So what’s there to say about a race finish? The riders come across the line and the first wheel that breaks the imaginary perpendicular plane over the line wins the race.

Most of what is said in the Diegem race finish description applies here. I was told that an assistant commissaire was watching the race on a television screen somewhere during the Elite races and the race jury president was watching from the line. The arrival judge would stand on a special platform balcony on the side of the Protix truck. The timer would watch from a special room inside this truck overlooking the line and press a timing button for the electronic timing system.

What I thought would happen inside the Protix truck is that the computer results and initial communiqués for the press would have been generated using equipment inside this truck. This is the SOP for other races I’ve seen using this truck. In this race, the hand results from the judges were walked back to the registration room, which is a ten minute hike or maybe even more with the crowds. The SPAR copy mobile home was back there too. So commissaires from the line needed to go back and forth to supervise this process, leading to the need for many commissaires on the line – one set to go and do results and the other set to do the next race. I thought it would have made better sense to have that operation moved to a truck on the line --- but I’m just an observer here.

Whereas in Diegem, I concentrated my observations on the actions of the commissaires on the line during the Elite finish, at Hofstade focused on what happens at a World Cup well after the line. So for the Elite women and Elite men, I watched the finish from behind the line of photographers.

So what happens? Well it’s pretty obvious at a cross race who the podium placers are as mass pack sprints, as described in my Tour de France travelogues, don’t happen at cross races. So, when the winner passes through the photographer V line up, they immediately go over to the white tent where their soigneur(s) are waiting and go inside to immediately clean up, refresh, compose themselves in private, and be ready for the TV interviews.

In fact, the riders generally don’t dismount after the photographer’s line and give interviews and meet their soigneurs. For the most part, they know the drill --- they ride directly into the tent. The race organizers have people there holding the tent door open for them and then close it up after they go in (retains the heat inside and provide privacy for their recooperation).

After the Elite races finished, Miroslav Janout comes over rapidly to my position outside the white tent and asks (in French of course as I don’t speak Czech too well) who’s in the tent. I confirm that the top three have gone in are prepping. The race jury president’s job at that point is to ensure that the winners are ready for the ceremonie protocolaire (awards ceremony) within ten minutes of the winners crossing of the line. At exactly nine minutes after the winner of the womens race crossed the line, the top three exit the tent are ready for the ceremony. At exactly nine minutes after the winner of the mens race crossed the line, the top three exit the tent are ready for the ceremony. Everyone knows the drill --- this is professional cyclocross racing in action.

In that nine minutes, the riders have been cleaned up of the dirt, mud, grim, reclothed in fresh dry warm uniforms, have gotten some initial re-nourishment, and got their smiles pasted on. Then, each of the three have a minute, plus or minus, of comments in front of the TV camera crew, before coming out to the awards ceremony.

The ceremonie protocolaire is orchestrated according to the same basic script the UCI uses for World Championships. The three podium placers are lined up below the staging in order in which they will take the podiums and then are led up the stair case to the podiums and take place behind the podiums. They are called up one by one to take their podium stand and the podium girls provide the awards, trophies, and of course the cheek to cheek "kiss". After the leader’s national anthem, photos for the press and crowds, they leave the stage and then the UCI delegate, who has the UCI World Cup leaders jersey gives this jersey to the ceremonial awarder and then the new leader takes the stage alone for the jersey presentation.

At around 4:20pm, the top three are then taken to the press room for a more extended set of interviews with the press about the race, from which much of what you read in the cycling press is derived. The winner then goes to doping control. And the weather gods have been kind today– as it begins to snow after the awards are over.

While the press conference is going on, the commissaires are back in the registration room finalizing the race results and the final communiqués, which usually entails any warnings or fines issued at the race.