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It was super tough indeed. I remember there were about 6 to 700 qualification riders (Houffalize was one of the most famous of the European World Cup races) and only the best 10% were allowed to ride the final (together with those that qualified in earlier races that year). It was my very first year of competition (and I was still studying and didn't invest lots of time in training) so I never really hoped to make it through the qualifications. It was just for fun and fun we had! I never really went international either, just did the National Series and was happy to find myself among the first 20 in the results. These were mixed races (Elite with and without contract in the same race) so not really very motivating though. But yes, it was big fun. It was all very "chill" and one could just have a small chat with John Tomac, Ned Overend or Tinker Juarez at the local bakery the day before the race. :-)
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WimVDD
@thebrenthamtaffy
@WimVDD
Good effort though! Must have been super-tough to qualify. I used to race in the UK only and if doing National races, I used to get my arsed properly kicked! Stupidly I always put my work before cycling so just didn't get time to train enough :(