to calculate which riders are a threat to their position. On top of that, with the new point system a lot more riders are still in the race for a podium spot in the overall General Classification.”

Some highlights of the new system:
Individual points:
– The top 20 in each heat score points
– The top 50 in the final score points
– The top 5 in the ACR score points
– Athletes must finish on the lead lap to score points (heats and final)
– Prime winners score points
– Ties go to the athlete with the higher placement in the (most recent) final

Team points:
– the top 50 in the final score points
– athletes must finish on the lead lap to score team points
– ties go the team with the highest placed athlete in the (most recent) final

Consequences of this new system:
– Alessandro Mariani only finished 19th in the final but is 10th in the points based on a heat win and prime
– Melanie Guedon finished 2nd in the final but is only 4th based on a weak heat
– Alec Briggs (5th) finished 3rd in the final but is behind Davide Vigano (3rd) and David Van Eerd (4th) who both won their heat
– David Santos (25th) and Ivan Ravaioli (26th) are fairly far up the points despite weak finals based on strong heats
– Stefan Schafer recovered from a heat DNF to win the ACR and keep his championship ambitions alive
– Only 26 women finished the final in Brooklyn but there are 35 athletes with points based on heat finishes

The post BREAKING: Red Hook Criterium changes point system drastically “With over 300 men at each RHC, we were overdue to expand the points” appeared first on Fixed Gear Crit.

In the Men’s A Crit it was full gas from the gun. It was Cornelius Kersten who managed to take the first prime and managed to break-away from the peloton for a lap or two. His attack was countered by Eamon Lucas who increased the pace dramatically and the peloton started to break up in pieces slowly. As soon as Eamon’s attack was neutralised it was Brian Megens who broke away from the front group. Davíd van Eerd made the jump to Brian and for half a lap there was a duo break-away. Eamon immediately knew that with several Team WIT riders being with him he could not afford to let the duo go away. With an explosive jump a managed to bridge the gap alone making it a break-away of 3. Mid-way the race the 3 were still together and it was Davíd who took the mid-prime. With both Eamon and Davíd having won several crits this year and also having a very strong sprint, they were the favourites of this 3 man break-away. However, with 7 laps to go Brian attacked leaving both Davíd and Eamon behind who were looking at each other. Neither of them was willing to bridge the gap for the other. Eamon tried to bridge the gap a couple of times but with Davíd sticking on his wheel he abandoned his mission. Meanwhile, Brian was pushing a high and steady pace making the gap grow rapidly giving him a 30 second lead with 4 laps to go. It looked like Brian would comfortably cruise to the victory knowing that Eamon and Davíd were not willing to work together. Nevertheless, a flat in the last 2 laps did make it tricky for Brian, but luckily for him it was a slow leak making him able to stay on the bike and by doing so take his first fixed gear crit win of the season. It was Eamon Lucas who out sprinted Davíd van Eerd taking 2nd place while Davíd had to settle for 3rd.

The B race started off fast, and it was Robert Haaijema who set up the pace from the front. His pace was so high he created a gap after half a lap, leaving the peloton chasing him. There wasn’t any collaboration in the peloton, meaning the pace dropped after a couple of laps while Robert was still solo in the lead. He managed to open up a gap of more than a minute, securing his victory and succeeding in an enormous solo attempt! The peloton sprint for the second place was won by Daan Salters, and Pim Imenkamp got 3rd.

The ladies race also was a tough one. Because of the high pace of the B peloton in the beginning all the ladies were riding solo, trying to defend their place on the tough and windy parcours. Tamara de Graaf took home her first victory, Susanne Bakkenist got 2nd and Pia Hennigfeld got 3rd!

