And I would like this opportunity to give a warm Welcome to my new blog. My name is Gijs Van Hoecke, I originally come from Belgium and my biggest achivement as of yet is a medal at the Olympics.
I am a professional Track Cyclist and my speciality is Madison, which I won a medal at the Olympics in. I am also a professional road cyclist for Belgian team Topsport Vlaanderen and I have been at the team since 2011.
Your first question might be, why am I starting this blog, and this is because mainly I want to have a chance to express my feelings, to somebody who is just looking for some entertainment. The other reason is that I have cooperated with the International Cycling Organisation UCI, and I have become a new member of a new programme, which purpose is to give professional teams an easier time finding new talents.
It's an Programme with 100 participators at first, the original term for this programme is the "Challenge Tour" and the programme contain 4 different types of cycling : Road, Track , Mountain Bike, BMX and Cyclocross. These hundred consist of 50 professionals and 50 amateurs, and the professionals participating is 10 from each type of cycling.
All riders is teamed up in groups of 2 ( 1 professional and 1 amateur ) and the goal for each rider is to gain as many points they can from each class, and the top of each ranking ladder will get contracts offered from teams, which is at the top of each class. The Challenge Tour will also cointain five Super Weeks, which each contain a "Challenge" and this is a 5 stage category, which can include whatever category of cycling that exist.
And Finally each rider can only have 2 focus categories and 2 they will not focus on, this means that a rider that wins a race in his focus category, he will gain points equal to what is decided for that category, and this also happens if it were not one of his Focus categories.
Rules
So in order to give you an better overview , I've taken this chance to describe how each category will work out in this Challenger Tour :
Classics
This category doesn't need much explonation , but the idea is that 10 races taken from the World Tour Classics, including Ronde van Vlaanderen , La Fleche Wallone and Paris - Roubaix to name a few. The classics will be split up , as far they an get from each other , in order to make it harder to prepare and this is where the challenge aspect really comes.
It will also give an opportunity to try out the big classics and it will for most, give the experience needed to get a solid career up and running.
The classic category will also be set into a whole 5 day challenge , which will be raced 3 times in a new region of the world and it would mean that a total of 25 classics , will be able to try out.
Track/Circuit
Welcome to my focus category, This category contain all the categories of modern Track Cycling : Scratch , Keirrin , Sprint , Time Trial and Points Race.
I can't wait to show you why I have been called the "Solid Rock" for the past 6 years!
Moutain Bike
This category will feature terrain of both cobble, gravel , dirt and stone tracks. the routes will be from the Mountain Bike World Cup , but the interesting part is that it will have 3 sub categories, which I will explain :
Down Hill
Is the category where you start from the top of a mountain and you have to get to the finish as fast as possible, where the finish is at the bottom of the mountain. The stage is only 3 km long , but on you way down you will meet stony roads, long jumps and even trees on the route down will occur at a speed around 70 km/h.
It is probaby the most dangerous cycling category ever and the amateurs will have a hard time being on the bike, and many injuries can't be avoided.
XCE / Cross Country Eliminator
Is a short ranged track, where each heat wil feature 4 riders, and the first two to cross the line first, will get to the next round , and the last two will be eliminated.
Even though the track is short , hilly climbs and different layouts will make it hard to keep the pace and its a category, where the winner will be the one with the best torque will finish the day with a smile.
XCO / Cross Country Cycling
Is what you can call the standard mountain bike category , and the route can be from 30 minutes and up to 24 hours long and you can call it the heavy category of cyclocross. As the terrain can change many times and the courses consist of a mix of rough forest paths ,smooth fireroads and paved paths that consist of many different terrains.
It's the hardcore version of Mountain Bike and in some cases the Down Hill category will be included in the races. The time difference will also be huge in the longer races , but as the stage can be anything from 5 km to 80 km's long, the skills included is the heaviest in the Challenger Tour and the one rider with the best technical prowess , will most certainly be the one with the best skills in the whole Tour.
In this Tour however, the short races will be from 10 - 20 km, and is called Shootout and the longer races will be called Marathon, and will be from 65 - 80 km long.
BMX
Is a short ranged category with small climbs, which follow each other few metres from each other, the challenger tour has made a harder compound than the profesionals competes on , as the course will be 6 km long and 8 riders will face each other, and to make things harder, only the first two to cross the line first will be able to go to the next round.
The compound consist of a mix of sand, dirt and gravel and the first metres will decide who will have the best chance of winning, as it's about keeping the pace while controlling the others, as overtaking is hard on the hilly track.
Cyclo Cross
Features around 70 - 90 km of a technical route, which can include compounds like cobble, gravel and dirt. The whole pack of the 100 contenders will race against each other and keeping the pace for 80 km can be hard, and the winner will be the one with the most energy , which he will use to create a gap to the other favorites.
Challenge
This is the one category it's all about, the Challenge category is a tour of 5 stages that can include any type of race, that have been mentioned. And to make things harder , we will first be told 10 minutes before the arrival, which category we will race that day.
