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Sunday afternoon. After three practice sessions during the week, the riders got a bit of warm up before the gate dropped for the first heat. Finishing an entire race in one afternoon is hard on the riders. There's not a lot of cool-down time so the long seatposts can almost stay in the team tents. During practice not a lot of people stood out being faster than anyone in the Elite classes. The usual favourites remained the usual favourites but in BMX anything can happen so the top ranked riders could be out of the picture after one silly crash.

The track in Erp has a wide open first straight with a bunch of obstacles in it that aren't too hard for any of the top riders. The second straight is a bit tricky because the jumps are big, and if you don't jump, you're not going to win. It's important to have enough speed coming out of the first turn to clear all the doubles and it took some of them a few days before they cleared all three of them. The turns in Erp were grippy and wide and many 'High-Low' passes were done. The entire third straight is one big rhythm section that even riders like Maris Strombergs and Amidou Mir had problems with at some point. If you lose your rhythm, there's no room to hit the reset button because the next roller is right in front of you. The last 180 left turn saw some passing also when people came out of the third straight faster than the one in front of them. The speed got used for a pass in the last turn before the last roller section had to be conquered.

With the UCI BMX World's coming up in less than two weeks, the Belgians showed good speed. In the Junior class Mathijs Verhoeven dominated most of his races. In the finals Romain Racine took the lead coming from lane three with Justin Kimmann on the outside. The speed that Kimmann had on the outside was carried over to the second straight when he got in the lead with Romain Racine in second and Mathijs Verhoeven in third. Turn two saw Racine being passed by 4 people. He went from second to 6th in one turn without crashing. Mahijs Verhoeven used this turn to grab the lead from Kimmann and Koen van der Wijst shot to a podium spot. Gauthier Bera from France made a sweet hi-low and carried that speed all the way to 4th place on straight three coming from 6th and kept it going to the end where he beat Justin Kimmann on the finish line. Mathijs Verhoeven and the whole of Belgium was stoked on the win and also Koen van der Wijst was a happy man. Looking back on the race Justin Kimmann and Romain Racine can't be too happy. Both missed out on the podium after being in the lead. So much happened in that race it was insane.

Axelle Etienne (FRA) was one of the few riders clearing the big doubles going into the first turn. That gave her a big advantage over her competition and if you can do so by taking risk and getting rad, that's fair enough. the track is the same for everyone but some have more skills than others, or more "balls" if that also goes for the girls. The talented Ruby Huisman (NED) certainly was happy with a silver medal riding in front of a home crowd and a rider from Switzerland by the name of Louanne Juillerat finished the race in third for a bronze medal. If you think these riders make the big bucks, think again. The checks for the Junior podium spots ranged between €200 - €300 Euros. Not sure if that pays for gas/toll/hotel/food for a week.

When the gate dropped for the Elite Women final it was Belgian's Elke Vanhoof on lane one who got out in front with European Games gold medalist Simone Christensen (DEN) getting in the second spot. Le Corguille from France used the inside of turn one to take over second place and Merle van Benthem used the Hi-Lo to pass Laura Smulders after turn one. Lots of passing happened which kept things exciting till the finish line. Simone showed she has better skills than Laetitia Le Corguille and took back second place on straight number three. Smulders passed back Van Benthem in turn two by simply taking the inside which is always shorter. But the race wasn't over. Elke Vanhoof heard the Belgians fan scream and didn't make any mistake till the finish line. Laetitia however crashed in the last turn opening the door for Smulders to take third at an important BMX race. Where have we seen that one before? Bronze is Bronze no matter how you get it. And after dealing with a long injury, it sure felt fine for Laura.

Elite Men. In Lane 8 we had Maris Strombergs. The Machine from Latvia has won from Lane 8 before and was going to give it a shot in Erp as well. The only rider in the way at the first turn was Twan van Gendt, who left the gate from the inside. Twan is one strong mofo and doesn't back down for anyone, it doesn't matter if you've won two Olympic gold medals or not. Carnage happened at the end of the first straight when Niek Kimmann unclipped and took Frenchies Romain Mayet and Sylvain Andre with him. Niels Bensink (NED), and French riders Mir and Caleyron stayed upright and followed Van Gendt and Strombergs. The gaps between the riders were too big to make direct passes but when Maris lost his rhythm on the third straight it was Amidou Mir who could not avoid him which made him crash. At this point Niels Bensink shot to second place with the crowd going nuts as two Dutch riders were now leading the Elite Men final! By staying safe it was Quentin Caleyron who made it to third place at the finish line, a position he was content with.

The Euros are over. Hats off to the organisation who pulled off a nice one. Bring on the World's.

BdJ

UEC European BMX Championships results. Erp, Netherlands. 12 July 2015.

Elite Men:
1     Twan VAN GENDT     NED     23
2     Niels BENSINK     NED     19
3     Quentin CALEYRON     FRA     27
4     Maris STROMBERGS     LAT     28
5     Sylvain ANDRE     FRA     23
6     Amidou MIR     FRA     20
7     Romain MAYET     FRA     22
8     Niek KIMMANN     NED     19

Elite Women:
1     Elke VANHOOF     BEL     24
2     Simone CHRISTENSEN     DEN     21
3     Laura SMULDERS     NED     22
4     Merle VAN BENTHEM     NED     23
5     Natalia SUVOROVA     RUS     20
6     Lieke KLAUS     NED     26
7     Charlotte GREEN     GBR     21
8     Laetitia LE CORGUILLE     FRA     29

Junior Men:
1     Mathijs VERHOEVEN     BEL     18     60     60
2     Koen VAN DER WIJST     NED     17     50     50
3     Gauthier BERA     FRA     17     40     40
4     Justin KIMMANN     NED     17     30     30
5     Theo CHAPELLE     FRA     18     25     25
6     Mathis RAGOT RICHARD     FRA     17     20     20
7     Nick GEERLING     NED     18     15     15
8     Romain RACINE     FRA     18     10     10

Junior Women:
1     Axelle ETIENNE     FRA     17     60     60
2     Ruby HUISMAN     NED     17     50     50
3     Louanne JUILLERAT     SUI     18     40     40
4     Alexandra TERESHKINA     RUS     17     30     30
5     Charlotte DEVOLDER     FRA     18     25     25
6     Svetlana ADMAKINA     RUS     17     20     20
7     Christelle BOIVIN     SUI     18     15     15
8     Margot HETMANCZYK     FRA     18     10     10

Pics © by BdJ