August 20, 2019 - In Zottegem, Belgium, Piotr Havik has won the first professional race of his career. This also means the first professional victory for the BEAT Cycling Club road team. After a tough race, Havik reached the finish line on his own, few seconds in front of Andre Greipel (Arkéa-Samsic) and the peloton. With this victory, Havik tops the successful season of the BEAT road team with the most important road victory in the history of the club.

The first kilometres of the race were extremely nervous, but all escapees were caught within the first 20 kilometres. A crash split the peloton into several pieces, which led to the formation of a 35 riders leading group. Piotr Havik represented BEAT in this group, which was led by the ProContinental teams Wanty-Groupe Gobert, Corendon-Circus and Israel Cycling Academy. André Greipel was another favourite present in the lead group.

In the final, the first attack was launched by Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), who was riding a home race. The Belgian rider quickly saw his attack come to an end. A more impressive attack was launched by Gianni Vermeersch (Corendon - Circus), Zak Dempster (Israel Cycling Academy) and Benoit Jarrier (Arkéa Samsic). On the cobbles, Benoit Jarrier quickly had to let go of his fellow escapees while Havik was torturing the members of the following group.

Just before the end of the cobble street, Havik managed to get away from his group. He quickly made the jump to the two remaining leaders. Vermeersch stuck to Havik’s wheel, but another attack by the dutchman, one kilometre away from the finish line, was too much for him. Havik flew through the final kilometre, straightened his jersey and raised his hands in the sky. Four seconds later, André Greipel passed the finish line second.

Piotr Havik’s reaction:
“The final cobble section caused immense chaos. Our luck was the fact that Greipel still was in the following group. Nobody dared to get us back if that meant that they would ride to the finish with him. Three years ago, I started riding for this team. I’ve always gotten the chance to slowly grow and improve as a rider. I’m very happy to now get the honor of celebrating the first 1.1 victory with BEAT Cycling Club.”

Perfect race
Egon van Kessel, sportive director in the race, tells us what he experienced today: “We rode a perfect race today, of course, because of Piotr’s amazing legs. I can think of all sorts of tactics, but in the end, the riders have to do the work. Piotr rode very smartly and patient. I did not think he would manage to lose Gianni Vermeersch in the end, but he did. That shows how strong Piotr is, and at what level he can ride.”

Results
1. Piotr Havik (BEAT Cycling Club)
2. André Greipel (Arkéa-Samsic)
3. Christophe Noppe (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise)

Whistler is arguably the home of mountain biking and as the final stop in the Crankworx World Tour is the biggest, busiest and most exciting stop of the year; a fun-filled week trying to squeeze in riding, racing and catching up with friends.

With Eddie and Matt fresh off a tough but successful Enduro World Series race and Emilie fighting jet lag, energy levels were low on the first day of Crankworx but the excitement and amazing riding gave everyone enough motivation to get out riding and fight the jet lag.

Air DH

A-Line is the most famous trail in mountain biking. With amazingly sculptured berms and jumps, other bike parks have tried to copy it but none have come close. Air DH is a race from top to bottom on the trail and turning the fun flowing trail into a physical race where peddling and scrubbing jumps is the aim of the game.

The traditional trains during practice saw Eddie and Matt throwing huge and stylish whips and going for air time over speed. All changed when the start line beeps started and Emilie was first up to race. Riding her Firebird to help with the peddling, Emilie was riding well and hitting the backsides of all the jumps. Feeling a bit under the weather following long travels she was not putting down the power she normally could. Enjoying her run Emilie finished 21^st.

Eddie was still feeling sore following an eventful EWS and nursing some cuts and bruises. Opting for style over speed on his run Eddie pleased the crowd with his style on the jumps.

Matt was enjoying the A-Line race and was ready to pedal hard, scrub the jumps and rail the berms. Coming over the line in 6^th Matt had left everything on the track and was struggling to catch his breath. After the final riders had finished their race runs Matt finished 11^th, a good result especially following a physical weekend racing the Enduro.

Whip Off

Whip Off World Championships is one of the more chilled out events at Crankworx. A two-hour jam session on some amazing jumps in the bike park attracts huge crowds. Matt was the only Pivot rider competing and put on a good show for the fans. Throwing huge whips and enjoying riding with World Cup racers, Enduro racers and Slopestyle riders the event never fails to deliver.  

Canadian Open DH

The final event of the weekend was the Canadian Open Downhill Race and the team was ready for business. Two days of training had the riders up to speed on the classic course. With some fast-flowing sections, fun jumps and drops contrasting the flat out rough, steep and technical riding, the Canadian Open course epitomizes the Whistler Bike Park.

