Absentee Jens Dekker signed the Hoogeveen National Championship course: “The climbs will make the difference”

Interview Jens Dekker is currently on the sidelines after a quite successful return to cyclo-cross. He started that comeback during this period last year, but two years earlier he already drew the blueprint for the National Championships course this coming weekend in Hoogeveen. “Not to favor myself, but to make it a great viewing competition,” Dekker, who predicts exciting matches, tells CyclingFlits. He lives in Fluitenberg, 3.5 kilometers from the course.

When we pick up the route map with the 25-year-old Drent, he immediately notices that the original route differs slightly from the drawing. “But it is serious cost,” says the comeback crosser. “Two years ago, the start-finish strip was resurfaced. There is normally not much traffic in that area, so the road is in very nice condition. Especially because the strip is wide and long enough. From the asphalt you drive into a piece of meadow, with some loops. The bends are now slightly different than shown on the map. The pasture surface is always hard.”

The riders then drive under a bridge and through the first equipment station. “Once out there, it goes up a little bit. Then there is a bend and you really have to climb a longer climb, parallel to the post. You can make quite a bit of speed there. The descent is about the same length, but it is sloping. Off camber, so (photo 1, ed.). Quite difficult, by Dutch standards. But if it is hard due to frost, it is also doable. At the end of that stretch you drive towards the beach. A few bends in the grass and you get quite a serious sandbox.”

Recreation area along the A28 highway
Beach? Yes, beach. The NK course is located in the Nijstad recreational area. That is southwest of Hoogeveen itself, a former sand extraction lake with the same name. Nowadays it is also popularly called the Surfplas and there is Pavilion Nijstad on the water. The recreational area around the catering facility is the epicenter of the upcoming National Championships. “The sandbox normally serves as a beach volleyball court. There is a bend, so it is not straight through the sand. Maybe it’s just driveable. You can save time, but not much.”

The sand is permanent and loose. “Once out of the sand, it goes via grass and a number of large tiles towards the beach. You drive over this to the northern part of the route. That sand is located on the water and will therefore be hard and easy to ride on,” Dekker predicts. TV shots such as in the Zilvermeercross in Mol are also possible here from the water. “At the end of the sand you turn right and clockwise again over pasture to the second material station. Then you go up the bridge that you drive under at the beginning of the lap.”

“Then you have to climb a really steep climb, on the same hill that is at the start of the circuit,” Dekker explains. “That thing is about seven to eight meters high and the second time you drive to the top within thirty meters. Although it is not a wall like you have in Hulst, for example. But since the weather stations predict a bit of rain and thaw this weekend, I suspect that cycling is not possible there and you will have to walk up. Then you have no control. Then follows a short, rather technical descent. Then you immediately climb up another bridge.”

Artful final phase
The riders then set course for the pavilion on the beach. “There will probably be beams on the patch of grass between the second bridge and the beach,” Dekker reveals. “That depends a bit on the frost, because at the beginning of the week it was not yet possible to get it in the ground. After that comes visuals for the viewers at home, perhaps the most interesting part. They then drive across the terrace, between the water and the restaurant of the pavilion. It is wide enough and there will be strips of floor covering.” Well done, then.

After that terrace, the participants reach a stretch of beach that is easily accessible, before turning left towards the asphalt (photo 2). “But that is about a steep slope, which can be compared to Hulst. It is not very long, but you drive steeply, straight up (photo 3, ed.). It is a noise barrier to dampen the noise of the A28. Above that it is straight ahead for about a hundred meters and then you get a quite difficult technical descent (photo 4). There are two crucial bends in it and then you are heading for the finish. A great round, where apart from the climbs you don’t really make a difference anywhere.”

The weather will be especially important, Dekker emphasizes. “When it freezes hard like at the beginning of this week, you can really drive fast here. It’s not super technical: it’s wide everywhere and there are no super sharp bends. But when it thaws, you may get a slippery top layer on the hard surface. Then it can be a bit of a slide on the grass and it has to be done using force. Among the elite men I see a scenario where a group stays together. Normally Lars van der Haar would have been my top favorite, but if it thaws I will put Pim Ronhaar and Joris Nieuwenhuis next to it. Puck Pieterse is really the top favorite among the women.”