Joris Nieuwenhuis rides to podium in Heusden-Zolder with a crack in his finger: "My legs ultimately hurt more than my finger"
Cyclocross
Cyclocrossers are tough creatures, we know that, but Joris Nieuwenhuis took this yet another level. The Baloise - Trek Lions rode the Heusden-Zolder cross on Wednesday with a crack in his finger, but was ultimately allowed to raise his finger in the air on the final podium as number three in the results.
It was a short night for the Dutchman, who was in hospital until midnight to have his index finger checked after a collision in Gavere. It eventually turned out to have a crack in it, but he didn't give up. "I tried to accept that and just carry on, in a kind of stoic way. I can live with this result, because I wasn't comfortable with it either. I made too many small mistakes, so I'm really happy with this."
"It did bother me, it hurt. I don't think I rode a bad cross, considering my finger. There were a lot of holes in that descent and it really hurt, but as long as the legs hurt even more it was okay. I had the focus, those legs ultimately hurt more than my finger," he laughs.
"I wanted to defend that ranking in the Superprestige, where I think I am now second," Nieuwenhuis explained his choice to start today. "Then you have to move on. And I always think it is a very nice cross here, which I always enjoy riding. I have already been on podium here with Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, so I have good memories of it."
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024