- Okay, so we're here at the Koppenberg Cyclocross,
one of the most iconic cross races in the world.
Today's the first race of the DVV Trophy.
I'm here with a friend, Bart.
- Hi.
- Well, the two-time Belgian champion,
two-time world champion.
Bart, thanks for coming out.
- You're welcome.
(metallic whooshing)
(dreamy electronic music)
(cheering in foreign language)
- Bart Wellens is the kind of badass cyclocross racer
that fans around the globe loved.
Bart's results, personality, and character
transcended generations in Belgian cyclocross lore.
Even today, he is as popular as ever.
His infamous duels in the heyday with Sven Nys
are still talked about in the sport today
as one of the most intense rivalries amongst friends
that the sport has ever witnessed.
His talent on the bike and his fast-paced lifestyle
attracted a myriad of wild and crazy supporters
that followed him to events week-in and week-out
and made him one of the Kings of Cross.
Bart retired from pro racing in 2015
and has since been working within the sport
doing what he loves.
Currently, he is the director of the Creafin-Fristads team
and the women's powerhouse program 777.be,
which is home to Yara Kastelijn, Annemarie Worst,
as well as Alice Arzuffi.
Bart let us run around with him for the day
to understand not only everything that he puts
into the program, but what goes into having success
at the highest level.
(dreamy electronic music)
We are here today with the women's 777.be team
and we're going to follow you around
as you talk about the girls.
You give them tips.
You give them pointers.
You're in the pits.
What is your role with them now?
What do you do?
- I do almost everything.
I show the sponsors before the season
but in the season especially, we give team trainings.
We give my advice to the ladies.
On the track, like today, pressure.
Which profiles they need to ride,
how to take corners running, riding.
All that stuff.
- And you give them probably a lot of motivation.
They're out there, it's a lot to think about.
You're at the race,
there's people, there's things going on,
press, fans,
the track conditions are changing,
you see something.
You're here to help them with all that.
- That's the reason why I'm here
and I'm running like 40,000 steps a day
when it's a race day,
but that's my job and I love it.
- All right, we're going to follow you around.
Thanks for having us today.
- Okay.
- [Jeremy] The Koppenberg is a seriously steep
cobbled climb located in the Flemish Ardennes
and is one of the most historic and famous climbs
in all of Belgium.
The venue is drenched in cycling history from over the years
and is widely known for its inclusion
in the Tour of Flanders classic road race
happening each spring.
Now, every November, the cobbled climb
in its seriously sloped hillside transforms
into one of the most treacherous and difficult race courses
on the cross season every season.
The 777 squad, as it's known to its fans,
is a professional all-women's cyclocross team
consisting of Dutch riders Yara Kastelijn,
who is the current European champion,
Annemarie Worst, who is currently ranked first in the world
on the UCI rankings, and Alice Arzuffi,
who last year famously won the SuperPrestige round in Gavere
and this year in Boom.
The program is in its second year
and has become one of, if not the best,
women's professional cross team on the circuit.
- Hello, I'm Annemarie Worst,
I'm coming from the Netherlands, and I'm 23 years old.
- Hi, I am Alice Marie Arzuffi and I am 25 years old.
- My name is Yara Kastelijn, I'm 22 years old,
and I come from the Netherlands.
(dramatic music)
- Ready, Bart?
Oh, your phone's ringing.
Do you need to take it?
- Okay, yeah, let's give me the phone.
Camille?
(dramatic music)
And on your own tempo.
Not whopping, all right?
You will be a lot of,
not boom, boom, boom in the beginning.
Your tempo.
(speaking in foreign language)
(dramatic music)
(speaking in foreign language)
- All right Bart, so what has happened?
It's been already a super intense day.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In the last moments, I think three minutes before the start,
Annemarie called that she had a flat tire
and her spare bike was not already yet
on the start. - At the right pressure.
- Yeah, so--
- Busy.
- Bit hectic.
So on that moment, Alice asked that she's stressed
because the pressure was not good in the tubes
(laughing)
on five minutes!
- Okay, a lot of problems.
You have to put the fires out.
- Yeah and count down them
and it was a bit of a problem for our mechanic maybe.
- [Announcer] Reigning American national champion
with everybody loving you, Katie Compton!
Let's start them (speaking in foreign language)
- (speaking in foreign language)
- [Announcer] (speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Watch the lights,
as we go straight up the Koppenberg,
the pretty brutal start to this one
and we are off and racing, Lechner!
That's a good start there, the Italian champion first.
(intense pop music)
Beth Crumpton, Anne K, we've got good starts here.
(announcing in foreign language)
Yara Kastelijn again, she had a great breakthrough.
(intense pop music)
(cheering)
- C'mon! (shouting in foreign language)
Kastelijn and Lechner, Lechner again the last few weeks.
777 again, looking good.
Annemarie Worst comes through here.
- Okay Bart, so you got two riders in the front right now.
- Yeah. (laughs)
- This is the first time that this track is muddy.
- [Bart] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Jeremy] The new track.
- [Bart] The new track.
