Baestaens Hops to His Fourth U.S. Win at Charm City Day 2
Baestaens, White, and Blevins battle into the bell lap on Day 2 in Baltimore
Curtis White has had some bad luck sandwiched by “riding like a pissed-off 19-year-old” during the last two weekends of racing. After snapping his chain at the start of Saturday’s race and then raging back to finish 9th, White had every reason to be frustrated again on Sunday.
He took a different approach, however, deciding to focus on what he could control for this race. “I focus on bringing my best into every day. I know I brought my best into yesterday, but some things are just out of your control,” he said. “There were a number of people telling me to stay positive, and you know what, I'm getting better World Cup prep than anyone else here.”
White played it cool early on and did not sit on the front for an excessively long period of time to put himself in a position to win down the stretch. However, he still had to contend with Vincent Baestaens, a Christopher Blevins who announced he was ending his ‘cross campaign after Sunday, and other top U.S. riders.
Sunday’s race started with young Caleb Swartz snagging the holeshot. The bad luck bug bit again, unfortunately, as Michael van den Ham’s chain snapped at the start and put him into a White-like chase situation from the start.
Not content to just take the holeshot, Swartz led up and over the flyover and out toward the off-camber at the far side of the course.
Swartz’s time at the front ended shortly before the off-camber, as Vincent Baestaens led a surge toward the steep ramp up to the steep, dusty feature. Baestaens forced a small split that Gage Hecht followed, and the two kept the pace high the rest of the first of nine laps.
One lap in, Baestaens, Hecht, Hyde, and Eric Brunner had a small gap, while others such as Kerry Werner were forced into chase mode. Christopher Blevins sat well back after not getting off to a blazing start like he did on Saturday.
The story of the next two or so laps was a valiant attack by two young riders throwing caution to the wind. Right after the off-camber, Eric Brunner went full send off the front. Scott McGill, who had a head-turning 5th place on Saturday, decided to roll with that success and join Brunner on their expedition off the front.
Curtis White led the effort to reel in the two breakaway guys, but there was not an overwhelming amount of concern in the rest of the chase.
For Bastaens, he was actually ok with the two riders going off the front. “In the beginning of the race, there were two young American riders in front of me, and I let them have a gap so the race would explode. It also meant everyone had to race and make an effort and make things more stretched out.”
At the end of the 2nd lap, the chase was down to White, Werner, Hecht, and Baestaens. In the 3rd lap, Brunner and McGill continued off the front, while riders in the chase traded turns doing work.
The Brunner-McGill move was starting to fade at the end of Lap 3, and early in Lap 4, the chase made the catch. Brunner attached to the leaders, while McGill could not hang on. Meanwhile, Baestaens took over pacemaking again. It was about this time on Saturday that Baestaens made his race-winning move, so riders were no doubt on notice.
After a slow start, Blevins started slowly working his way back toward the front group. McGill attached to his wheel, and as the 4th lap wound its way to a close, it became apparent the Blevins group was going to make contact. After seemingly headed for a meh result for the first half of the race, Blevins had come alive.
Blevins absolutely hammered up the incline at the start of the 5th lap and immediately took the lead. The show everyone had hoped to see on Saturday was put in motion.
“I was just a bit hungrier today,” Blevins said. “I think yesterday was a bit of a shock being in a race after the high of Snowshoe. I went down a bit, and then it was like, whoa, I'm back in it. I rode into it today as well. I didn't expect to catch the front group, but once I caught them, then I was really motivated and I think that's why I went straight to the front.”
“I think the bike racer in me came out halfway through, and I just let that happen.”
Blevins turned his attack into an extended move, staying on the gas all the way up to the climb at the entrance to the off-camber. White led the charge to follow Blevins’ move and was ultimately successful in not letting the short-track World Champion get a gap on the group. At the end of Lap 5, the group was again six, with McGill unable to hold the fast pace.
In that 6th lap, White then answered the bell at the front. He took over the lead early in the lap and set a fast tempo that gapped off Hecht and Brunner.
At the end of Lap 6, with three to go, the lead was again down to White, Blevins, Werner, and Baestaens.
Lap 7 was a bit of a calm before the storm, as the leaders sat up a bit, and Hecht regained contact at the start of the penultimate lap. The group was again five, with Baestaens taking up the lead at the start of the lap.
Sunday’s course featured a twisty, swoopy section in the woods shortly after summiting the flyover. Baestaens upped his pace in the woods and again kept the pressure on his American counterparts. Blevins was the first rider to respond and dug deep to hold the Belgian’s wheel.
“It took a massive effort,” White recounted about that chase. “Chris knows how to handle his bike and knows how to drive it really well. He was so strong and able to close it down on the power straights.”
“The last two laps, I was not going 100%. It was maybe 95%, I would say,” Baestaens said. “I knew that if anybody followed me and tried to put in a move, I could still follow it and respond.”
Blevins and White had enough to shut down the move, and at the bell, the lead group was again back to four. One lap remained with only three podium spots and one winner on offer.
Blevins started the last lap as he did Lap 5—absolutely on fire. He accelerated up the opening climb and forced a high pace.
The tactics of the last lap were relatively simple: get to the off-camber first and exit the off-camber first. “I think we both knew we needed to be first or second on the off-camber,” Baestaens said. “It was a difficult part of the course. The three of us went all out there.”
“It was crazy the amount of combined power we were all putting out on that last climb,” Blevins said. “It was like, woof. These guys have more punch than mountain bikers, and they're a little bit smarter tactically. It was a fair battle.”
“The power climb up to the off-camber by the mansion, that's just something us cyclocrossers train on a regular basis,” White said. “You don't often see that in mountain biking.”
White’s goal was to get there first because with the planks close together, he was running them while Baestaens bunny-hopped. Getting there first would take away some of that advantage.
White accomplished the first part of what he needed to do—getting to the off-camber first. However, Baestaens dug into his bag of tricks and passed White to take the lead coming out of the exit.
“I won the corner right before the off-camber,” White said. “The one mistake I made was letting Vincent come around me underneath at the corner of the off-camber at the top. I didn't think he'd make that move and find traction there, but he did.”
With the lead, Baestaens started to light it up. He got to the planks first and opened up a small gap on White when the American dismounted and ran.
Baestaens held off White to take his fourth win in as many races. “I knew I could jump the barriers, so I needed to push all-out from the top to the bottom. Then I was just pushing and pushing to the finish line,” Baestaens said. “I tried to be tactical today and it turned out pretty well.”
White held on for 2nd and turned in a nice result to right the ship a bit after some tough luck the last three races. White looked outside the barriers to give some credit for his good result. “I feel like the last few weekends in U.S. 'cross, I think it's been very noticeable that the fans are excited. They want to get back to these events, and they're excited to be at the events cheering on the racers. They were awesome.”
Blevins took home third after cramping at the end of the final lap. He is now heading back home to California to, IDK, enjoy his incredible accomplishments of 2021.
“I want to really decompress and really celebrate the year I've had. Results aside, it's been one of the most formative, crazy years of my life dealing with all the logistics of COVID, making the Olympics, going to the Olympics, and all that. I'm looking forward to letting that settle down.”
Werner took 4th and Hecht rounded out the wide-angle podium in 5th.