- Paul Oldham will bid to retain his national cyclocross champion’s jersey in January
National cyclo-cross champion Paul Oldham has identified his biggest rivals for the defence of his title on January 8, 2012.
The Hope Factory Racing star singled out Jody Crawforth, Ian Bibby, and Ian Field, as the main competitors for a race to decide who will wear the coveted red, white, and blue stripes of national champion next year.
And he included multiple winner and world tour rider Roger Hammond, Premier Calendar road champion Ian Bibby, and cross-country mountain bike stars Liam Killeen and David Fletcher, as key contenders.
Oldham (Hope Factory Racing) leads the season-long National Trophy Series after five rounds, despite repeated mechanical issues, and told RoadCyclingUK he was looking forward to the once-a-season National Championship event.
“I know Ian Field’s going well, and I’m sure that Jody [Crawforth] will go well too. Domestically, it’s been me and Jody who’ve been at the front. But then there’s David Fletcher, Roger Hammond, Liam Killeen, and Ian Bibby’s coming back, so I think it’ll be a great race,” he said.
Current National Trophy Series champion Crawforth (Hargroves Cycles), was national cyclo-cross champion in 2009, and runner up in 2010 and 2011. Field, his Hargroves team mate, is competing at the sport’s highest level in Belgium’s Superprestige series and UCI World Cup races, as well as at races in America. He recently finished 37th in a world class field at the fifth round of the UCI World Cup in Namur, Belgium, and will compete again in the sixth round of the World Cup on Boxing Day in the Belgian town of Zolder.
Two of the men identified by Oldham as rivals will return to ‘cross from successful seasons on the road. Eight-time champion Hammond raced at road cycling’s highest level in 2011 with WorldTour team Garmin-Cervelo while 2010 national cyclo-cross champion Bibby was crowned Premier Calendar Series champion this year.
Oldham’s other target men, Killeen and Fletcher, come to ‘cross from the other side of cycle sport’s coin – mountain bike racing. Fletcher (Boardman Elite) wracked up a string of top 10 finishes in under-23 World Cup events in 2011, and stands eighth in British Cycling’s cyclo-cross rankings, while two-time Olympian and three-time senior national mountain bike champion Killeen (Giant) finished third in the 2011 National Cyclo-Cross Championships, behind Oldham and Crawforth.
The cream of British cyclo-cross will descend on Ipswich on January 7 and 8 for a weekend that will crown national champions in 10 different categories, from under-14s to over 50s, including the hotly anticipated senior men’s and women’s championships.
Oldham has enjoyed a solid season in the National Trophy Series, scoring well from second place finishes behind visiting foreign riders in the first and second rounds at South Shields and Leicester, and from fourth place at Southampton, where he finished less than 50 seconds behind a trio of competitors from Holland and Belgium. A superb recovery ride to finish fifth after a rolled tyre at Derby showed Oldham’s grit in the face of adversity, and was followed by victory in the fifth round at Bradford, requiring him only to finish fifth or higher at the closing round in Shrewsbury a week after the National Championships to clinch the National Trophy Series.
“The season’s gone quite well but I’ve had quite a bit of bad luck. The first round it was my chain, in the second round I crashed. I’ve had a tub roll. It’s my fault. You can’t blame anyone else,” he said.
Oldham praised the Ipswich course, describing it as one on which he had ridden well in previous years, and said he would remain in training over Christmas to keep his form for the National Championship race.
In 2012, Oldham will race on the tarmac for his sponsor’s newly-formed road team, and will compete in Premier Calendar races against the best domestic talent.
“I’ve always raced on the road, it’s just in the last couple of years, I’ve not done so much, with family commitments. I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
Oldham backed the huge surge in popularity of cycling in the UK to continue beyond next year’s Olympics, and said cyclo-cross, with its physical and technical demands, should enjoy a higher profile.
“We’ve had the Rapha Series this year, which is a pre-cursor to what could be. When you go abroad, it’s huge. It’s live on the telly, and has thousands of spectators,” he said.
RoadCyclingUK recently brought site visitors a taste of the intoxicating mix of mud and excitement in this short film from Corrine Walder.
The British Cycling National Cyclo-Cross Championships takes place at Suffolk Cricket Club on Saturday January 7 and Sunday January 8 2012.
