David Montgomery has had a day to forget at the World Cyclocross Championships in Belgium, but he’ll be back (Photo and homepage photo by Martine Verfaillie)
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s David Montgomery endured a heartbreaking afternoon in the U23 race at the UCI World Cyclocross Championships in Zolder, Belgium, after he was forced to pull.
Persistent back injury hampered him to the extent he was unable to continue beyond three laps of the 3km circuit.
It was a cruel blow for the An Post-Chain Reaction rider as he had been targeting the event all year.
And after avoiding an early crash in the race he began to settle into his rhythm on the brutally tough course.
Because he was so far back on the grid at the start it was always going to be a real battle for the reigning U23 national champion but he stuck to his guns and did well in those early exchanges, maintaining a deficit of around a minute and a half to the leaders.
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It was unlikely to get much better for him, mind, as the Belgians and Dutch riders really forced a furious pace at the front, distancing a chasing pack by the halfway point.
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It was a cracking race, with half a dozen Belgians really turning the screws while roared on by fanatical home support.
Adam Toupalik (Czech Republic) was also strong throughout and he thought he’d won the race until he was informed he had timed his ‘finishing’ sprint a lap too early.
He did manage to stick with the leaders for the remainder of the final lap but had lost his edge by the time the sprint for gold came around and that paved the way for last year’s junior silver medallist Eli Iserbyt (Belgium) to claim a memorable win.
The home nation also took bronze through Quinten Hermans.
More on that huge blunder by Toupalik as well as Montgomery's reaction later…
Jan 30th-31st: World Cyclocross Champs
Heusden–Zolder, Belgium
Sun, Jan 31st: U23 Men’s Race
1 Eli Iserbyt (Belgium) 0:51:18
2 Adam Toupalik (Czech Republic) 0:00:01
3 Quinten Hermans (Belgium) 0:00:05
4 Thijs Aerts (Belgium) 0:00:11
5 Clement Russo (France) 0:00:12
6 Felipe Orts (Spain) 0:00:15
7 Gioele Bertolini (Italy)
8 Martijn Budding (Netherlands) 0:00:24
9 Sieben Wouters (Netherlands) 0:00:29
10 Daan Soete (Belgium) 0:01:07
11 Daan Hoeyberghs (Belgium) 0:01:17
12 Simon Andreassen (Denmark) 0:01:19
13 Logan Owen (United States Of America) 0:01:22
14 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Netherlands) 0:01:30
15 Nadir Colledani (Italy) 0:01:31
DNF David Montgomery (Ireland)
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