A 2022 Canadian 'Cross Nationals Preview, Eh?
The Maple Leaf jerseys are on the line for the first time since 2019
Folks, the Canadian Cyclocross Nationals … are BACK.
No, for real, that’s what the event website says—‘Cross is back. I’m just the messenger here.
But also for real, the website has a point. Cyclocross Nationals generally occur every year like clockwork, so to suggest the event is back in a normal year is really pushing the credibility of the bit about back-ness.
However, in this case, it is totally appropriate. The race was canceled in 2020, for obvious reasons, and then did not take place in 2021 as well. Now, the race returns on Saturday in Langford, British Columbia.
In a lot of ways, the winner here is Canadian Cyclocross. Perhaps the biggest losers? Michael van den Ham and Maghalie Rochette, who did not have to lift a finger to gain an extra two years of wearing the Canadian Maple Leaf jersey. Rochette is not racing this year, but Van den Ham now has to go to work to keep the jersey.
Saturday’s race in Langford also marks a return to British Columbia for the first time since Steveston in 2012 and Surrey in 2013. The race takes place at Layritz Park, which is technically in Saanich, which is in turn located on the Saanich Peninsula, which is at the southeast corner of Vancouver Island. It’s like a nested doll of whiches.
Despite taking place on a peninsula of an island, the course at Layritz Park is quite landlocked. Set inland near a college, the course appears like it might have a Diegem vibe, winding around a soccer field and several baseball and softball diamonds.
British Columbia resident Jenn Jackson provided a scouting report on the venue. “I’ve heard it’s quite flat but has a longer bank which will be used as an off-camber and up-down of some sort. It’s a new venue, so it will be a fresh experience for everyone. I think with it being open game for everyone, being able to hold wheels and adapt on the fly to learn the course and competitors will be key.”
Elite Women
When looking at the Elite Women’s start list, there are any number of things that jump out. The first is obviously that two-time defending champion Maghalie Rochette will not be racing. When we chatted with Rochette prior to Pan-Ams, she cited the proximity of Falmouth as one of the reasons she raced there, but with Nationals allllllllll the way on the other side of Canada, it is not a big surprise she is opting to forgo the race. Plus, as she mentioned in one of our interviews in Falmouth, she has a new Rapha kit to unveil, so there is a silver lining to giving up the Maple Leaf jersey.
Another story is the return of everyone’s favorite Hawaiian shirt-wearing mountain biker and ‘cross aficionado Jenn Jackson. But more on her in a few.
The biggest story is that Junior wunderkind Ava Holmgren is skipping the Juniors, skipping the U23s, and jumping right to the Elite race. Holmgren is coming off a 2nd-place finish in the Elite race at Northampton, so the decision to race Elites is certainly more than justified.
“I decided to upgrade for Nationals for many reasons,” Holmgren said. “One of the biggest influences is there are more UCI points on the line—40 more for the win compared to the Junior race. Having more UCI points helps so much in European Elite races.
Another reason was that if I did win, I would actually get to wear the jersey. I would be able to represent the Leaf at any Elite-level race until November next year. If I won the Junior or U23 race, I wouldn’t be able to wear it at all since I am the Junior Pan-Am Champion and there are no U23 races.”
On paper, the Elite Women’s race is slated to be a three-woman battle between Jackson, Holmgren, and Ruby West. What makes that battle super interesting is the three have never really raced cyclocross against one another. West made a cameo at Noho and Pan-Ams last year, but she has mostly been racing on the track, Jackson has been racing mountain bikes, and Holmgren, well she has at least been racing a lot of cyclocross.
Jackson talked about what she expects from West, “Ruby will be super strong, she’s fresh off track World Champs but hasn’t raced any ‘cross yet this year so might be a bit rusty in the right-turn department.”
Jackson herself is also a bit of an enigma for this year’s Nationals.
After a strong campaign in 2019 that included a 2nd-place finish at Nationals, she has been focusing on mountain bike racing with the Canyon-SRAM program. Despite professional obligations, ‘cross has remained a favourite of Jacksons, and she got back into the scene this year by racing locally in British Columbia.
