Cyclocross fans were treated to one of the most exciting races in the 2023 UCI Cyclocross World Cup so far during Round 13 of the women’s race in Benidorm, Spain.
For those of us who’ve been watching at home all season, the last lap in Benidorm was a cheer/yell at your screen kind of lap. The sunny, dry conditions forced the fifty-one riders who lined up at the start to flex a different set of racing skills compared to what was demanded of them by the muddy, wet, muddy, freezing, muddy, snowing and also muddy rounds we’ve seen in this World Cup so far.
Even though the sunny conditions in Spain couldn’t have been more different, the riders leading the race were not. The lead group for almost the entire race was made up of the faces we’ve gotten used to seeing at the front and on the podium. Spectators several feet deep lined most of the snakey course (the crowd included one of our favorite European CX race sightings: the giant blow up condiment).
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The grassy course was fast, dusty and dry, mostly flat punctuated with some punchy ass-kicker climbs and other course features (i.e. some the rad things that make cyclocross so fun, at least as a spectator if not as a racer).
The race unfolded in what’s become a familiar scene at almost every race during the 2023 UCI Cyclocross World Cup: a Fem and Puck slugfest for first and second place.
One of the things that's so special about what will (we hope!) continue blossoming into a once-in-a-generation rivalry in a once-in-a-generation cyclocross talent pool is how much these riders very obviously like and respect each other. The glaring athleticism and genuine sportsmanship of these these athletes is one of those remarkable storylines in bike racing that shows the sport at its purest potential. As a fan, it sucks us in and in that way bike racing reaches its full potential for us, too.
You can catch the replay if you missed it on Flowbikes.com.
Natascha Grief got her first bike shop job before she was old enough to drink. After a six-year stint as a mechanic, earning a couple pro-mechanic certifications and her USA Cycling Race Mechanics license, she became obsessed with framebuilding and decided she wanted to do that next. After Albert Eistentraut literally shooed her off his doorstep, admonishing that if she pursued framebuilding she will be poor forever, she landed an apprenticeship with framebuilder Brent Steelman in her hometown of Redwood City, CA. After that, she spent several years working for both large and not-so-large cycling brands. Somewhere in there she also became a certified bike fitter. Natascha then became a certified personal trainer and spent nine years honing her skills as a trainer and coach, while also teaching Spin. During the dumpster fire that was the year 2020, she opened a fitness studio and began contributing regularly to Runner’s World and Bicycling as a freelance writer. In 2022, she joined the staff of Bicycling as News Editor.
