At the 1st of April we organised our own student cup at the cycling track in Ede. The day started early with a lot of members that volunteered, thanks to you the organisation went smoothly. Luckily our Hellingprof member Wim was present with a camera to make beautiful pictures.

In all categories a big Hellingproof squad was present. Besides that there was enough support from other Hellingprofs cheering on the line.

Men without license
The first category at the stat were the men without license. For Hellingproof Alger, Bart, Bram, Jorn, Martijn and Thijs were present. Just after some minutes in the race rain started drippling down on the track. It immediately became slippery due to the sharp corners. Alger was the first victim and crashed in one of the corners.

In the epic conditions the peloton got smaller and smaller. In the meantime Bram had a moment of brightness and discovered his phone was probably not water proof. He stopped at the jury table, dropped his phone and continued the race.

Bram managed to chase some other riders behind the peloton and finished 11th. Martijn drove just behind the peloton in a small group of three. In the final sprint he beat the other riders and secured the 13th place. In the main peloton Bart, Jorn and Thijs managed to survive and control the race perfectly. After a super team effort Bart took the victory in the sprint, Jorn became second and Thijs just missed the podium with a 4th place. In the overall classification Bart is now first, and Thijs second.

Ladies
After this race it was time for the women’s race. Again Hellingproof had a nice squad, now with: Els, Sigrid, Susan and Vera. The conditions were still harsh and the peloton immediately got divided into smaller groups.

Unfortunately Sigrid had a crash in one of the sharp corners. Els and Vera rode strong. They both rode in smaller groups, Vera ended up a t a nice 12th place and Els managed to make it into the top-10 with her 10th place.

In the main peloton Susan survived and looked very strong. In the mass sprint she was able to conquer the second place in the race! With this podium place, she is now also the leader in the overall classification.

Men with license
Finally the men with license had to start their race. For Hellingproof Gijs, Robin, Ruben and Tjalle made it at the start line. Just 15 seconds after the start promptly Niels was there  as well. This Hellingprof had a flat tire just before the start and missed it! Luckily the astonished jury was not too hard and gave him half a lap compensation.

The track was still slippery, resulting in a decimated peloton right from the start. Niels, Ruben and Tjalle were immediately at the front. After a few laps Niels found out he did not had his pre-race coffee, so decided to get off and make coffee for himself and the spectators.

The peloton fell apart in three smaller groups: Ruben in the first group, Robin and Tjalle in the third group. Gijs raced just behind these groups and finished at a well-deserved 16th place. In the breakaway group Ruben looked very strong, spectators were already speculating about a Hellingprof on the podium in all categories. Unfortunately Ruben had a crash and was forced to leave the race. Robin and Tjalle were still racing for place 9 in the race. In the sprint of their group Tjalle finished 11th and Robin 12th.

Overall the sportive performances were super high! Due to this, Hellingproof is now the leader in the team classification!!

After the successful day we had some ‘patat’ and beer/wine for perfect recovery. Finally we would like to thank everyone who helped in the preparation and during the day, without you it would not have been possible!