She wrote this on her Instagram: “Back racing ‘cross this fall and having an absolute blast! Can’t understate [Ed. Note: overstate?] how much I’ve missed this goofy bike discipline over the past few years. The local scene here in BC has been a treat to be a part of.”
Despite her being away for a hot second, I asked Jackson who she thinks the favourite is for Saturday’s race.
“Thank you for including the ‘u’ in favourite for this Canadian writeup,” she quipped.
“I can only bet on myself, but that’s mostly because I need to believe I’m capable of winning. If you’re going to call favourites, I think you have to look at who’s been racing successfully in competitive events and proving form. Ava’s really the only one doing ‘cross at a UCI level this year. Sandra Walter and I have been mixing it up at local races in B.C., same with Dana Gilligan in Ontario. Ruby has been on the track.”
With West and Jackson accounted for, the last of the favourites is Ava Holmgren. Which is wild to say because Holmgren is just 17 years old. And yet her track record and success this season suggests it’s not a stretch to call her the prohibitive favorite.
Holmgren put the cyclocross world on notice a bit by racing the Elite race on Day 1 of Noho and narrowly missing out on winning that race. She shared what she’s drawn from that experience. “The Elite race at Noho benefited me because I got to race a few minutes longer in preparation for the Elites race length at Nationals. It also gave me a big confidence boost because I had an amazing performance and was able to fight for the win throughout the entire race.”
It’s certainly a unique situation that the youngest rider in the field is also perhaps the most experienced this season, but such is the case with the rising talent in Canadian cyclocross. Despite that edge on experience this year, Holmgren is not taking anything for granted.
“I’m approaching this race with an open mind because the other elites haven’t raced any UCI races this year, I won’t be able to compare lap times or results. I’m also taking into account that these riders are at a high level in the mountain bike scene and some have been at that level in the past years for cyclocross. I think that this situation will make the race exciting for the spectators and also the riders. I will make sure to not count anyone out at the start!”
Elite Men
Anyone who follows our coverage of North American cyclocross knows that we love and appreciate what Michael van den Ham has accomplished and done for the sport. His commitment to ‘cross has helped take the sport to a new level in Canada, and he is genuinely one of the nicest people you will ever meet.
He is also incredibly affable and self-deprecating, thus allowing us to refer to him as our “Second Favourite Canadian.” All of this is to say that when thinking about his retention of the National Champ’s jersey since 2019, all I can think about is the Simpsons episode Deep Space Homer.
While winning by de fault earned Homer Simpson a trip into space, Van den Ham is having none of that.
“It's kind of a relief to finally have to race for it, to be honest. Especially after last year where it seemed like we were going to have Nationals, but it just got dragged on and on and then got canceled at the last minute not once but twice. It was actually a pretty big letdown not being able to compete for it, as weird as that sounds.”
I don't want to win by default. I want to be four-time, five-time National Champion, not in a situation where we haven't had Nationals for a few years, so that's what it is.”
When Van den Ham won his first National Championship in 2017, he was but a young pup of age 25. Now at age 30, Van den Ham is the elder statesman of Canadian cyclocross, and with the young talent coming through the ranks, the narrative of the Elite Men’s race is very much Old Man Van den Ham against those kids.
“I think that is the narrative. The old guard and the new guard, whatever you want to call it,” Van den Ham said.
Heading into Saturday’s race, Van den Ham has a host of riders he needs to be concerned about. Tyler Orschel is coming off two 2nd-place finishes at the NCGP, and Gunnar Holmgren finished 2nd and 3rd at Northampton.
Van den Ham shared a story about Holmgren. “I remember watching Gunnar win Junior Nationals, I think it was the year I won my first Elite National Championship, and there's been a number of years now where I've been watching Gunnar race, and I'm like, 'That's the person who's going to give me the hardest time when he shows up in my category.' It seems like that's coming to fruition this year. He had a really great Noho, and he's going to give me grief.”
