In Dolní Vítkovice we had a really snowy and frosty week and a snowy three-kilometre circuit for cyclocrossers. But the athletes from five countries handled all the difficult obstacles in the first ever European Cup races this weekend in Ostrava with bravura.

The high furnace was one of the technical obstacles the cyclocrossers had to overcome. The track led directly through its hall. The competitors reached the blast furnace by the steepest staircase in the Czech Republic, which resembles a ladder, and after passing through the hall and on the way down from a height of eight metres they had to manage a twenty-three metre long descent with a right-angled bend.