We've just returned from Schladming and saw Wichman taking 4th place in the last World Cup Four Cross of this season. He was 2nd overall.

It was an awesome weekend in Austria! A spectacular track, a great atmosphere and some thrilling races. Wichman set the 4th time in qualifications on friday and was in good shape for the finals.

The track had a short straight after the gate, a difficult first corner that caused some trouble and didn't offer a whole lot of opportunities to overtake someone. To win this World Cup you had to make no mistakes but on the other hand take some risk.

Wichman had no trouble in the first three rounds. It was going nice and easy and he won them all. Van Veghel was out in the first round, Meijer made it to the quarter final. Slavik fell in the the quarter and was out as well.

The semi final with Wichman, Fischbach, Polc and Beaumont was probably the most exciting one of the evening. Joost got behind in the first part of the track, but managed to go from 4th position to 2nd in the remaining part. It was awesome and the crowd went wild!

It was all or nothing in the big final. Joost told us he surely didn't want to settle for anything less than first place. No guts no glory. His start was very good, entering the first difficult corner just behind Graves. Comfortable in second place towards the rough section but aiming for more. He crashed... Graves crossed the finishline first, before Saladini and Fischbach.

So a 4th place, a good result as closure of an outstanding season. He took 2nd place in the overall World Cup ranking!

Anneke Beerten won the womens final and she won the overall World Cup as well. Congrats!

Check out the complete results of the men's four cross finals.

This week more about Schladming, With some pictures taken by Menno Rockstar.
Thanx to Gerhard and all the other R.S.P. team members!