Davíd van Eerd and his teammate Tim Ceresa went home with all prizes in Red Hook Criterium Barcelona No.5, from the pole position, to the primes, to the Top Antagonist award, and of course the RHC BCN 5 victory by Davíd. If this is not impressive enough, Davíd only arrived in Spain on the morning of the race as he had a wedding to attend the night before the race.This was quite a different race preparation than most RHC top contenders had. We talked to Davíd to try and reconstruct the 24 hours surrounding his winning race.
Text: Date Burgerjon
Photography: Tornanti.cc
AM – Traveling from NL to Barcelona, Parc del Fòrum
05:00 – Davíd wakes up at his girlfriend’s house in Pijnacker near Rotterdam.
06:00 – Van Eerd goes to the airport. “Normally I’ll travel the day (or a couple of days) before a Red Hook Crit, but a good friend of mine was getting married on Friday and I did not want to miss it for the world. I did go home early though (…) I only had carry on luggage, because the guys of the Sir-Pete team took my bike already. So I did not have to check in hours before departure.”
07:00 – The plane takes off. During the two-hour flight Van Eerd uses his time wisely. “I took a nap”.
09:00 – Arrival in Barcelona. “Beforehand I thought it would be a hassle to fly so early. But when I got out of the plane I felt really rested. I did not think I was going to win Red Hook, but I felt fine”.
10:30 – Van Eerd arrives at the Parc del Fòrum and collects his bike. “I assembled my bike. And after that it was about time for the course recon”.
PM – Davíd at RHC BCN 5
12:30 – Open practice. “I loved the course. Only the second turn was shit. The first time I tried an inside line there, I crashed. There was some oil or something, I don’t know, it was so slippery”. Luckily for Davíd he only had some minor injuries from the crash. “Just some road rash on my hip”.
13:00 – Davíd watches the first qualifying heat. “There were some more crashes in that second turn, so that was confirmation that it was still slippery”.
13:30 – Van Eerd goes to the ‘8bar apartment’ to take a shower and clean his wounds from the crash. “I had some lunch and relaxed a little awaiting my qualifying heat at 3 PM”.
15:00 – Men’s Heat Race 5. Davíd makes sure not to take the inside line in turn two during his qualifying heat. Davíd wins his heat. “It went quite easily; staying in the front of the race and dodging some crashes in that second turn, nothing too crazy. Of course, if Aldo hadn’t crashed in that last turn I would have been second. My legs felt all right, but not super”.
16:00 – Back to the apartment to relax a bit. “Grabbed some stuff and went back to the course to do a photo shoot”.
18:30 – Photo shoot for ‘8bar bikes’ with Jason Sellers (@fwdbound). “Stefan from 8bar asked him to take some pictures because of the nice location of the Parc del Fòrum”.
19:45 – Super Pole. “I didn’t do so well. When I came through that second corner I knew I could not win, so I took it easy. Luckily Tim (Ceresa) took the win”. Van Eerd will start from 15th place.
20:30 – After the Super Pole Davíd makes a change to his gear and stays around the course awaiting the final.
21:30 – Red Hook Crit Barcelona No.5 starts. While 8bar teammate Tim Ceresa takes the first prime, Davíd tries to make his way to the front of the pack. “There were some gaps so I tried to move up with other riders”.
With the midrace prime coming Davíd is riding in 4th place on the backend straight. “Just before the final turn I made my move and came out of the turn in first place”. Van Eerd wins the midrace prime. “After that I was really f*cked. I fell back to 20th place or something, a bit too far back. I couldn’t move up. I was cooked”.
It isn’t until five laps to go before Davíd is able to move up again. In the penultimate lap Davíd takes the inside line, avoiding Stefan Shäfer’s crash. “I sprinted full gas out of the corner to take top antagonist. After that I just continued, I figured after my all-out sprint, waiting isn’t an option”.
Van Eerd is caught by the pack, led by Filippo Fortin, just before the long strait. “That’s when I thought it was over. I figured if I just keep pushing, maybe I can stay in the top-10”. Davíd is in third place on Vigano’s wheel entering the final turn. “They both took it so wide. So I was able to take the inside line. It was perfect. After that it was just sprinting to the line”. Alec Briggs crashes behind Davíd.
Davíd is not sure of his win until he hears Gabe Lloyd shouting his name through the speakers. “Vigano passed me at such speed that it made me doubt for a second. But then you hear your own name, and I saw the faces of people I know from 8bar and the guys from the NL Crit Series”.
22:15 – Davíd comes rolling up to the course exit. “That was the most beautiful moment, all the Dutch guys were there and they dragged me of my bike and took me on their shoulders. It was unbelievable.”
22:30 – The podium. Earlier this year in Brooklyn, Van Eerd missed his first podium place after the podium size was reduced from five to three riders. His win in Barcelona makes up for that. “That was really special; all those Dutch guys in front of the podium shouting. It was crazy.”
23:00 – After the podium ceremony Davíd goes to the apartment to take a shower. “After that it was on to the after party.”
AM – Afterpary
00:00 – The after party in Café del Mar. “The after party was in a really special place —9 euro a beer— it did not make any sense. But everybody was there and went crazy. I was thrown in the pool and ruptured my right eardrum hitting the water.” Fortunately for Davíd it should heal by itself.
03:00 – After the party Davíd takes a dive in the harbor. “It was disgusting. (…) I was really tired and went home.”
04:00 – Davíd goes to bed. “I think I woke up at 8, I didn’t feel like I had slept, it was a bizarre feeling thinking about the race, and how the day came together as it did”.
