Somebody named cChunkstardeluxe has just posted videos on YouTube from a bunch of cyclocross and mountain bike races from the 90s, including this gem. It’s the 1994 world championships in Koksijde, Belgium. It’s a great race, with tons of deep sand, and is won in the end by Paul Herijgers (now a Sporza TV commentator) over Richard Groenendaal.

Here it is in two parts:

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As we move through the spring and into the hot summer months, the assortment of cyclocross videos available for posting becomes pretty slim. I thought I had a hot lead when I heard about Sven Nys and Spongebob Squarepants teaming up to put on a summer cyclocross camp for kids, but it turned out that the promo video was available only on their web site, and therefore not a good candidate for it’s own post on this site. But after expanding the definition of “cyclocross” to include anything that involves Sven Nys, I did finally hit pay dirt with this short video of Mr. Nys racing to victory in last weekend’s Belgacom Benelux Championships mountain bike race in Averbode, Belgium.

If you look carefully you’ll notice that Belgian mountain bike racing is different from Belgian cyclocross in that the tires are wider, the bars are flatter, and there’s a big tree right in the middle of the course. Similarities, however, include lots and lots of sand, and Sven Nys winning.Speaking of sand, what is it with Belgian cycling and sand? I’m actually a little surprised that they haven’t figured out a way to work a long sand section into the Tour of Flanders. Hell, why not? It’s already got a run up.

Anyway, enjoy this video, and make sure to let me know if you see if any other good off-season videos that I should be looking at. We’ve still got a long way to go before Fall.

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Here’s a nice little Vimeo video with some highlights from the 2009 Superprestige Cyclocross series.

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Here it is. The final lap of today’s elite men’s race from the 2009 Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. By this point in the race it was pretty much the “Niels Albert show,” but it’s still worth watching, if only to see the last-lap enthusiasm of the partisan crowd.

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Here’s the final lap of today’s under-23 race at the Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide. Sorry for the lack of witty commentary, but it’s Worlds weekend, and I’m just trying to keep up.

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There aren’t enough cyclocross videos on Vimeo, which features much higher video quality than YouTube. There are a few clips every week, but most of them are of the “hey, look at my buddies riding through the really deep puddle” variety.

This video of the London Cyclocross League Race last weekend at Herme Hill Velodrome, however, is pretty good. It features some exciting, although admittedly amateur, racing action, and the course and weather are about as good as you could ask for in a local race.

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Here’s a late-breaking European championship video, from the Elite Men’s race in Spain on January 10. The production value on this one is pretty high, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

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December 10-11 was national championship weekend in Europe, with big races in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, England, Italy, and Switzerland. Here are the videos that are up so far:

Dutch National Championship

Here we see the now urinary-tract-infection-free Lars Boom hold off a determined pursuit by AA Drink teammates Thijs Al and Richard Groenendaal. Is it just me, or do those AA Drink kits look a little like a cross between a paramedic’s wet suit and something stolen from a collection of early Cirque du Soleil costumes?

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Belgian National Championship

Here’s a much shorter highlight video from the race for the prestigious Belgian national champion’s jersey, successfully defended by Swen Nys.

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French National Championship

Here’s a French TV news report on their race, including the juniors and women.

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British National Championship

Now we’re leaving the realm of the professionally filmed and televised races, but here’s a nicely done home video (in two parts) of the British national championship at Peel Park in Bradford.

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Let me know in the comments or via email if you have seen video out there of any of the other races.

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Between the holidays and all of the excitement about the “thrilla in vanilla“, I totally missed last week’s UCI World Cup race in Nommay, France. Here’s a video of the final lap. It comes down to a sprint, so I won’t tell you who wins, just in case you haven’t already heard.

Unfortunately, I can’t find any good video of the women’s race, which was won by American Katie Compton (her second World Cup victory in a row). Let me know if you’ve seen anything out there.

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This is the final lap of today’s UCI World Cup race in Igorre, Spain. Unfortununately, it’s a bit of a snooze, consisting almost excluisively of Sven Nys grinding through the mud on his way to a convincing solo victory.

There’s a nice shot of a bike change at 2:10, however, and I also liked the muddy turn at the bottom of a hill right before a river (1:15). That could have been interesting.

For those of you keeping score at home, the World Cup standings (after five events) are Sven Nys (BEL), Bart Wellens (BEL), and Zdenek Stybar (CZE).

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