- For a couple years now, it's been like this.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah and now, this morning,
it was also a bit dry, but now it's not really raining.
It's like-- - [Jeremy] Slick!
- [Bart] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Jeremy] Really slick.
- It's because the underground is hard
and just the top of it, it's yeah, a bit mud
and it's so slippery.
Even with the (murmurs), it's so slippery.
- What do you think about Yara Kastelijn off the front
and Annemarie, what are you saying to them
when they're in this position?
- Just still at focus, nothing more.
I can help them riding fast, but I can say
surge the green lines because it's so important
on a track like this.
There is the grass, there you have the grip,
there you can ride.
So, and mostly when they ride, it's like just in the front
and I hope that I can teach them to say them
on the green lines.
- Yes, yeah. - It's my best thing
to do, to confirm them and then also stay to the ground.
- Staying on the grass.
You have to stay where there's traction.
- Yeah, where the traction is and still focus on this track.
Focus.
(upbeat electronic music)
- [Narrator] Here's your chase-up, Annemarie Worst of 777,
so this team, what a start to the year they have had a
(speaking in foreign language)
Alice Marie Arzuffi gets back onto Ava Lechner.
Oh, Kastelijn slides out.
- Bart, you got interesting situation here.
You got your two riders are in the front.
Annemarie Worst, Yara Kastelijn, what are we thinking about?
What is your sense right now?
You're obviously, it's not tactical.
- No, no, no, it's heart-to-heart.
It's also a classification here on time,
(mumbling) is with time classifications,
so she need to ride for every second,
and Yara and Annemarie,
but the best thing is also Alice's on three,
so it can be possible that we have one, two and three
for the first time this season.
So, I'm real stressed now.
(laughing)
- Yeah, I understand, I understand.
And what do you besides that,
what are you thinking about when see Annemarie Worst
chasing down Yara Kastelijn?
Do you say something to them or is it not tactical
like that because they're in the first three?
- No, because they're fighting women to women,
they might to need to ride both full gas.
- Okay.
No tactics today.
- No tactics, no, no, no especially not with this--
- This type of track.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If it's flat and with a group,
there's no group anymore. - Okay yeah.
- So, this heart-to-heart and it's a time classification,
so they ride for every second, all three.
(upbeat electronic music)
- [Narrator] Worst tries to close the gap of the (murmurs),
shortens it very slightly, Yara Kastelijn takes the victory
here in the Koppenbergcross.
Another phenomenal victory comes to a halt.
At the top, totally exhausted, Worst takes second.
Accelerators going to be a 777 podium, Alice Arzuffi.
(dramatic cinematic music)
- (speaking in foreign language)
- [Jeremy] You had your teammate, Annemarie,
was chasing you from behind.
Did you think at any point maybe something with that?
- She's faster and better in the downhill technical paths,
but I think I'm stronger in the uphill.
So, I had some seconds before the uphill.
I was like, okay, I can do that.
It was our dream.
- [Jeremy] Okay, perfect, okay, congratulations.
- Thank you.
- We were starting with five minutes to go
and I was feeling that I had flat tire
and then I get bike, but the pressure was way too high
for this track and then in first mechanical,
soon I have to switch my bike,
so then I lost a little place because everyone was
still close together.
I'm happy with my ride.
I think I closed the gap in last really (mumbles)
for still maybe at the end, 10, 15 seconds.
So, I'm really happy with it yeah.
- [Jeremy] Okay, all right, thank you.
- (speaking in foreign language)
(dramatic cinematic music)
(upbeat jazz music)
- Bart, you guys tore it up out there.
One, two, three, it has to feel good!
- Yeah, honestly, we are one, two, three and four
because we have the Creafin - Fristads too
with Eva Lechner, so it's a bit,
it's a big day, great day today.
- Yeah, I think you guys go home.
There's probably not a lot to talk about.
You're just like, hey everybody, good job.
Rest up because they're racing again on Sunday.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So now it's recover for them.
For us, it's the big work now.
There are some bikes who are broken,
so we need to fix them up tomorrow.
- Okay.
- So, I got to do also some scooter training with some guys.
So, it was also be a fully Saturday.
- Yeah, yeah.
And so obviously, today went really well for Yara.
Small problems for Annemarie,
but these things happen in racing.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- That's normal.
- In cycle cross, nothing is 100%.
- Never. - And sometimes,
it's improve something on that moment myself, so.
It was a perfect day for everybody.
Also, with Annemarie with the pros with the women,
it's perfect day.
- What do you have coming up?
What is now the big focus for the team?
- We want to do the whole season a great job,
but that's not easy for every week to be the best.
On this week, on this moment every week is the best,
but we will see.
But now, it's first in two days, (mumbles)
and then we have the European Championship,
what's important for Annemarie to events,
but (mumbles) or big opponents, so we will see.
Also, Alice in home in Italy, but we will see.
First, European and now we will see, we probably go also
on trainings camp with the ladies and also some guys.
- A lot of organization stuff. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- A lot of being the ship boat captain.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Steer it
in the right direction!
- For sure.
- I want to thank you so much for your time, appreciate it.
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