Glasgow 2018 | Day 1
The low down on Day 1 at the 2018 UEC European BMX Championships …
Photos by the UEC
Glasgow 2018 | Day 1
The low down on Day 1 at the 2018 UEC European BMX Championships …
Photos by the UEC
The crash that reverberated around the internet did not put a dampener on World Number 1, Sylvain Andre’s, day one in Glasgow for the Elite European BMX Championships. The Frenchman went 3 for 3 in the motos, sending the jump that claimed him yesterday in all three outings today. By moto three he even looked like he was having fun out there, throwing his signature ‘bar hump’ over the triples going in to the last turn. He’s looking strong and has got to be the favourite …
If anyone is going to knock Andre off his perch tomorrow it may well be Switzerland’s David Graf who also jumped the big jump at the end of straight one, only a handful of the men launched it … we predict the number will grow in the knockout stages tomorrow. Graf looks hungry …
Team GB’s Kye Whyte may have been the only person having more fun than Andre. He gave Niek Kimmann a hard time all day and Kimmann was looking fast! Whyte’s ability to find speed from the track, especially down the third and fourth straights, is impressive to say the least. With a bit of luck and not over cooking it in the wrong places Kye could find himself in the final tomorrow and then who knows … nobody wants Kye Whyte directly behind them!
Romain Mahieu went about his moto’s in an all business manner and obviously there is a potential podium there tomorrow, the Tangent Cartel must be smelling blood in the water (we’ve been watching a lot of shark movies lately!). Another Frenchman, Arthur Pilard was also looking quick as was Inspyre’s Jeremy Rencurel, oh, and Mayet … it’s not beyond the realms that we end up with a French 1,2,3 and 4! Speaking of Frenchmen, where is Joris Daudet? Answers on a postcard …
So, who else looked like ‘final’ material? GB’s Kyle Evans obviously, he had a couple of good battles with Graf. Dave van de Burg looked determined, winning all three of his motos, Komarov had some moments … but we’re betting on a podium made up of Andre, Graf, Kimmann or Mahieu … but who knows in what order though.
The women’s may be a little more clear-cut. Laura Smulders has got to be favourite, she tailed her sister, Merel to the last straight a couple of times where she seemed to go by with ease, it looks like she’s not even engaged her top gear yet. Judy Baauw looked full of confidence in her motos too, are we going to see a repeat of the Worlds with three Dutch women on the podium? Possibly!
The best chance of breaking up that threesome is Denmark’s Simone Christensen, we think she’s on the podium barring disaster. Belgium’s Elke Vanhoof may also cause a podium upset, she rolled around in moto three after easily taking the first two. The question of the day though, at least on the women’s side was, what was going on with GB’s Beth Shriever? For moto’s one and two her head was definitely elsewhere, she looked good in moto three but her chances tomorrow depend on which Bethany shows up … we hope the focused one!
The knock out stages kick off tomorrow, Saurday the 11th at 10am local time. You can watch it all unfold via the ‘live streaming’ or it looks like Eurosport as well as other TV stations will be showing it live. It’s going to an interesting day …
