Solar Steller Start
The newly re-branded Solar Impulse Trophy began with the Tekapocross, first of the New Zealand double. Reigning competition winner Mazzarelli not competing in CX this season, who would step into his shoes? Well on such a hilly course there was only one answer. Francis N. Vague.

Our World Champion dominated the opening round putting serious time on the board already. He won solo by a staggering 37", one of the sports truely exceptional rides. Consider that in 2016 the Top7 were within 34". 2nd place went to neo-pro Anders Haugen who was very quiet in the opening races so far. Also on the podium was Christian Schiltz.

The other competition favorites finished further back. Elliott Cook 6th, Milan Listerijn 9th, Peter van Duyck 12th and Olivier Dubois 17th.

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What a Whakapapa
Second Round of the Superprestige. Vague our competition leader ahead of Lipawsky and Soucek going into the very technical race. Jan Soucek put his handling skills to use to take the fight to the bigger boys. Constantly attacking hurdles and stairs the Czech eventually just wore down his opponents in a true attritional effort.

A well deserved victory followed for Soucek. Dubois continued his strong start to the season for 2nd place. Lipwasky took 3rd, with Vague paying for his Tekapo efforts 4th. This gives us a three-way tie for the competition lead, as Vague, Lipawsky and Soucek all have 27 points. It's going to be a great year for sure!

Goldie

And so the whole circus rolled up to the USA. Portland opening the week with the World Cup event. Then on to Seattle for the Solar Impulse Trophy. Trip down the 101 to Twin Peaks, San Francisco. And straight south to Cali, Colombia, and Antofagasta, Chile, for a World Cup double. With 150 World Cup points on offer in 15days it's a key part of my season. And of course racing on home turf. No chance to take it easy!

We've been Stateside for a week already, having skipped the New Zealand races. It's been a lot of media appointments and sponsor events. I don't much care for them but i know they are to be done. Raising my profile is no bad thing either, makes me more valuable as a rider to any team.

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TDF

The whole team had to come together to help Goldie in the Portland CX race. Boyed on by a raucous home crowd all four of us got the front almost immediately. Ok so did several others but it still allowed us to try and control the race. I set about maintaining a discouraging pace, just keeping the speed high enough to put anyone off attacking. It's a classic Road Race tactic we've tried before and had some success with.

Today it was really working. After 3 Laps i had to pull out the way and drop off, my job done. Radio took over and upped the speed every so slightly, slimming the group down over the next two laps. Start of Lap 6 he had to surrender. This left Goldie and Rock up front, along with Vague, Lipawsky, Cook, Dubois, Van Duyck and Haugen. Rocks turn to set the pace and he really attacked Lap 6 hard! He couldn't shake anyone but with two to go the group wasn't looking fresh.

Van Duyck attacked mid-way round Lap 7. He clearly wanted to defend his early competition lead. This was countered by Dubois, probably hunting the race win. Olivier brining Van Duyck back to the group as the final lap began. Vague wasn't waiting and dived into turn 1. Exiting the corner Lipwasky and Goldie were stuck the World Champs wheel. These three clearly had something left in the tank the rest didn't.

Despite all three riding hard they can't shake each other. Goldie stuck himself to Vagues wheel, ready to accelerate at the last moment. Vague, trying to dislodge him, slowed up a touch to much. Lipawsky easily getting the jump to win, and even Goldie came around Vague. The dominant Belgian misjudging the finale, possibly for the first time ever!

I had the pleasure of watching this unfold on the big screens as i trundled around. It's a good result for Goldie and the team, he gains a little more on Vague and can really push on at the next two events which suit him very very well indeed.

World Cup Standings: 1st - Lipawsky 80pts. 2nd - Goldenberg 80pts. 3rd Van Duyck 77pts. 4th Vague 62pts. 5th Dubois 46pts.

Radio

Second round of the Solar Impulse. Having skipped New Zealand it put the whole team at a 5minute disadvantage straight off and killed any overall hopes. That said the individual races are still very much contestable. I had eyed up this Seattle race as a good tester for my improvments in training. A good ride here and i'm on the right track.

But much like in New Zealand there was another whitewash ride in the SIT. And it was that man Vague again. On probably the most Belgian course outside the Benelux region it was to be expected. Francis putting another half a minute into the field. The difference for this race being that Milan Listerijn showed signs of fighting spirit in second, out sprinting Cook.

Myself, it was an ok day. 8th place isn't the best but i'm happy with that. Given the increased quality this season i see it as a step forwards. Things will go better for me as we head further south to Colombia and Chile.

Solar Impulse Trophy: 1st - Vague. 2nd - Schiltz +1'13. 3rd - Cook +1'14. 4th - Haugen +1'16. 5th Bauer +1'19

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Rock

Superprestige Round 3 in San Francisco. The weather was horrible and my smile widened as more rain fell. The rain made it less about the climbing and more abou the technical descending and sections. Neutralising the skills of the established Europeans, namely Mr Vague.

Clearly bouyed on by his strong ride in Seatle it was Listerijn who animated the race tday. He attacked the opening lap to break the field up, and did so very effectively. I could see the competitions contenders: Lipwasky, Soucek and Dubois, working hard in the chase. I tagged onto them, alongside Eldjfallsson. After 4 laps Listerijn still lead, by 15" ahead of the 5 of us chasers. Vague was a bit behind us with Cook, Visconti and Welling.

It made for a high speed ride, or rather an atempt at speed. The mud doing an excellent job of sapping the actual speed from us. Things had stabilised for two more laps, brining us to number 7 and two to go. The solo effort taking its toll on Milan but he dug deep. Vague was coming up behind so on a short downhill i pushed forwards. Lipawsky, Soucek and Dubois were too tired to follow.

The pursuit was dogged but Listerijn was on fire. He just held me off to win, by barely three seconds. Vague had used Welling to chase himself into 3rd, you cannot keep this guy out of the action! Soucek outsprinted Lipawsky for 4th, with Dubois 6th. The Superprestige is still the closest competition.

Superprestige Standings: 1st - Vague 40pts. 2nd - Soucek 39pts. 3rd - Lipawsky 38pts. 4th - Listerijn 35pts. 5th - Dubois 34pts.

Goldie
Cutting south through the Americas into Colombia, and the first of a key double for the World Cup. Two very flat races in Cali and Chile that suited me down to the ground. It was all set to head to Africa with a sizable lead in the competition. There's just one factor you can never count out, Vague.

The guy is something else. As much as he isa rival sometimes you have to step back and say “wow�. He stepped up today and delivered a performance no other rider in the peloton every could. Consider this, last year I beat him by 1'08. This year he beat the whole field by over 2'00. It was a sight to behold. I obviously can't tell you things from his point of view but from my eyes it was a performance equivalent to any great sporting achievment. Nothing would slow him.

I wish the same could be said for my race. Etxeberdea was part of our chase group on Lap 5 when he missed a hurdle and came down. He took out me and a couple of other guys in the pack. It was an accident but compounded the pain of the day. It left Van Duyck clear to take 2nd ahead of Visconti in a mixed up finale. I could only salvage 9th place come the line, having changed bikes twice following the crash. Lead reversed...

World Cup Standings: 1st – Van Duyck 117pts. 2Nd – Vague 112pts. 3Rd – Lipwasky 100pts. 4Th – Goldenberg 98pts. 5Th – Cook 69pts.