Emilie had been feeling better and better all week after battling with jetlag and a cold. Enjoying the track and getting in loads of training laps she was making up for missing last year’s Whistler Crankworx event.

Matt and Eddie had been enjoying training; riding laps of A-Line and Dirt Merchant is a much more fun way to warm up than at most races. The track was running well this year with some rain over the previous few weeks keeping the dust down and holding the ground together.

Emilie dropped in and was looking good on the big screen, pumping hard on the jumps and keeping light over the roots in the woods. She came out of the steep wooded section and was hard on the pedals across the ski piste before dropping into a busy finish area. A mistake-free run saw Emilie finish in 6^th. Although a little disappointed with the result she couldn’t wait to get back between the tape for the next race.

Matt was down at split one but really pushed hard on the bottom half of the track. Generating speed over the jumps and hammering the pedals he clawed back time and had one of the fastest speed traps coming into the finish arena. Finishing 19^th Matt was happy to put down a risk-free run looking ahead to the next round of the EWS.

Birthday boy Eddie was up next. Suffering from a head cold he was finding his first day of his 30’s hard but it didn’t slow him down. Looking composed in the woods and riding well he was within touching distance of the fastest time at the first split. Looking fast in his new Fly Racing kit, Eddie crossed the line in 9^th to a huge cheer from the crowd for his birthday. With the final few competitors down Eddie finished in 13^th and headed straight to the lake for some much-needed rest in his old age!

With two events on two continents, the Pivot factory racing team was split between round 7 of the UCI downhill World Cup in Lenzerheide and round 6 of the Enduro World Series in Whistler. Eddie and Matt were preforming strongly in 2^nd and 16^th in the EWS overall and were keen to push for a high season finish. This left Emilie to ride her home race in Lenzerheide while Bernard was still recovering from a hand injury.

Wednesday – Track walk

Track walk in Lenzerheide was a wet affair, heavy rain from the previous days did not relent and the track was looking muddy, slick and challenging. A few changes from previous years were welcomed. Missing the top rock garden was a blessing in the wet conditions but lower down a fresh muddy shoot was going to cut up, expose roots and cause some puzzling.

Thursday – Training

Downhill

Emilie started training late to let the track dry and allow some ruts and lines to cut in. She was enjoying the track and the added technical challenge that the mud and conditions gave. The full mud spike tires that Emilie was running in the morning were swapped out for dry tires as the sun came out and dried the track with every passing hour.

Emilie finished the day with 3 runs in the timed training session, with loads of new lines opening up on the drying track, and following the day of training Emilie learned a lot and was building speed ready to race.

Enduro

For the first time ever the Whistler EWS was held over two days. This gave riders two days training to learn the tracks, scope out lines and prepare for the race. Day one training was on stages 5, 6 and 1. Eddie and Matt were enjoying the riding in Canada and having fun on the bikes down the challenging tracks.

Stage 6 was a touch track, including bike park trails such as In Deep, Whistler DH, and Joyride, it was going to be a killer on the arms to finish the weekends racing. Stage 1 was the classic top of the world trail, from Whistler peak to the village it was well entitled to the Queen stage title. Over 11km of alpine single track into a full top to bottom bike park lap was going to separate the best riders in the world.

Eddie used the training day to his advantage, blowing through the tape and going straight on after high speed sections of track three times, he made a mental note to slow up for the race run.

Friday – Qualification and Training

Downhill

By the time Emilie’s qualification run came around the track was running dry and fast. She was enjoying the conditions and added grip and set off on the qualifying run hard. Peddling hard at the top and committing through the steeper looser, sections she knew she was on a good run. Posting fastest times at each split she crossed the line 5 seconds up on the current fastest qualifier. As more and more women finished their runs Emilie’s time held, only the last few riders could better the time and Emilie finished with a great 5^th place qualifying.

Enduro

Training on stages 2, 3 and 4 awaited Matt and Eddie on Thursday. Stages 2 and 3 were outside the bike park and required a little more peddling effort to get to. Stage 3 down ‘roam in the loam’ and ‘golden boner’ was a riders favorite. Natural, roots and loamy ground is fun to ride and race, and Eddie and Matt were having fun following each other, filming GoPro footage and learning lines.

Saturday – Finals

Downhill

Morning rain and fog threw a spanner in the works for downhill finals. The rain made the track slick and Emilie was enjoying sliding around and getting a bit loose on track. The fog lingered for Emilie's final run and the track remained slick, some risks were needed for a fast time.