One reason why Van den Ham has endeared himself to the cyclocross world is he is one of the first Canadian males to commit to cyclocross as his first discipline. The historical narrative of Canadian ‘cross is mountain bikers who jump in a few races here and there and then race Nationals.
That narrative holds true for Holmgren and Orschel, with the two having a combined total of four cyclocross races this year. Another young rider who has bucked that trend a bit and raced more cyclocross this season is Tyler Clark.
Clark was able to race the full USCX Series this season and is coming on strong at the right time after finishing 6th both days at Really Rad. That experience and progress puts him firmly on the list of riders to watch on Saturday.
“The goal was to be competitive for Nationals but after being a couple of minutes down in the early USCX races, it was hard to see myself challenging for the jersey knowing the competition I was against. Falmouth was a big confidence booster, finding myself at the front on Sunday felt like a big step in the right direction. I wanted to feel like I was in the race rather than just hanging onto the back of the front group as long as possible. Got that feeling in Falmouth and it is motivating knowing the fitness is there for this weekend.”
This will be Clark’s first season as an Elite, so he is still part of the crazy talented class of young Canadians coming up in the sport. Clark, Holmgren, Orschel, Owen Clark, Ian Ackert, Cody Scott, they have all been turning heads out on the ‘cross course this season.
“I think it's the deepest field we've seen in a long time,” Van den Ham said. “All due respect to Kabush and Marc, who got the 2nd to me the other three years, but I think there are for sure three, maybe four, riders who have a realistic shot at winning, and that just hasn't been the case for a number of years. It's the hardest year.”
“We all come from a similar area in Ontario, grew up mountain bike racing together and even a few of us spent some time at Brevard College together,” Clark said. “I think everyone is itching a bit to have cyclocross back in Canada after two years of pretty much nothing. It’s been showing the last few weekends with everyone feeding off each other’s results from the weekend before. I’d like to see cyclocross come back to Canada and with young riders like Owen and Ian improving so quickly, it keeps the rest of us running scared which will just keep raising the level.”
While the future is bright, that means nothing for Saturday. On Saturday, it’s all about the rising stars looking to wrest the Maple Leaf jersey away from our Second Favourite Canadian.
“You can’t count Michael out of this one, he has a lot more experience than the rest of us, especially when it comes to winning cyclocross races. He’s not someone I’d like to be up against in a dry tactical race knowing how powerful he is,” Clark said. “I am hoping for a wet and hard course where I can just ride my own race and rely on some mountain bike skills to get a bit of an advantage. I’ve always favourited wet conditions so I feel like that gives me the best chance.”
Van den Ham knows Clark and the others are coming for him, but that doesn’t mean he plans on giving up his jersey yet.
“I will say one thing: it's really good to see the sport of cyclocross continuing to level up and get better in Canada. But I have no intentions of rolling over and giving the title away. If someone's going to win, they're going to have to earn it. I don't plan on making it easy.”
“If anything, I want to win this one as much or more, maybe more, than I wanted to win the first one. I'm getting a little bit older now. I'm over 30, and I feel like I have something to prove. That I still have it. Especially after not having to compete for the title for a few years.”
Regardless of what happens on Saturday, this year’s Nationals race takes place in the larger context of a proliferation of young Canadian talent. We have seen this year with Caroline Mani, Maghalie Rochette, and others that experience places a huge role in cyclocross success, so Van den Ham is likely the favourite until proven otherwise. But it is clear where the sport is headed, and Van den Ham said he is totally cool with that.
“I hope that whoever comes after me is better than me. It doesn't mean I'm going to let them be better than me easily, I'm going to fight tooth and nail to keep the title, but I think there are signs that's coming. The next generation of Canadian riders can be competitive in the top 20 in Europe. They can maybe be top 10 competitive. There's another level I think they're capable of, and that would be awesome to see. If I'm done racing in a few years, and this next group is the Tom Pidcock to my Ian Field, cool. I can be happy with that.”
Any chance this is live streamed?