2015 CX Worlds Tabor images
20-year old Dutch talent Mathieu van der Poel and 22-year old Pauline Ferrand-Prévot from France rang in a new era at the 2015 UCI Cyclo Cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic, but neither win came as a complete surprise. That however left others wondering what could have been. Enjoy this gallery courtesy of our man Tom Prenen.
From a perspective high above the front men can be seen working their way through the challenging course.
A few moments earlier the elite men were spread wide as they launched themselves onto the course at the start of the race.
It took no time at all for folks to have a blue and orange armada up front in Tabor.
A bit further back it was a lot more colorful and diverse.
The Belgians fought valiantly and had many athletes riding in the top 10.
Before too long however Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel took charge at the front of the race.
For the Americans such as Jeremy Powers it was a bit lonely riding outside of contention.
Up front Mathieu van der Poel showed great poise and was completely in control of the race.
Belgian Wout Van Aert had several mishaps but hung in tough to finish second. He is also very young, and that is true for 3rd placed Lars van der Haar from the Netherlands too.
2013 CX World Champion Sven Nys ended up in 17th but was kind enough to give our man Tom Prenen a minute.
The conditions for the women's race a day earlier were not quite as kind.
Sanne Cant had been on a tear and all eyes, and the hopes of Belgium, were resting on her shoulders.
Defending champion Marianne Vos was in the mix of the action from the start, and was looking to add a 7th title.
Snow kept coming down lightly as the front group of women set a wicked pace.
Among the front runners were Belgian Sanne Cant, Dutch Marianne Vos, Czech Katerina Nash, Brits Nikki Harris and Helen Wyman, and French Lucie Chainel-Lefevre and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
Kaitlin Antonneau was the best placed American in 13th place.
Helen Wyman got dropped from the front bunch and hung in for 7th place.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot however could not be stopped and she grabbed the 2015 CX Worlds title
Sanne Cant was super disappointed in her race and made some unfortunate remarks.
Champion Ferrand-Prévot was also very emotional as she got congratulated by fellow French athlete Lucie Chainel-Lefevre who finished 6th.
