The pain etched all over David Montgomery's face tells you all you how hard last Saturday's U23 race at the European Cyclocross Championships in the Netherlands was. The Irishman battled to finish 33rd in an event he said he won't forget for a long time. (Photo thanks to Kevin Remmerie)
By Brian Canty
David Montgomery has described his first European Cyclocross Championships at the weekend as a “full-on boxing match for an hour” where his heart rate rarely dropped below 95 per cent of its max.
The combined U23 and elite national champion was Ireland’s only rider in the U23 race.
And though he went in with a positive attitude, he knew there was little he could do to influence the race given his inexperience at this level.
“When I race in Ireland there are maybe five people who can win, at the most,” he said.
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“Everyone respects those people; they usually start at the front and stay there.
“Even if they’re not at the front and they lose time because of a mechanical or whatever; they’ll get themselves back up through their own ability and the respect from the others.
“Here, there is no respect and it’s a full-on boxing match for an hour,” he added.
“The starts are killing me at the minute. Everyone here has the elbow out trying to get to the first corner in a good position.
“It’s completely different to anything I’ve done and I’m just not used to it so I’m losing places at the start.
“I rode hard but the first half of the course was absolutely mental. It was so tight through the single track sections.”
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Montgomery has been riding the testing Belgian cyclocross scene in recent weeks and has also competed a number of times in Holland, getting stuck in and banking fantastic experience (Photo: Martine Verfaillie)
Unlike a road race where the issue could be in doubt until late on, cyclocross is totally different in that the winner is usually towards the front early on, dictating things.
“You have to be in that top 10 or you’re finished," Montgomery said of the importance of positioning.
“On the first lap the first 10 guys might get through a section but all it takes is for one guy to fall off or lose ground and we all lose ground.
“On the uphill sections, some are riding, some are running, some are hopping; but if you get stuck behind, you’re staying behind.
“Guys dismount and then everyone has to; everyone makes a mistake and we end up losing so much time there.”
That’s doesn't mean they all potter around afterwards, however.
“My heart-rate goes up at the start and it sits there for the race.
“My max is not that high, probably about 185 but it will sit at 180 for the entire race.
“In most races, mountain bike and road, there are times where it calms down but in cyclocross, especially in these races, it never relents.”
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