Some challenges will be harder than others, but this category has been made to see who will have the best overall abillities among the contenders. But the other hard part is that, no one has an challenge where they can say, it fits their specialities and it will surely leave a close competition of dominance.
My focus
The UCI has made it clear that, in order to give the professionals an easier time to focus on certain categories, without having to take the competition out for that number of riders. They have given us an opportunity to sort out our own schedule, which means we won't have to race every race, like the amateurs that won't be able to sort any race out of their focus races.
This also means in those categories that I don't focus on, won't be able to overwhelm my preparations, as I will content as an amateur in those I didn't pick away. But luckily I don't have any races on my schedule between the 1st June and to the Road Race World Championships, I will be able to participate in order to reach my goal of an Top 5 in the Challenger Tour, but the path will be hard, fun, instructive and challenging. So I hope I will get support from you followers , and cya in some time.
Point System
The Challenge Tour also need a point system :
and Secondary Places
All this will be noted in a Ranking table in Excel, which Bikex has promised to make. This Ranking ladder will be posted alongside every race in the Challenge Tour
AUTHOR NOTES
Spoiler
Hi Guys
This project has now been underway for about a year, and the whole idea was set in form when I talked with my brother sgdanny, and asked how you could find more talent for a sport like cycling, and his answer was that if someone was interested in spending money on an idea, which could make the chance of finding a talent higher, then that idea would be the a good way to accellerate the time of finding new talents.
Even though I disagreed at first, it got me thinking how I would like to see that be given form, and after spending time on creating the timeline that my thought would direct upon, is what just have been published.
The results will be presented as a rider, writing a blog about the feelings involved during each race and I hope that I can find an unique way of showing the results in a well described, but also entertaining way. The idea is currently to switch between riders each season to create some more creative paths to this story. Enjoy
Info about Gijs Van Hoecke
Age : 23 , birthdate : 12nd November 1991
Nationality and Birthplace : Ghent, Belgium
Height : 186 cm
Weight : 75 kg
Notable Results
Gold :
Olympics 2012 , Madison with Kenny De Ketele
World Championships 2012 , Madison with Kenny De Ketele
Bronze :
World Championships 2011 , Madison with Kenny De Ketele
Name :
Nationality :
Birth date :
Age* :
Height :
Weight :
Specialities ( Choose 2** ) :
Secondary Focus ( Choose 2*** ) :
Partner **** :
Jersey***** :
Additional Info ( Background, pics etc. ) :
Your application form :
Spoiler
Name :
Nationality :
Birth date :
Age :
Height :
Weight :
Specialities :
Secondary Focus :
Partner :
Jersey :
Additional Info ( Background, pics etc. ) :
* From 17 to 24
** Classics cannot be chosen
*** The ones not chosen in Specialities, except Classics
**** Pick from the list below
***** You will use this in the default categories : Track , Cyclo Cross , Mountain Bike and BMX. You will automatically be assigned to a team in the Classics category
List of available riders to join
Spoiler
NAME Special Secondary Focus
Gijs Van Hoecke TM CyB
Kenneth Vanbilsen CyT BM
Magnus Cort CyM TB
Dylan van Baarle CyM TB
Matej Mohoric MB CyT
Bob Jungels CyT MB
Guillaume Van Keisbulck TB CyM
Danny Van Poppel TM CyB
Jasha Sütterlin TM CyB
Luke Rowe TM CyB
Mathias Møller Nielsen CyT MB
Michael Glaetzer CyT MB
Pavel Kelemen TB CyM
Matthijs Buchli TB CyM
Hugo Barriette CyT MB
Thomas Boudat TM CyB
Tirian McManus TM CyB
Dylan Kennett CyT MB
Rafal Jeziorksi TB CyM
Aleh Ahiyevich TB CyM
Lars van der Haar CyB TM
Corne Van Kessel CyB TM
Wielse Bosmans CyB TM
David Van der Poel CyM TB
Mathieu Van der Poel CyM TB
Marcel Meisen CyM TB
Toon Aerts CyB TM
Clement Venturini CyB TM
Michael Boros CyB TM
Logan Owen CyM TB
Connor Fields BM CyT
Sam Willoughby BM CyT
Vincent Pelluard BM CyT
Renato Rezende BM CyT
Kyle Evans BM CyT
Luis Brethauser BM CyT
Cesar Montenegro BM CyT
Federico Villegas BM CyT
Per Erik Nilsen BM CyT
Jukia Yashimaru BM CyT
Ondrej Cink CyM MT
Fabrice Mels CyM TB
Jordan Sarrou BM CyT
Anton Cooper BM CyT
Julian Schelb BM CyT
Loic Bruni BM CyT
Danny Hart CyM MT
Ziga Pandur CyM MT
George Brannigan CyM MT
Francisco Pardal CyM MT
Cy - Cyclocross
M - Mountain Bike
T - Track
B - BMX
