Kentish Express Ashford & District
Field full of confidence after landing title treble
Ian Field heads into two of his biggest races of the season in confident mood after celebrating his third successive National CycloCross title.
The 27-year-old from Ashford heads to Nommay in France on Sunday for the seventh UCI World Cup event, before moving onto Hoogerheide on the Dutch/Belgium borders for the 2014 World Championship the following weekend.
The forme r Nor ton Knatchbull School pupil became the first rider to win three British titles in a row earlier this month, since Roger Hammond achieved the feat in 2003, on his way to five in a row.
Field’s ride to victory at the Moorways Leisure Centre, Derby, wasn’t without its problems, though.
He said: “I suffered a bit of a blip mid-race in the valley part of the course which was muddy and slippery.
“I was 10-12 seconds up at the time but reduced it to four or five. It was fairly comfortable in the end, though.”
Field’s nearest challenger for much of the races was National Trophy champion Paul Oldham (Hope Factory Racing) but his challenge faded after his machine got caught up in trackside tape, eventually finishing fourth,
‘Consistency has been important and I am 10 places
up on last year’
behind runner- up David Fletcher and third placed Nick Craig.
The Harcourt Cycles rider, who rides as a professional on the continent and lives in Oudenaarde, Belgium, is pleased with the way his world cup season has panned out so far this season.
He lies 24th out of 80 overall heading into Sunday’s race and is the only male British rider competing at the top level of cyclo-cross.
He said: “It’s gone well. I finished 17th and 18th in the opening two races of the season, my two best performances ever in what has been my best season to date.
“Consistency has been important and I am 10 places up on last year.
“I also led for two laps in the Koppenberg, ( one of the biggest individual races on the Belgium calendar) before finishing 13th last November.”
Field is eyeing a top25 finish at Hoogerheide, a course he has ridden before.
He said: “I have had mixed fortunes there in two or three races there in the past where conditions can vary. I raced there in deep mud one year and on ice in another.”