2019 Fantasy Cyclocross Worlds: Contest Winners, By the Numbers – Cyclocross Magazine

Each year, our fantasy cyclocross contests provide a chance for readers to show their ’cross knowledge and take a temperature of how the collective cyclocross community thinks championship races are going to play out. Our latest contest was the 2019 Worlds Fantasy Cyclocross.

This season, the Elite Women’s and Elite Men’s international fields each had their own unique contours. For the women, the international field had wins spread across a number of riders and heading into Worlds, there was a sense that the winner might be an unexpected one.

On the men’s side, the regular season was all about Mathieu van der Poel, with the Dutch wunderkind winning every race he entered in the three months (!) before the World Championships. However, Van der Poel had entered previous Worlds races as the odds-on favorite, only to come up short, so he had a several-year monkey to get off his back in Bogense.

Would the past be prologue? Was this a year for betting on the underdogs? We take a look at the numbers from our 2019 Fantasy Cyclocross Worlds contest and get to what most of you probably came here for—the winners.

File photo: Cyclocross Magazine readers clamoring to enter our Fantasy Worlds contest. 2019 Cyclocross World Championships, Bogense, Denmark. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

Elite Women

This season, something like 13 different women won an international race in Belgium, the Netherlands or the World Cup series. Leading the way among those winners were Sanne Cant (7), Marianne Vos (7), Lucinda Brand (6) and Denise Betsema (5).

Not surprisingly, the top three women on that list led the way for readers’ picks to win the Elite Women’s race in Bogense. Out of 256 total entries, the breakdown was:

• Brand – 100 – 39%
• Vos – 78 – 30%
• Cant – 35 – 14%

The top pick who wasn’t one of those three? Katie Compton, whom 26 people picked to one-up her second-place finish in Valkenburg last year. In total, 42 percent of entries had Compton on the podium.

The most popular podium choice among contest entries turned out to be the one that actually happened. Thirty-three percent of all entries had a podium with Cant, Brand and Vos. However, only three people correctly picked the Cant – Brand – Vos finishing order, thanks mostly to so few people betting on Sanne Cant.

As we have learned the last three years, bet against Cant on the biggest stage at your own risk.

Only three entries perfectly picked the podium. 2019 Cyclocross World Championships, Bogense, Denmark. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

At U.S. Nationals, the leaders after Lap 1 were a bit more definitive than at Worlds. With big groups in both the Elite Women’s and Elite Men’s races, the primes were close ones. For the Elite Women, Worst crossed the line first.

Annemarie Worst was the first across the line in Lap 1.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the weekend—well, except for those pesky athletes who turned in world-class performances—was Iowa reader Doug, who went perfect for the Elite Women’s race. He picked all seven spots correctly, had Annemarie Worst as the first across the line after Lap 1 and was just one second off the winning time gap.

We will, of course, be contacting Doug for his lottery picks.

Elite Men

Given the dominance of Mathieu van der Poel this season, the Elite Men’s race provided an opportunity for enterprising readers to take a bit of a gamble.

Last season in Valkenburg, that gamble paid off. Van Aert finished ahead of Van der Poel in 4 of 25 races before Worlds in 2017/18, giving the Belgian—at least statistically speaking—a 12-percent chance of beating the Dutchman at Worlds. Knowing most other entrants would likely pick Van der Poel last year, picking Van Aert was a high risk – high reward proposition that paid off.

This season, Van Aert finished ahead of Van der Poel in 2 of 19 races, dropping his statistical odds to 10.5-percent. Not that much different than last year, but entering Worlds, Van der Poel had not not won a race since November 1. The Van Aert value bet was seemingly not as good in 2019.

And that is how readers responded.

Fully 85% of entries picked Van der Poel to win his second Elite World Championship. Those who did roll the dice went with Van Aert at a seven-percent clip and four percent of entries selected Aerts, even though Aerts topped Van Aert at Belgian Nationals a month ago.

Even though more entries picked Van Aert versus Aerts for the win, the MvdP – Aerts – WvA podium was the choice of nearly 50 percent of all entries. Thirty percent went with MvdP – WvA – Aerts, which was probably the most common international podium this season. Eighty-six percent of entries had a podium that included those three riders.

