Englewood Open CX Day One Race Recap
McGill and Swartz take first North American UCI wins of the season
Cyclocross season at the UCI level has officially started in North America. After a full day of USA Cycling amateur races, the elites lined up in the late afternoon to tackle the fast and windy Englewood track.
Elite Women
In the women’s elite field, Sidney McGill (Cervélo-Orange Living) entered the race as the hands-down favorite and she did not disappoint. From the whistle, McGill battled with Katy McDicken (ProTerra Racing) for a few meters at the front before taking the lead spot twenty seconds into the race and never looking back.
McGill said she felt like she was coming into this season “a little blind or a little more blind than usual.”
But I’m happy to be back and to get a couple of C2s under my belt before the USCX season. I’m coming off a small ankle injury. I wanted to test it to see how it felt, and it was okay. So, in the last couple of laps, I was able to push a little harder.
Kaya Musgrave (Cervélo-Orange Living) had planned to sit in a lead group and get comfortable for a few laps, but once the McGill train decoupled from the group and took off, Musgrave had no choice but to latch on.
I was planning to get stuck in and be at the front. And that didn't happen because Sidney is a beast. So I just motored through, focused on my lines and pacing and all the things I can do. And so, yeah, it didn't quite go how I thought it would, but I'm not mad about it.
Behind Musgrave was a rider returning to cyclocross after taking a season off to raise her newborn. Anna Megale (Comp Edge Racing) looked like she had regained her form from a few seasons ago as she chased the two leaders all day.
I was trying to close back to them and didn't. They were much faster in the logs because they rode it, and I ran it. And so anything I gained, I would lose again. So, about halfway through, I think I kind of lost them and settled in at whatever gap I was at. I know I have tomorrow and a lot more races to come. I was comfortably in third and told myself I was just going to ride this one out, so that's what I did.
When asked about the challenge of returning from a long layoff, especially after being a new mom, Megale said she relied on the remnants of the base she had built in seasons past, but it still felt like she was starting from nothing. “I think it's both physical and mental. You just have to convince yourself that you can do it.”
Jamie McColl (Team Wisconsin) won the battle of the chasers for fourth place, holding off Erin Feldhausen (Trek Midwest Team), who came around Siobhan Kelly (Black Dog Racing) in the final laps.
Here are the full results from UCI Elite Women
Elite Men
In the men’s race, we had ourselves a full-on battle. A large group stayed together for the first few laps of the race before a smaller group of six established itself off the front. The Cervélo-Orange Living trio of Scott Funston, Jules van Kempen and Luke Walter were joined by Caleb Swartz (ENVE/Forward Endurance Racing), Miles Mattern (CXD Trek Bikes) and Ben Frederick (The Small Monsters Project). That group worked together for several laps before Frederick and van Kempen fell off the pace.
For the four remaining, it was a race of calibrated efforts and tactical riding. Funston believed he could do what he wanted in the group and didn’t have to press too hard.
I just wanted a clean first half lap and ended up good there. I slotted into third and then kind of just finessed my way up. I think I was in the lead after half a lap. That was great and yeah, I'd say I was kind of controlling the race. I was trying to balance pushing and racing hard. There are enough turns and stuff that I didn't see a need to be further back than second or third wheel. It seemed like there were a lot of spots where you could put two pedal strokes in and make a pass. And I was like, why not?
In his first elite race after moving up from the juniors, Mattern wanted to ensure he at least finished in the points so that his starts for the rest of the season weren’t at the back.
First of all, I wanted to stay out of trouble and then I wanted to get to the front. Once I realized that I had the strength to stay in the front group, I wanted to be in the front few wheels and not get yo-yoed off the back. So, I was just constantly trying to stay second or third. If someone would pass me, I'd try to pass someone back.
And then I was just focusing on, following as closely as I could through the corners, which is something I'm working on. So then, I don't have to close gaps on the straights because that's something I can't get away with anymore in the elites.
Luke Walter also put in a strong effort and held on to the front group as long as he could before drifting off the pace in the race's later stages.
With the group down to three in the final laps, Mattern and Funston attacked while Swartz laid low, biding his time.
I knew I would save my matches as best I could, and I hoped I could hit that snap at the right second to break that rubber band and go.
Scott went full gas with two to go, and Miles was on his wheel. He'd done some hard efforts before that and even a few more hard efforts before that.
I was trying to figure out the spot I could go the whole race. On the final lap, I punched it up and over the hill after the barriers and was able to put down 30 seconds of hard power on the descent. Then, I punched it back up and over the climbs, then punched it again through two more hard straightaways.
Scott had just gone ballistic for half a lap. I think Miles was hanging on for dear life. I was suffering, but not over the limit. Because they had just done some hard efforts, it was the perfect timing for me to just punch it, you know, 100 percent race-winning style effort.
And then I thought I could hold it because once you're up and over the climb, it's really hard to pass on the off-cambers or anywhere through the logs. Once you're into the second half of the course, there's basically no passing if you're riding defensively.
Swartz successfully deployed his defensive tactics, helped by Funston washing out in a turn before pit 2 in the final minutes of the race. Swartz took the win, with Funston in second and Mattern in third.
Despite the exceptional ride by the podium finishers, the ride of the day has to go to Wisconsin legend Brian Matter (Linear Sport Racing Trek Shimano), who methodically worked his way up from the third or fourth chase group to eventually attack all of the groups and finish fifth overall.
Here are your men’s elite results:
And here are your UCI junior results.
Junior Women
Junior Men
We run it back tomorrow. Results and more photos from day two will be posted on Monday.