Gage Hecht Signs with Trek to Race Cyclocross
The U.S. Elite Men's National Champ has a new cyclocross home with Trek.
Just about one year ago, Gage Hecht took one of the biggest steps of his cyclocross career at Lakewood Nationals when he defeated Kerry Werner, Curtis White, and Stephen Hyde in the Elite Men’s race while still racing as a U23 rider. The win came a year after he jumped up to the Elite race at Louisville Nats in 2018 and took third behind Hyde and White.
A star in cyclocross since racing as a young Junior, Hecht is one of the most promising young riders to come up through the U.S. cyclocross program in the last decade. Despite his success, it was not really a secret that as of the start of the fall, Hecht was in search of a cyclocross home as he gets set to officially start his Elite ‘cross career.
Today, news broke that Hecht finally found that home as a Trek-sponsored rider. The company officially announced the signing of Hecht as an independent rider with a partnership that appears similar to the one it has with Katie Compton and Ellen Noble.
As the announcement from Trek notes, Hecht is currently in his senior year at Metropolitan State University where he is studying to be a pilot. Like nearly all North American athletes, Hecht said he was thrown off by the cancellation of the entire 2020 North American racing calendar, but he is still hoping to make it to Europe to race with his new program.
“It’s been challenging trying to balance school and training at a pace where I can be ready for the ‘cross season,” Hecht said. “But we’re getting through that slowly. And hopefully in the next week and a half, we can finish that up and start going full gas.”
Hecht was a long-time member of the Alpha Bicycle / Groove Subaru program before joining up with friend Lance Haidet last season as part of the Donnelly / Aevolo two-man team. Following last season, Haidet signed with the Legion of LA to race on the road, while Hecht went about finding a home for 2020.
He joins an impressive roster of Trek-sponsored riders racing cyclocross. Katie Compton—she’s won a few national championships—has been a mainstay for Trek for almost a decade, Ellen Noble signed as an independent rider earlier this year, young phenom Maddie Munro joined the Trek Factory Racing CX program, and the Wisconsin bike company was recently announced as a title sponsor of the Trek-Baloise Lions beginning in 2021.
Primal will be supplying Hecht’s U.S. National Champ’s jersey he will get to wear through next December, and Shimano will be joining to provide bike components.
And yes, if you were wondering, it appears Bart will be along for the ride on his new Trek Boone.