First Youth World Cup on the UCI Calendar was Dublin, Ireland on Dec 1st. I traveled straight from Belgium after the 15-16 block to prepare with ECA for our athletes to arrive on Wednesday.
Venue is relatively easy, but there are a lot of other logistics to pull this one race off in a very busy area of Dublin.
Weather was unusually warm and dry on race day for Irish standards. Not too technical of a course, but still some ruts, mud, and slipperiness. A classic cross course no doubt.
Smaller fields but still the best athletes always show up for a World Cup.
FinKraft has 3 athletes selected: Aidan Vollmuth, Jack Bernard, and Alyssa White.
High hopes for a good result and everyone is super motivated after a great US CX season leading up to start of the European racing .
Our riders have good UCI points so great start positions. Aidan managed to hold onto a top 10 finish after a great start finishing 6th. One of the higher placings for a US junior men throughout the World Cup history.
Alyssa also had a great start , but unfortunately did not feel her best and slid back to 21st place .
Jack suffered a flat and fished 27th at the end .
Great race and experience to take home before the US Nationals.
Read about Aidan’s experience written on Velo News:
https://velo.outsideonline.com/cyclocross/eurocrossacademy-the-power-of-aspiration-over-expectation/