The best three of the season. LEighty-six percent of entries had this group on the podium. Thirty percent picked the correct order., 2019 Cyclocross World Championships, Bogense, Denmark. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross MagazineToon Aerts, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert. Elite Men, 2019 Cyclocross World Championships, Bogense, Denmark. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

Eighty-six percent of entries had this group on the podium. Thirty percent picked the correct order., 2019 Cyclocross World Championships, Bogense, Denmark. © B. Hazen / Cyclocross Magazine

The Lap 1 prime in the Elite Men’s race was also a close one. Lars van der Haar took the prime by maybe a knob or two on his cyclocross tire while leading a large group of riders across the line.

Lars van der Haar just barely led across the line after Lap 1

Top Elite Men prognostication honors was a tie between Miles of Oregon and Niamh of Ireland, who each picked the top seven finishers correctly. All they were missing were the two primes. Maybe we will consult them for lottery advice as well.

The Winners

Thank you to our generous sponsors Easton, Feedback Sports, Dean Bikes, Merlin Bikes and Kenda Tires, our prize haul for this edition of Fantasy Worlds is impressive. Prizes go to the top nine finishers, with winners getting dibs in descending order of finish.

Our 2019 winner was Mr. Perfect—at least for the Elite Women—Iowa Doug. Doug nailed the Women’s choices to the tune of 145 points (290 was the max possible score) and then rode the Van der Poel win and Van Aert and Aerts podium to the top of the standings with a total of 215 points.

Kent of California came in a close second with a total of 210, thanks in large part to scoring an impressive 130 in the Elite Men’s race, and then picking Brand in second and nailing the Elite Women’s podium provided the extra points to take second.

Rounding out the Fantasy Cyclocross podium with 195 points was Garrison of New Hampshire, who was one of the three people to perfectly pick the Women’s podium.

We will be contacting winners soon. We had a tie for 7th through 11th place, so we went to the tiebreaker of closest to the combined time gap for the two Elite races.

By popular demand, you can check your results in the table below. Thank you to everyone who entered and thanks again to our contest sponsors.

Also, if you don’t already, consider giving our contest sponsors a follow on Instagram: Easton, Feedback Sports, Kenda Tires, Dean Bikes, Merlin Bikes.

