Felipe Orts, an ‘octopus’ in the mud of the cyclocross

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  • At 26 years old, this man from Alicante is the Spanish champion of the specialty and the one who breathes in Belgium and the Netherlands the same air as Van der Poel and Van Aert.

Felipe OrtAt the age of 26, he almost feels like an octopus, but not in a garage, but in the mud of the cyclo-cross of Flanders; the same cyclist who breathes the air of the ‘monsters’, by Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, whom he sees close, whom he almost touches, whom he distinguishes when coming out of the curve or with the bike uphill , kicking as they say, on the ramp that he will face a few seconds later, which are not that many, and the one that has the tremendous honor of finishing in the top 15 in World Cup races and the influential Superprestige.

This Alicante from Vila Joiosa spends half a year traveling by plane, mainly to Brussels, to travel from there to Flemish lands. His team, the Burgos BH, has rented a house, where they can park the van with the material and thus avoid having to be looking for a hotel every time. “I have been competing since I was seven years old, simply because I have always enjoyed cyclo-cross more and because I have the evidence that I have been able to become a professional and even compete in road tests it has been thanks to this specialty,” he explains Location.

Cyclocross events are more explosive. It is not necessary to have the fund that allows you to attack on the last slope after six hours sheltered in the peloton. It represents an effort, many times less than the hour, but always at the top, without rest, “as if it were a time trial”, where it is not worth riding the wheel, or team tactics and many times, when the terrain makes pedaling impossible, you have to load the bike at a cost. “That’s where we always win Van Aert. Kicking has a power out of series “.

Location He is the Spanish champion of the specialty and the one who wins the majority of cyclo-cross races when they are held far from the mecca of this sport. “In Flanders and the Netherlands each cyclo-cross event creates an incredible atmosphere, as if it were a stage of the Tour. A circus is created, far beyond the competition itself. There are tents with music, people drink beer, eat potatoes fries and sausages “. There are events that gather up to 100,000 people. It’s the show of the weekend.

Two … and the rest

“Van der Poel is the other phenomenon of cyclocross and the one that has managed to beat Van Aert the last world. If the two of them are in a race, you already know that one of them will win. Too bad your class doesn’t stick. “It doesn’t stick, unfortunately, but LocationLittle by little, he has earned a place in the elite of this cycling specialty. “My intention is to finish the World Cup in the top 15. The ones that benefit me the most are the fast and technical races. In the mud is not where I feel most comfortable but in Flanders you already know that you have to dominate it and, little by and by, I feel more comfortable in that scenario. “

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Van Aert returned to cyclocross last week. He arrived at the Boom Super Prestige, saw the course and won. He got away in the second of seven laps and took two minutes out of all of them. And that he gave a blow on a descent with the mud on the surface. That day Location he hardly even saw him to finish the 15th, more than three minutes from the great Belgian figure. “What Van Aert did on the Tour I’m sure even surprised him,” he says with admiration, recalling the Belgian champion’s victories on the Ventoux stage, the final time trial and the Champs-Elysees sprint.

December 26 will be the date of the first duel between Van Aert Y Van der Poel with Location as a witness. He goes with his van while the Jumbo of the flamenco star and the Alpecin of the grandson of Poulidor move for a single corridor coach, truck, auxiliary car & mldr; whatever it takes. It is another world.



Reference-www.elperiodico.com

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