Men’s A podium
1. Brian Megens – FGC by Lemar
2. Eamon Lucas – Specialized/Rocket-Espresso
3. Davíd van Eerd – Team WIT

Men’s B podium
1. Robert Haaijema – Sir-Pete x Treshombres
2. Daan Salters –
3. Pim Imenkamp –

Women’s podium
1. Tamara de Graaf – Bikecenter Zeeuws-Vlaanderen
2. Susanne Bakkenist – Spacemonkey
3. Pia Hennigfeld – NLTCBMBC

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In the Men’s A race there was quite a strong field lining up. After Jan-Willem Groeneveld took the first prime it were Brian Megens, Kaj Verhaegh, and Luc Ducrot who attempted a break-away. The peloton did not let them go and half-way the race the big bunch was together. It was Jan-Willem Groeneveld who also took the mid-prime. With all primes done it was Brian Megens who attacked and managed to take quite a gap. Several riders tried to bridge the gap alone but neither succeeded. Nevertheless, also Brian’s attack was neutralised with 5 laps to go. A lap and a half before the finish it was Bob Wubben who surprised the field an distanced himself from the rest, but several riders in the bunch had their mind set on a sprint and also Bob couldn’t hold off the peloton. In the bunch sprint it was David van Eerd who was the fastest followed by Edwin van Kerkhof and Cornelius Kersten.

As always there was a big group at the start of the men’s B race with some new faces as well. Because of the second lap prime the first two rounds were fast, and Merlijn Spenkelink grabbed the prime just in front of Mark den Bakker. With the pace set lots of people were dropping from the back of the peloton, creating a group of around 20 riders pretty fast. Halfway Robert Haaijema decided it was time to attack and managed to get an 8 second gap on his own. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough on the windy parcours, and with a couple of laps to go everything was back together. During the final laps there were lots of attacks, but no one could create a big enough gap. In the final lap it was Merlijn Spenkelink who came sprinting out of the final corner in pole position, but Ivan Cook, in his first ever fixed gear crit, outsprinted him in the final straight and won. Daan Selters took the third place and also his first podium spot!

In the women’s race only 2 women lined up. Lisa Wörner started as the big favourite, and she confirmed this status by taking the win. She managed to stay in the front group of the men’s B the entire race and could even attack in the final laps! She eventually took the win with a big gap on the number two, Susanne Bakkenist.

Podium Mens’s A
1. David van Eerd – Team WIT
2. Edwin van Kerkhof – Team FAST
3. Cornelius Kersten – Team WIT

Podium Mens’s B
1. Ivan Cook
2. Merlijn Spenkelink – Spacemonkey
3. Daan Salters

Podium Womens’s
1.Lisa Wörner – Aventon Factory Team
2.Susanne Bakkenist – Spacemonkey

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“We are super excited to announce that the Fyxation Open continues it’s expansion as we will be bringing our exciting fixed gear criterium to the great city of Denver on August 18th, 2018. This is the 5th year that we’ve been running the Fyxation Open and historically our event has been held here in the Midwest. With the addition of Denver on the 2018 Fyxation Open calendar, we will be bringing our exciting event out West in 2018 as an exhibition race and in 2019, Denver will be an official stop in the Fyxation Open Omnium.”

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Red Hook Criterium Milano No.9 Presented by Rockstar Games October 6, 2018 . We are excited and thankful to announce our return to Milano for the 9th year running. Registration opens August 21. More info soon . . #redhookcrit #rhcm9 #rockstargames

A post shared by Red Hook Criterium (@redhookcrit) on Jun 13, 2018 at 8:12am PDT

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Results Waterkant Krit No.4
Men A:
1.Eike Haumann (Fixedpott)
2.Fritz Ferner (Canyon Rad Pack)
3.David van Eerd (Team WIT)

Women:
1.Karla Sommer (Schindelhauer Gates)
2.Sofia Mangertseder (Maloja Pushbikers)
3.Lena Vogl (Maloja Pushbikers)

Men B:
1.Robert Haaijema (Sir Pete)
2.Ingo Engelhardt (Canyon Rad Pack)
3.Yves Gattner (Team Catchy)

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“I’m always trying to find the best spots to catch the best action, to be closest as possible to the racers. While people are staying at the finish line, I’m laying down in the corners like a sniper. At Thundercrit, there was a lot of nice spots to shoot and the best one was the corner after the finish line but all the other photographers stayed there all the day. So I ran a lot because I wanted to have as much racers ass possible in the different parts of the track. The old metal bridges was one of my favourite and I stayed there for a long time.”

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I’d been anxious about race day for the past couple of weeks. Trying to balance work, family and ThunderCrit organising had worn me down. I only had myself to blame, as I struggle to let go of tasks and delegate properly to my team mates. Without them, the race wouldn’t have happened.