Featured image: Kirk Keeler

2019 Fantasy Cyclocross Worlds Results

Place	Name	Home	Total (calc)	Elite Women Score	Elite Men Score
1	Doug	Iowa	215	145	70
2	Kent	Los Angeles	210	80	130
3	Garrison	Manchester, NH	195	110	85
4	Miles	Bend	190	55	135
	J	Cottam	190	75	115
	Andrew	Pittsfield	190	70	120
7	Nicolas	Los Angeles	185	65	120
	Josiah	Salem	185	55	130
	Forest	JACKSON	185	60	125
	Benjamin	Mt Holly Springs	185	105	80
	Kristian	Seattle	185	75	110
12	Jacob	Kansas City	180	75	105
	John	Boulder	180	65	115
	John	New York	180	75	105
15	Rick	Tampa	175	65	110
	Niamh	Dublin, Ireland	175	40	135
	Lindsey	Marshall	175	110	65
	Noah	Des Moines	175	55	120
	Richard	Groveland	175	60	115
	Patrick	Rockville Centre, NY	175	70	105
21	Sam	Los Angeles	170	90	80
	JaAnn	San Luis Obispo, CA	170	60	110
	Zak	Glenside	170	55	115
	Derrick	Fort Worth	170	45	125
25	Brian	Waseca	165	50	115
	Dave	Clear Lake	165	85	80
	Drew	Louisville, KY	165	55	110
	Joel	Liefke	165	45	120
	sean	Charlotte	165	50	115
	Michelle	Noblesville	165	55	110
	Chase	Cincinnati	165	70	95
	abby	asheville	165	65	100
	Curran	Whitewater	165	60	105
	Ian	North Vancouver BC	165	60	105
	Paul	Erie	165	50	115
36	Marc	Freeport ME	160	50	110
	Ron	Riverton	160	35	125
	Matt	New York	160	60	100
	Jo	Oslo	160	75	85
	Jay	Greensboro	160	60	100
	Norm	San Diego	160	50	110
	Tydeman	Woodland Hills	160	60	100
	Ryan	Halifax	160	55	105
	Sara	Cedar Rapids	160	50	110
	Anthony	Melbourne, Australia	160	55	105
46	John	Vancouver, BC, Canada	155	45	110
	Cody	Boonville, IN	155	55	100
	Brad	Middleburgh	155	50	105
	Scott	Albany	155	45	110
	Brian	Raleigh	155	40	115
	Steven	WEST CHESTER	155	30	125
	Justin	Granville	155	55	100
	Bobby	Harrisburg	155	45	110
	Tom	Madison	155	45	110
	James	Niskayuna	155	45	110
	Kevin	DURHAM	155	45	110
	Jimmy	Colorado Springs	155	60	95
	Andy	Manchester	155	50	105
	scott	north vancouver	155	35	120
60	Maaasharu	NEW YORK	150	70	80
	Stephen	Philadelphia	150	50	100
	Mat	Lawrenceville	150	75	75
	Miriam	Burlington, ON	150	35	115
	Joe	Capitola	150	50	100
	Taylor	oklahoma city	150	30	120
	Stephen	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	150	40	110
	Dylan	Berkeley	150	50	100
	Sterling	Seattle	150	100	50
69	Tim	Marshall	145	70	75
	Adriana	Madison	145	65	80
	Keir	Plymouth	145	60	85
	Tyler	Richmond	145	40	105
	Chris	Gill	145	30	115
	Gary	Medford, MA	145	60	85
	Luke	Brewster	145	40	105
	Clinton	Brisbane	145	55	90
	Michael	Castroville, CA	145	40	105
	Martin	Ottawa	145	30	115
	Davis	Huntsville, AL	145	35	110
	Anthony	San Marcos, TX	145	65	80
	Scott	Bishop	145	40	105
	Joshua	Prosper	145	60	85
	Mitchell	Santa Cruz	145	45	100
	Bella	philadelphia	145	45	100
	Marc-Antoine	Rosemere	145	70	75
	Jim	Iowa city	145	35	110
87	Virginia	Brights Grove (can have shipments received in USA	140	60	80
	Allison	Los Angeles	140	55	85
	Geoff	Cape Elizabeth, Maine	140	55	85
	Brian	Calais	140	65	75
	Chris	La Crosse, WI	140	50	90
	Tanner	Tulsa	140	50	90
	Natasha	Gatineau	140	50	90
	Mark	Worcester	140	30	110
	Christopher	Thunder Bay	140	25	115
96	Brad	Scotts Valley	135	65	70
	Michael	Iowa City	135	55	80
	John	Mono	135	55	80
	Mike	Stow	135	50	85
	Becky	Monona, WI	135	50	85
	Rob	Park Ridge	135	60	75
	Matt	Bend	135	45	90
	JC	Seattle	135	25	110
	Patrick	Chicago	135	45	90
	Bryan	Pocatello	135	65	70
	GREGORY	Carolina Beach	135	25	110
	TAFF	ODESSA	135	35	100
	Ryan	Pittsburgh	135	40	95
	Katy	Portland	135	25	110
110	Mark	Mount Tremper	130	40	90
	Benjamin	Arvada	130	50	80
	Mark	Dundas	130	50	80
	Stephen	Toronto	130	50	80
	Chris	Madison	130	40	90
	Frederic	Sherbrooke	130	55	75
	luke	Southampton, ma	130	55	75
	JOSHUA	NEW YORK	130	60	70
	bill	RICHFIELD	130	45	85
	Jon	Littleton, CO	130	55	75
	Marc	New York	130	65	65
121	Willem	Philadelpia	125	40	85
	Steven	Fort Worth	125	50	75