Emilie attacked out the gate with a hard sprint and settled into her run. Attacking and taking risks you could see her tires sliding on the big screen in front of the packed crowd. Going fastest through the first two splits Emilie was having a flying run. Off the final drop into the finish area, Emilie crossed the line in 1^st by the smallest of margins. A fantastic ride guaranteed Emilie another podium finish and following an exciting woman’s race she finished 3^rd.

A fantastic result at her home race after a challenging weekend with conditions changing each session. Emilie soaked up the home support with friends and family congratulating her on her best result of 2019 season.

Enduro

Day one of the EWS in Whistler started with a bang. The Queen Stage was an 11km race from Whistler peak to the village. At almost 20 minutes of race time, this is one of the most physical tracks that the riders will tackle all year. Matt was the first Pivot rider down and was on a flyer. Riding strong but being careful not to push too hard he measured his efforts brilliantly. Posting the 4^th fastest time on the stage set off Matts weekend brilliantly.

Eddie was the second to last rider to drop in due to his high overall placing. This late start time causing some hindrance as the rain started to fall when he talked the track. Riding the track in the rain with changing conditions top to bottom was challenging for Eddie and he was disappointed to finish 13^th.

Sunday – Finals Day 2

Day two at the EWS in Whistler started in the rain. With wet conditions making the tracks slick, particularly the roots on stage 5. After a disappointing start, Eddie was revved up for the second race day and started off in the best way possible winning stage 2 and coming seconds on stage 3. The technical stages with mid-stage climbs made for awkward and physical riding where Eddie thrives and moved him up to 2^nd in the overall.

Matts motivation was high after a great stage 1 performance. Attacking hard on stage 2 Matt was going well until getting caught out on some wet roots. A small crash didn’t cost Matt too much time and he was soon back up to speed. Opting for a safer approach on stage 3 Matt rode a clean stage finishing 13^th and moving him to 5^th in the overall.

Stage 4 headed back into the bike park and although the roots were slippery, the moist dirt and rocks offers a surprising amount of grip. Matt tackled the stage with confidence but a few mistakes took him off line and lost him time in crucial sections. Eddie continued his good run of form with the 4^th fastest stage time. Enjoying the bike park sections and the big rock rolls Whistler is famous for.

Stage 5 had the riders nervous all day. One of the more freshly made trails the riders raced on the rain would make the going muddy and tough. Wet roots sprawling in all directions on corners, shoots and climbs would cause an even bigger problem.  

Matt rode a solid stage to finish 11^th, putting him in 9^th overall going into the final stage. Eddie had an admittedly scruffy run, losing some time to his rivals but keeping him in podium contention for the overall.

The final stage was another physical challenge down some of the fastest and roughest trails in the bike park. Matt attacked hard putting down a brilliant ride to take 5^th on the stage and move him up to finish the day 8^th overall.

Eddie started the stage hard but two crashes cost him time, getting back on the bike he took risks and pushed hard to maintain his podium finish for the second year in a row. Both riders were chuffed with their performance over the weekend and both have strengthened their position in the Enduro World Series 2019 overall standings.    

After two well earned 3^rd place finished at both events the whole team will be racing next week in Whistler for Crankworx, stay tuned for more exciting racing!

By Mike Janney - Team Manager

Adding wet weather to a track so viscous it's been nicknamed 'The Black Snake' made the Val di Sole World Cup even more difficult, but these challenges sure make a great result more rewarding.  

The team was back together racing at round 7 of the UCI Downhill World Cup in Val di Sole in Italy. Three weeks of training at home and in Morzine left the team ready to start a busy final portion to the 2019 season with back to back races in Europe, Canada and the USA for the next 9 weeks!

The super steep and rough track in Val di Sole is always a challenge even for the best riders in the world and the forecast of wet weather was going to make the challenge even greater. During track walk riders saw little change from the previous years, some sections were taped wide offering up more line choices but with no big changes the racers would be up to race speed within a few runs.

Suffering with a broken hand from n a training ride back home, Bernard was gutted to be missing the race. Despite this, his spirits were high and he was trackside helping the other riders with line selection, bike set up and keeping motivation high.

Joey Early of Cyclingtips.com took the Dirty Kanza Challenge. It's a pretty daunting task, throwing a leg over a bike and committing to completing a 200 mile ride. But consider that he made no special preparations and did it more or less on a dare with only a week's notice. And he did it on a bike he'd never seen before, much less ridden. Here's what happened.

To see more images from Joey's jaunt and read the entire feature, please visit Cyclingtips.com.