The start list was packed with a mix of big names and local racers eager to get some race experience with a lack of UK races currently on the calendar. There were 4 men’s qualification groups that would see the top 20 of each move into the Men’s A final in the evening. The remaining riders would battle it out in the Men’s B final. We had 19 women racing too, not quite enough to allow us to run two separate races, but enough to let us run an A and a B group in the Women’s final.

Qualifications got underway and the first group was fast and furious, perhaps too fast. There was a bunch sprint for the line (top 10 places in each heat are gridded in the final) and a clash of wheels took Liam Yates (The 5th Floor) out and to the ground. Heats 2, 3, 4 and the women’s heat went without incident and we had our qualifiers sorted for the A finals.

A delay following a nasty crash in the Men’s B final meant we needed to shorten the two main races. We took the Women’s final down from 24 to 20 laps and the Men’s final from 30 to 25 laps.

The women lined up in order of their finish in the qualifying heat. Eeva Sarlin (Love&Rockets Basso) had won the heat and lined up on the front row with her team mate Brooke Philips, Fixed42 winner Giorgia Fraiegari, defending ThunderCrit champion Jo Smith (NLTCBMBC) and Lina Bivainyte (Cadence Factory Team). I went over the rules and explained where the prime laps when going to happen. We counted them down and off they went.

It was a fast start as we had a first lap prime prize of a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt and cadence sensor. Eeva took the opening prime. The race was starting to settle and Caz Pulford (NLTCBMBC) took control of the group and dragged the peloton around for a few laps, above that would see her win the top antagonist prize from Hiplok, until it was time for the mid-race prime. Giorgia Fraiegari showed her class and moved up around the pack to take the honours. The race settled again.

There were a few attacks off the front, but no one was allowed to escape. We were definitely heading to a bunch sprint. On the last lap Eeva and Brooke were at the front of the race with Giorgia and it looked like there were some team tactics going on. They sprinted off to the far end of the course and we waited at the finish line to see who would come through first. Eeva came around the last corner with a small gap to Giorgia and Brooke and neither of them could catch her.

The sun was starting to set (we were running late) and it was time for the Men’s A final. The riders who had finished in the top 10 in their heats were gridded with the front row being Olivier Leroy (Aventon), Euan Cattermole (Nvayrk), Alec Briggs (Specialized/Rocket Espresso) and Owen Blandy (East London Fixed). Once everyone was in place we honoured the memory of Nico Oury who had tragically passed away exactly one year ago to the day.

The crowd counted down with us as we got the last final underway. 80 top class riders going full gas from the start to get that prime. Miqui Rueda of Santafixie BLB Team took the first lap honours and the pace stayed high throughout. Olivier Leroy launched an attack just before the mid-race prime lap and he managed to get a decent gap to take the Selle San Marco prize before being joined by Stefan Schäfer (Specialized/Rocket Espresso) to form a two man break.

Cykeln Division Corse and One Life Cycle led the chase, but the gap wasn’t going down. The next lap round and Alec Briggs and Justin Williams (Specialized/Rocket Espresso) had got to the front of the group. Alec got a small 5 second gap over the main group and on the next lap launched an attack before the hairpin and sprinted full power down the back straight. He bridged to the leaders in just one lap. An incredible move. We now had a front three and Justin Williams controlling the pack behind. The laps ticked down and the gap to the leaders had grown to about 20 seconds, we had our top three and just needed the order confirmed.

Heading into the last lap, Briggs and Schäfer led Leroy around the first corner and Briggs started to get away from the other two down the long straight to corner 3. The seconds ticked by and the crowd were searching down the track to see who would emerge first. It was Briggs with a healthy gap and a trademark wheelie over the finish line. Followed by Leroy and then Schäfer. There were still more places to be decided though and Justin Williams launched an insanely fast sprint to take 4th ahead of James Ambrose-Parish (1 Life Cycle), Time Ceresa (8bar Team), and Roberto Pagliaccia (Cykeln Division Corse).

A hell of a finish to a long but successful day of racing. Thanks so much to everyone that was there or was a part of the race. The after party drinks were well deserved! More of the same next year.

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