We have fallen incredibly behind on our monthly prediction wrap ups. As a results we are going to run through the last three months of the season relatively quickly. For December, we predicted the results of the last few UC races, including all UCI categories at the US National Championships. We also predict the results of all the Kerstperiode races.
If you need a reminder of our points system, you can refer to September’s round up. The bottom line is that we can get a maximum of 12 points per race (the men’s and women’s are each worth six).
Here’s how we did:
NBX GP of Cross 2 (Sunday)
Elite Men
- Lane Maher12
- Ben Frederick50
- Merwin Davis00
Elite Women
- Rebecca Fahringer12
- Ruby West31
- Rachel Rubino100
Total Points: 5
Superprestige Zonhoven
Elite Men
- Toon Aerts12
- Laurens Sweeck22
- Eli Iserbyt32
Elite Women
- Ceylin Del Carmen Alvarado21
- Annemarie Worst11
- Laura Verdonschot90
Total Points: 8
US National Championships
Junior Men
- Andrew Strohmeyer12
- Magnus Sheffield31
- Nick Carter50
Junior Women
- Madigan Munro12
- Lizzy Gunsalus31
- Lauren Zoerner50
U23 Women
- Katie Clouse12
- Hannah Arensman22
- Ellie Mitchell60
U23 Men
- Lane Maher150
- Eric Brunner11
- Alex Morton40
Elite Women
- Katie Compton31
- Clara Honsinger11
- Rebecca Fahringer21
Elite Men
- Kerry Werner40
- Curtis White22
- Stephen Hyde32
Total Points: 18
World Cup Namur
Elite Men
- Mathieu van der Poel12
- Eli Iserbyt00
- Michael Vanthourenhout70
Elite Women
- Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado21
- Annemarie Worst31
- Lucinda Brand11
Total Points: 5
World Cup Zolder
Elite Men
- Mathieu van der Poel12
- Laurens Swecck22
- Tom Pidcock00
Elite Women
- Lucinda Brand12
- Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado22
- Annemarie Worst32
Total Points: 10
DVV Trofee: Loenhout
Elite Men
- Mathieu van der Poel12
- Laurens Sweeck110
- Michael Vanthourenhout70
Elite Women
- Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado12
- Annemarie Worst31
- Yara Kastelijn90
Total Points: 5
Superprestige Diegem
Elite Men
- Mathieu van der Poel12
- Quinten Hermans80
- Laurens Sweeck70
Elite Women
- Annemarie Worst12
- Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado22
- Sanne Cant80
Total Points: 6
The Results
As the season goes on, in theory, races are easier to predict due to the fact that we have a better idea of who’s on form. In reality, things are still tough to predict. Weather, form, and bad luck affected a lot of the podiums this month.
On the bright side, we did not score zero for any race. That means we at least got one rider correct on the podium in every single race. Last month, we only got one podium 100% correct. This month we correctly predicted the Elite Men’s podium in Zonhoven and the Elite Men’s podium at the Zolder World Cup. Interestingly, Zonhoven was one of the few races Matieu van der Poel did not participate in.
As the Dutch domination continued, it became clear that there were only a few women who were truly capable of landing on the podium. To that end, we got the Namur round of the World Cup right, just in the wrong order. The same went for the Elite Women’s race at Namur.
Because we predicted multiple races at the US National Championships, we could get a maximum of 108 points. Our point total was 57, which is 53% of the maximum points. This is a slight increase over November, when we got 51% of the maximum points. In September, we got 25% and in October we got 43% of the maximum points.
All in all, it was a good month.