	mike	reno	125	50	75
	Stephen	Columbus, Ohio	125	80	45
	Ralph	Boulder	125	45	80
	Jason	Austin	125	45	80
	Gen	osaka	125	45	80
	Patrick	Olathe	125	35	90
	Daniel	Portland, OR	125	50	75
	Mat	Lexington	125	50	75
	Sean	San Luis Obispo, CA	125	45	80
	Frank	Salem	125	65	60
	Xavier	Montreal, Qc, Canada	125	40	85
	Barry	Sewell	125	55	70
	Theron	Utica	125	50	75
	James	Peterborough	125	55	70
	graham	kensington	125	25	100
	David	Washington	125	55	70
139	Adam	NEW YORK	120	50	70
	Dave	West Bend WI	120	45	75
	Kyle	Parker	120	30	90
	Matt	Boston, MA	120	45	75
	Steve	IOWA CITY	120	45	75
	Amanda	Millersville	120	45	75
	Henry	Madison	120	35	85
	Elisabeth	Philadelphia	120	40	80
	Josh	Columbia	120	45	75
	Scott	Wilmington, De	120	30	90
	Fernando	Dillon	120	55	65
	Josh	Prosper, TX	120	35	85
	Karl	Bend	120	45	75
	Oliver	Boulder	120	55	65
	James	Chico Ca	120	30	90
154	Nat	Easton	115	40	75
	David	Stavanger	115	35	80
	Matthew	Fallston	115	50	65
	Brendon	Medford, MA	115	55	60
	Greg	S. Burlington	115	5	110
	Holly	Buffalo	115	45	70
	Eric	PORTLAND	115	50	65
	Benjamin	Fayetteville	115	35	80
	Tony	Cottingham	115	30	85
	Ben	Portland	115	45	70
	John	Wilmington, DE, USA	115	55	60
	Doug	Ottawa, Ontario	115	35	80
	Dimitri	belgium	115	45	70
	Brian	Alma	115	55	60
	Ed	Winston Salem	115	45	70
	Eric	Beaver, Utah	115	50	65
	Adam	Bothell	115	45	70
	Adam	Chapel Hill	115	45	70
	Rob	Wileville	115	45	70
	Susan	Folsom,ca.	115	55	60
	Gary	Trevose	115	30	85
175	Adam	Reston	110	35	75
	David	New York	110	30	80
	Mike	Gainesville, VA	110	35	75
	Gilbert	Portland	110	30	80
	Steve	Shelbyville	110	50	60
	Dave	Muncie	110	30	80
	Gavin	Chicago	110	35	75
	Spencer	Rochester, NY	110	10	100
	Brian	Pitt Meadows	110	50	60
	Jenn	Barrie	110	45	65
	Alexander	Winnipeg	110	15	95
	Hans	Zeist	110	35	75
	Daniel	Cincinnati	110	45	65
	Pettermann	Budapest	110	30	80
	Alec	Durango, CO	110	10	100
	Hunter	Long Island City	110	30	80
	Antony	Hexham	110	45	65
	j	bronx	110	45	65
	Pieter	Bainbridge Island	110	50	60
	Merlijn	Arnhem, the Netherlands	110	40	70
195	KEITH	MARION	105	35	70
	Stephen	New Castle	105	35	70
	Keith	Las Vegas	105	35	70
	Rhys	Tempe, AZ	105	25	80
	Greg	Greenback	105	65	40
	Sean	Woodinville	105	20	85
	Royce	Madison	105	20	85
	John	Denver	105	30	75
	josh	east longmeadow, ma	105	30	75
	Colin	Washington, DC	105	55	50
	John	Dublin, Ireland	105	40	65
206	Sean	KILLINGWORTH	100	25	75
	Derek	INDIANAPOLIS	100	25	75
	Robert	Kilauea	100	30	70
	Ken	South Lake Tahoe, Ca	100	30	70
	Paul	Oakland	100	35	65
	Robert	St-Bruno	100	30	70
	Jesse	Westlake	100	30	70
	Ryan	Sinking Spring	100	25	75
	Andrew	Buffalo	100	25	75
	Breard	Caen	100	55	45
	Eric	Yuba City	100	45	55
217	Emma	madison	95	30	65
	Tony	New York	95	45	50
	Mick	Penfield, NY USA	95	40	55
	kris	Baltimore	95	15	80
	Nate	Zeeland	95	20	75
	Rodrigo	Loveland	95	25	70
	Jim	Wayzata	95	20	75
	Eric	Salt Lake City	95	30	65
225	Matthew	Buffalo	90	65	25
	matthew	boiling springs	90	35	55
	Peyton	Calgary	90	25	65
	Mark	Highwood	90	20	70
	Robert	MATTOON	90	15	75
	Keith	Ballater	90	25	65
231	Bryon	Waukesha	85	40	45
	Dave	Greensboro	85	45	40
	Derrick	Gatineau	85	50	35
234	Bill	Lititz	80	30	50
	CHRISTOPHER	Rochester	80	20	60
	Robert	Richardson	80	45	35
	Jared	New York	80	40	40
238	Jackson	portland	75	0	75
	PETER	denver	75	50	25
240	Steven	West Sacramento	70	40	30
	Sean	Champlin	70	15	55
242	Greg	W. Newfield	65	15	50
	Ronald	McGregor	65	55	10
244	Frank	Toronto	60	25	35
245	Dave	Urbandale	55	50	5
246	Kyle	Albuquerque	50	50	0
	Alex	Oakmont	50	20	30
	Brandt	Takoma Park, MD	50	50	0
249	Robert	Kearneysville	45	5	40
250	Greg	Pleasanton	40	10	30
251	Mike	Windsor	35	30	5
252	Dion	Brampton	25	0	25
253	Sayrd	Winston-Salem	15	0	15
	Bonnie	Lakeville	15	10	5
255	Jake	Kansas city	10	10	0
	Brandon	Grand rapids	10	5	5