The challenge of North American UCI cyclocross racing is that you are racing the same track two days in a row. There may be a change here or there, or the race organizer may run the race in reverse, but for the most part, it’s the same course on Saturday and Sunday. This is unlike Belgian and Dutch racing, where you are at different venues each weekend day.
What this means is that the small subtleties make the difference from one day to the next when all of the other factors remain the same. At Englewood, the difference was traction. On Friday afternoon, the venue welcomed a nice sustained downpour that tamped down the track and provided a tiny bit of tackiness for Saturday’s races.
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On Sunday, the combination of no rain, warm temperatures, and a lot of wind—not to mention over 400 racers burning in the course—meant that Englewood featured one of the hallmarks of early-season cyclocross racing in the United States: dust. For the uninitiated, dust may seem like a problem for breathing and possibly seeing the course. But dust’s real danger is it makes hard-packed dirt and close-cut grass slippery, especially in high-speed turns.
The dust gremlins were active all day, and the elite races were no exception to their attacks.
Women’s Elite
Sidney McGill (Cervélo-Orange Living) escaped early on Saturday and rode solo most of the race to take the win. On Sunday, it looked like she did close to the same thing. When asked what she could say about today that wasn’t just the same thing she said about yesterday, she surprisingly said it was different.
Yesterday, I was just feeling things out. Today was different. I was trying to get as big of a gap as possible and really kind of hammer it.
Although she won by over two minutes, things looked a little dicey at the start.
I don't know what I was doing on the first lap. I missed my pedal at the start. I bobbled on the logs. I don't know. I was falling apart, but then I pulled it together, and yeah, the rest of the race felt pretty smooth.
Behind McGill was Lyllie Sonnemann (CXD Trek Bikes) and Anna Megale (Comp Edge Racing). Sonnemann entered the log feature in third place on the first lap. Her decision to run the obstacle rather than ride it proved to be the right move as Kaya Musgrave (Cervélo-Orange Living) got sideways on the second step and slowed down everyone behind her.
Sonnemann was able to slip by Musgrave and take over solo possession of second place behind McGill. Racing for the first time in the elite field after racing the UCI junior race on Saturday, Sonnemann showed she belonged with the more seasoned racers.
I was nervous. I just didn't know how I was going to feel because I wasn't exactly sure where I was going to be in the field. I just wanted to focus on having a good start and then trying to stick on wheels and see how long I could hold them.
After checking off the “have a good start” box on her race plan, Sonnemann rode alone in second until Megale caught her. The two rode together for several laps until one of the aforementioned dust gremlins got a hold of Sonnemann, and she went down.
Megale took advantage of her counterpart’s mishap and established a gap she was able to hold until the finish. Coming into Sunday, Megale looked smoother and faster than the previous day.
I typically have been a second-day racer. Yesterday I felt like I never really worked into the race. Today, I felt a lot more like myself and found a rhythm. So I don't know if I worked out some cobwebs, but I've always been not only a second-day racer but typically someone who gets faster towards the end.
Megale finished second behind McGill, and Sonnemann finished third. Musgrave was able to recover from her early race mishap to finish fourth.
Ben Frederick (Small Monsters Project) took the hole shot and dictated the pace for the first lap of the race before Scott Funston (Cervélo-Orange Living) and Caleb Swartz (Enve/Forward Endurance Coaching) were able to sneak off the front.
Swartz was looking to push the pace, but Funston wanted to play today a little differently after losing out to Swartz on Saturday. And that meant using his teammates and concentrating on what needed to be done to win.
Today, I thought about winning the race, not about next weekend. I feel like yesterday I was too focused on, ‘All right, we’ve got to be ready for GO Cross and Strohmeyer next weekend.’ And today, I was like, ‘Let's race the people that are here.’ And use my teammates Luke [Walter] and Jules [van Kempen] to try to make the best of the situation.
With that strategy in mind, Funston allowed the field to return to the two leaders so that his teammates could help control the race. Swartz, not surprisingly, didn’t want to race against more than one Cervélo-Orange living rider at a time and moved off the front again.
Funston covered the move and again employed a bit of negative racing until Walter could bridge the gap.
With like four to go, Caleb was on the front, and he'd been doing some attacks, and I think we came through the start-finish, and he pulled over, and I was like, ‘Well, why would I pull into the wind when my teammate's like 10 seconds behind me, so I'm just going to sit right here.’ So he putzed around for a bit, and then Luke was a champ. To have the balls as a first-year U23 to come to the front of a race—like catch back on and attack the group—everyone always tells you to do it, but it's a different thing to do it on lap six of a UCI race, so respect.
With Swartz outnumbered at the front, it was up to him to figure out how to win with the odds against him.
Yesterday, I was talking with [my mechanic], Mathis, and we were definitely expecting a little more team tactics, but that didn't happen, which was convenient. And yeah, we figured they'd come correct today, and they did.
When Luke caught back on, I fake left the door open on him in one corner. He rammed through and chopped Scott, and then I shut the door on him, and he just chased back, and then I immediately lit it up, and then he effectively blocked Scott.
So, I tried to use them against each other even though they were teammates.
That strategy worked for a while and eventually Walter fell off the pace, but only after putting in a solid stint at the front in his first weekend racing in the elite field.
I think the first elite race yesterday, I had a bit of imposter syndrome, almost like, ‘Do I belong here? Am I blowing myself up?’ But yeah, I think I knew I had the speed today and just settled in.
When Swartz and Funston were again on their own, there was no letting up with both racers drilling it for the final laps. With two and a half laps to go, another dust gremlin played its hand and took out Caleb. Hearing the incident behind him, Funston attacked and established the winning gap. Swartz held on for second, with Walter taking third.
Ben Frederick finished fourth, with Tom Scott (Marian University) grabbing fifth.
these are great