The entire Team was finally reunited this weekend at Houffalize, following travel problems after the Sea Otter Classic that kept most of the staff from getting to Dalby Forest. As usual, the Belgium fans were as passionate and enthusiastic as ever!

Cecile had a great start in the women’s race, but the long uphill portion of the start loop was tough and other riders soon caught up. She didn’t let this discourage her though, and managed her race well, slowly but surely catching up to and passing the girls in front of her, including current World Champion Irina Kalentieva. Cecile finished 12th overall, giving her confidence for the French National Cup race next weekend.

The men’s race started with a huge pile-up just after the start. Cedric and Alexis found themselves blocked in for the first few seconds, which allowed the head of the race to breakaway right at the beginning. Alexis managed to recover rather quickly and was in the Top 10 for the first 3 laps. Cedric was less fortunate and got a flat tire in the first lap. After a quick pit-stop in the assistance zone, he was off and managed to pass several riders before finishing 25th (with the 9th best time in the last lap!). Alexis finished 12th overall and 2nd in the U23 category, adding another World Cup podium to the list.

For the second week in a row Luke rode again for the GB team at the second round of the UCI XCO World Cup at Houffalize in Belgium, right on the Luxembourg boarder.

Luke spent Friday practising round the dry and very dusty course in preparation for the race the following day.

Saturday came and the Junior race erupted from the streets of Houffalize and were halfway up the steep tarmac hill where Luke was spotted in his team GB colours at the back of the bunch having been given a starting position of 71 from 99 riders . This formed part of the large start loop which was as long as half a lap. Luke said he didn't want to blow his legs going up the first climb then suffer for the rest of the race but had slipped back through being in the middle of the bunch. By the end of the first lap Luke had moved up to 66th place and was now going well despite a small fall on a steep part of the course around a tight bend on loose dirt.

The next to laps were punched out at a quicker pace with identical times with Luke now in 47th place having caught fellow Brit Steve James up one of the long climbs and then dropped him. On the last lap Luke spent every thing he had even sprinting for the line for 38th place after one and a half hours of racing against 19 different nations.

Have you seen the latest ad? Steve Peat is Cobra!

So what's the story? Cobra is one of Steve Peat's favorites films so we thought we'd turn him into the Cobra for a day!