David Montgomery is set for an almighty battle in the European Cyclocross Championships on Saturday in the Netherlands. The reigning U23 and elite champion is Ireland's sole entry (Photo; David McVeigh - The Belgian Project)
By Brian Canty
Reigning U23 and elite national cyclocross champion David Montgomery is Ireland’s sole entry in Saturday’s European Championships in the Netherlands.
The Banbridge man lines up in a 50-strong field against some of the best talent in the world and said anything but survival would be a success.
Montgomery raced the Bpost Bank Trofee Koppenbergcross in Belgium last weekend and said the competition there was “on the next level” so he’s braced for more of the same tomorrow.
“The Belgians have entered 12, the Dutch have seven or eight and the Swiss will be strong too so I think the top 20 will be pretty much sorted,” he said.
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“It’ll be a real battle because I haven’t raced this standard at U23 level before.
“I think I can do better than I have been doing because something unexpected always seems to go wrong and I attract new problems; stuff that never really happened before.
“Hopefully we can have a good race but we’re so far behind it’s ridiculous. I’ll see what I can do.
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“I’m not afraid but I’ve no expectations. I just want everything to go alright and be able to give a true account of myself,” he added.
The course is a challenging 2.8 kilometre loop including tarmac, fast, hard track, soft mud, sand and forest sections.
“It looks like it’s going to be up and down all day, which is not really standard," he said.
“It’s not a mountain bike track but its more that than standard cyclocross; with some quite twisty, single tracks.
"And they love their sand here as well so that should make it more difficult.”
Montgomery is building form for the World Cup events next month as well as defending his Irish title in the New Year.
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