The NL Crit Series ‘Ronde van Kralingen’ is one of the bigger crits in the series. In this race extra points for the general classification can be earned. The GC is led by Edwin van Kerkhof from FAST. The crit is located in Kralingen which is a lively neighbourhood in Rotterdam with a big history in crit racing. The course goes over some narrow streets with tight corners on which the riders had to manoeuvre their fixed gear bikes.
Text: Merlijn Sprenkelink/Brian Megens
Race Photos: Merlijn Spenkelink
Podium photos: Steve Where’s Tom
In the men’s A race several attacks happened but all were neutralised by the small peloton. A scary moment happened when a child managed to slip away from the mom and was just pulled out from the track on time avoiding a crash with all possible sad consequences for the child. For a moment in the race it looked like Eike Haumann, the strong rider from Fixedpott, would take the win as his attack when going into the last lap was perfectly timed with the whole peloton looking at each other on who to get him back. However, 300 meters before the finish he was caught by the bunch. In the sprint it were David van Eerd and Bram Linnartz who distanced themselves from the rest with David taking the win, Bram settling for 2nd, and Luc Ducrot taking the last spot on the podium.
The woman’s/B race was a pretty chaotic one. A technical and narrow street parcours made it difficult to attack, and a large crash in a corner after 2 laps broke the group in two pieces. the front group consisted of 9 guys and 2 women, and there was a small pursuing group of 5 men. The front group stayed together for most of the time, but Lisa Worner and Tanja Erath managed to create a woman’s-only breakaway in the final lap! Despite their efforts they got caught, and in a group sprint Magnus Bang from Denmark won, just in front of Wil Bleker. Jos van der Linde came in third! Tanja Erath won the woman’s race, strengthening her first place in the GC. Lisa Worner got second, and Eva Seibold got third!
Podium Men’s A
1. David van Eerd – 8Bar
2. Bram Linnartz – Team WIT
3. Luc Ducrot – Team FAST
Podium Women’s
1. Tanja Erath – Fixedpott
2. Lisa Wörner – Fixedgearcrit.com
3. Eva Seibold – 8Bar Rookies
Podium Men’s B
1. Magnus Bang
2. Wil Bleker
3. Jos van der Linde
Fun fact, the Dutch national television filmed a piece during the crit on fixed gear crit racing:
