May 20, 2006 (Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium) – Tomorrow’s UCI World Cup cross country event in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium is guaranteed to be a mud fest. The 5.4-kilometre courses twists and turns through the coniferous forest around the Francorchamps Formula One race track, and torrential showers have turned the loamy soil to deep mud. The track is made even sketchier by a maze of routes. Tomorrow’s weather forecast calls for a mixed bag of clouds, showers with a high of 14 degrees Celsius. High winds, hail and thunderstorms have also accompanied the unsettled weather.

The women get underway at 11:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. EST) and the men take off at 2:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. EST). Riders have been scrambling to find narrow, knobby mud tires to cut through the sludge. Top choices are the Maxxis Medusa 1.8, Hutchinson Bulldog 1.85 and Schwalbe Nobby Nic.

Once again, both the men’s and women’s the start lists are loaded. There are a whopping 107 women and 275 men registered and there will be no qualifier to pare down the fields. Mass course cutting could be an issue again this week, as it was last week in Madrid, where riders complained of large groups of racers cutting significant chunks of the course during the first lap to get around areas of congestion.

All the top contenders are registered. Last week’s winners, Julien Absalon (FRA, Bianchi-Agos) and Gunn-Rita Dahle (NOR, Multivan-Merida) will be on the start line, along with men’s home favourites, Belgians Roel Paulissen (BEL, Giant) and Filip Meirhaeghe (BEL, Groep Versluys-Sportstech). Paulissen finished second last year, behind Absalon. Canada’s Marie-Hélène Prémont (CAN, Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) won the event here last year, one of the two times last year that she vanquished the great Dahle.

Other Canadian women starting tomorrow are Alison Sydor (CAN, Rocky Mountain-Business Objects), Kiara Bisaro (CAN, Team R.A.C.E.), Wendy Simms (CAN, Kona-Velo Bella), Trish Sinclair (CAN, Scott USA-Kenda), Martina Feldmann (CAN, X.O-Felt) and Sandra Walter (CAN, X.O-Felt).

The Canadian men competing tomorrow are Geoff Kabush (CAN, Maxxis), Seamus McGrath (CAN, Felt), Marty Lazarski (Rocky Mountain/Business Objects), and Mathieu Toulouse (CAN, Maxxis).

Success tomorrow will likely depend not only on who has the biggest engine, but on tire choice, cyclocross skills [i.e. don’t be surprised if former World Cyclocross Champ Thomas Frischknecht (SUI, Swisspower) rises to the challenge] and luck as well. Conditions like this quickly clog drivetrains, cause chainsuck and gum up pedals and cleats.

The number of laps is likely to be low because of the slow and difficult course conditions, but nothing has been confirmed at this point.