2024 Anonymous Rider Survey

Top North American cyclocross riders rank themselves and the courses they race

The Charm City Flyover voted one of the top features in American cyclocross. © 2021 Bill Schieken

Yesterday, I posted the 2024 rider survey, highlighting the North American racers cyclocrossing this year and their mindsets going into the season. In today’s post, we are looking at who these same riders think are the top riders in North America, which cities they look forward to visiting, their favorite features, and what needs to be fixed in U.S. cyclocross.

All of the survey answers were anonymous, allowing the riders to speak freely and honestly. As I mentioned yesterday, I sent out around 50 surveys and received a little over 20 responses. Not all of the respondents to the first survey participated in the second survey.

Throw out your algorithms; we have a new standard for power rankings. Here are your North American cyclocross rider picks. We’re going to start with the men.

For the men, the first pick was a tie between two riders: Eric Brunner and Eric Brunner If He Decides to Race. There were multiple responses for both of these, which highlights a really curious place that U.S. cyclocross is in right now.

This is the only time I can remember for any discipline that we aren’t sure at the beginning of the season if either of the U.S. elite national champions will race cyclocross. I sent the surveys to Brunner and Clara Honsinger but did not receive a response from either. Regardless Brunner and Brunner If He Decides To Race tie for the top spot.

In second place, the leading vote-getter was Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes). Following Nationals this past December, this first and second pairing tracks. Brunner certainly was the strongest rider, and Strohmeyer was the second strongest.

The voters pretty much just followed Nationals results for the top four. Scott Funston (Cérvelo-Orange Living) came in third and Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation) slotted in at number four.

Things didn’t get interesting until the fifth pick. Jules van Kempen (Cérvelo-Orange Living, Marcis Shelton (Bear CX), Evan Russell (Toronto Hustle), Tyler Clark (Hockley Valley Resort Armada) and Kerry Werner (Groove Off-Road Racing) all received votes. But it was Kerry Werner in his return to cyclocross who received the most votes (as well as a few votes for fourth place), so he is your fifth pick.

For sixth place things get a little tricky because we have all the people who received fifth place votes not getting any votes and Lance Haidet (Specialized/SRAM/Velocio/FatTire) getting several. So I’m not sure what to do here. Seventh and eighth place also received a smattering of votes for riders who were already picked. Since Haidet isn’t showing up until PanAms, I think we’re going to do this:

1. Brunner or Brunner If He Decides To Race

2. Strohmeyer

3. Funston

4. White

5. Werner

6. Clark

7. van Kempen

8. Shelton

Darkhorses: Haidet, Russell, Caleb Swartz (Giant Enve), Dylan Zakrajzek (Comp Edge Racing)¹

For the women, the first pick was a really interesting one. You would think it would be between Maghalie Rochette (Canyon) and Clara Honsinger, but not one person responding listed Honsinger on their power rankings². This leads me to believe she’s not racing. I hope that’s not true, but if she was (and the riders always know better than we do), they certainly would’ve had her ranked first or second.

What that means, of course, is that Rochette takes the number one spot. And after that, well, it’s all up for grabs. Vida Lopez de San Roman (Bear National Team), Lauren Zoerner (Comp Edge Racing), Kaya Musgrave (Cérvelo-Orange Living) and Caroline Mani (Groove Off-Road Racing) all received a vote for second place. Ella Brenneman (CXD Trek Bikes), Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Foundation) and Sidney McGill (Cérvelo-Orange Living) all received a third place vote. Zoerner, McGill and Raylyn Nuss (Steve Tilford Foundation) received fourth place votes. Musgrave, de San Roman, Mani and Nuss received a vote each for either fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth. There is only one fair way to do this, we’re going to random.org.

Step 1

Step 2

So there it is, you’re top eight women randomized and anonymously ranked.

1. Rochette

2. Zoerner

3. Musgrave

4. Lopez de San Roman

5. Clouse

6. McGill

7. Brenneman

8. Mani

Let’s see how well this holds up.

Favorite North American UCI Race

These next few topics were much easier to rank. Here are the top races according to the top racers.

1. Rochester CX

2. Trek CX Cup

3. Charm City

4. Kings CX

5. Really Rad

Best North American Course Feature

1. Trek CX Cup Factory Hill

2. Charm City Mansion Hill

3. Charm City Flyover

4. Kings CX Camels

5. Major Taylor Off-Camber Downhill

6. Rochester Run Up

7. Trek CX Cup Secret Bar

8. Fayetteville Stairs

9. Ruts ‘n’ Guts Sand (RIP)

Which UCI Race City Do You Most Look Forward To Visiting

1. Waterloo

2. Rochester

3. Missoula

4. Cape Cod

5. Georgia

6. Indianapolis

What One Thing Would You Change to Improve North American Cyclocross?

For this question I implored everyone to keep it to one thing. I understand each rider may have a list, I wanted to know what was on the top of that list.

1. Bring back the livestream for USCX and beyond. [This was the overwhelming winner. It obviously means a lot to fans but its equally important to the riders.]

2. UCI weekend somewhere on West Coast or Colorado

3. Better courses

4. Having two different domestic series - one that is points-based, but another that is time-based, like X2O. But, wait for it … not both races in one weekend by the same promoter need to be the same series. What if Day 1 of Englewood, Major Taylor, and Kings were part of the points series, but Day 2 of each was the time-based?³

5. Making a bigger fuss about elite riders. I hope we can build a good model for young riders to look up to elites as true professionals and not gravel riders in training.

6. Remind USA Cycling that cyclocross exists.

7. Move the elite races to earlier in the day so the amateurs haven’t already raced and gone home.

And there you have it. More pre-season fodder to get you hyped for the season. I should be back tomorrow evening with a preview of the Englewood Open.

1. Miles Mattern, Dillon McNeill, Ben Frederick, Owen Brenneman and Cody Scott were also mentioned in the dark horse category.

2. Nobody listed the Holmgren twins either. I did get a note that they were left off under the assumption they would not be racing in the U.S. Last year, I believe we saw them for the first time at Kings. Hopefully that will be true for this season, too.

3. I love this idea. Whomever came up with it let me know, I want to give you credit.