National cyclo-cross titles for Paul Oldham and Helen Wyman (+ video)

Paul Oldham of Hope Factory Racing is the new Senior Men’s British National Cyclo-cross champion, with Helen Wyman of Kona-FSA claiming the women’s title for an incredible sixth time in a row at this weekend’s national championships at the Moorlands Leisure Centre in Derby.

In the men’s event, Oldham, shown talking after the race in the video below, completed the course in 1 hour 1 minute and 50 seconds, with Jody Crawforth of Hargroves Cycles-Trant-Next-Specialized-GSI coming home 18 seconds behind in second place and Liam Killeen, racing for Giant, completing the podium three seconds further back.

Oldham’s victory came following an exciting race in which the drama began before the start, with defending champion Ian Bibby forced to withdraw as a result of a virus.
Crawforth’s team mate Ian Field had been one of the early pacesetters, but crashed badly on a waterlogged hairpin bend and eventually finished fourth, one place ahead of Nick Craig, who put in a storming ride just 24 hours after winning the Vets 40+ title.

The women’s race saw Wyman, who also gave a post-race interview (see below) of Kona-FSA seal victory in 40 minutes 9 seconds, almost a full minute ahead of Nikki Harris of AVB Cycling Team, who took silver for the second year in a row, completing the race in 41 minutes 3 seconds, with Gabriella Day of The Chainstay - RENNER a further 16 seconds behind in third.

Results from all categories at the weekend’s championships can be found on the British Cycling website, where there is also a full report of the weekend’s action. A gallery of pictures can also be found on British Cycling’s Flickr stream, while further interviews can be found here.

Meanwhile, national cyclo-cross championships have also been taking place across the continent too, with winners including Rabobank’s Lars Boom, who took the Dutch national title for the 11th successive time, while in Italy, Vania Rossi, Riccardo Riccò’s partner, won the women’s title.

A year ago, Rossi tested positive for CERA after finishing second in the Italian national championships, prompting Riccò, who had been banned for 20 months as a result of his own use of the same substance, to split up with Rossi until she could clear her name, an action that saw him widely branded as a hypocrite.

Rossi’s test result turned out to be a false positive, and the happy couple are evidently back together again, with the Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that Riccò had phoned his partner immediately after the race to offer his congratulations.

The newspaper said that according to Rossi, “There was an ugly atmosphere” at the race, “because I no longer believe in the system and my opponents no longer believe in me.”