North Carolina Grand Prix Day One
Lopez de San Roman and Brunner dominate
After a month of uncertainty following the devastation caused by tropical storm Helene, North Carolina Grand Prix race director Tim Hopkin announced on November 7 that the 19th edition of the race would take place at Jackson Park in Hendersonville, North Carolina, as planned. The NCGP is the final regular season North American UCI race weekend of the season and the last domestic test before the U.S. National Championships on December 14 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Elite Women
Coming into the weekend, Caroline Mani (Groove Off Road Racing) was the favorite for victory in Hendersonville. Mani swept Nash Dash in Georgia the weekend before and has been consistently at the top of the table all season.
The rest of the contenders made up a who’s who of riders looking to win a U23 National Championship in three weeks. Lizzy Gunsalus (Marian University) scored a podium finish over Mani at Really Rad, Lauren Zoerner (Comp Edge Racing) is coming off a dominant Pan American Championship victory, and Kaya Musgrave (Cervélo Orange Living) was on the podium at Pan-Ams.
The wild card of the weekend in the women’s field—and another contender for the upcoming U23 National Championship—was the season debut of Vida Lopez de San Roman (Bear National Team), the reigning U.S. junior cyclocross champion. Lopez de San Roman got an early preview of the course by racing (and winning) the collegiate event in the morning before entering the elite race later in the day.
It was really nice to race the collegiate first, sort of just open up the body and scope out all the lines on the course and see how things were feeling before really jumping in the more serious race. And yeah, I wanted to also show up for my collegiate team.
Lopez de San Roman hung back early for the elite race as Zoerner took the hole shot and led into the first turns. Gunsalus, Mani, Musgrave and Lopez de San Roman quickly moved to the front and established a lead group, with Gunsalus and Mani putting in the most work.
On lap two, Lopez de San Ramon announced her presence to the lead group.
I was kind of just testing the waters. I did a few little attacks on the more technical sections and then just watched how things played out.
Things played out in Lopez de San Ramon’s favor. The small attacks broke up the lead group, with only Mani staying with Lopez de San Ramon at the front. But that didn’t last long as the gap started to grow, with Lopez de San Ramon off the front and Mani on her own in second place and a proper battle brewing for the third step on the podium between Gunsalus and Musgrave.
Despite giving back a few seconds on the closing lap, Lopez de San Ramon was able to win in dominant fashion. Mani, racing her final weekend in the U.S. before her Groove Off Road Racing team ceases operation, finished second. Gunsalus bested Musgrave for the third step on the podium.
Elite Men
Highlighting the men’s field were three hopefuls for the men’s elite national championship—Eric Brunner (Comp Edge Racing), Scott Funston (Cervélo Orange Living), and Kerry Werner (Groove Off Road Racing)—a pair of crit racers (Ty Magner and Robin Carpenter (Legion)), and a Canadian local (Tyler Orschel (Pan-American Union Racing) who always spices up the NCGP.
Magner showed his sprinting skills off the start, taking the hole shot and leading the field through the first half lap. Werner took the lead at the planks before pit two, with Funston in fifth and Brunner in sixth
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Brunner wasn’t too worried about his early positioning despite continuing to struggle off the line.
I actually pulled out of my pedal. So, considering that I had a great start. But yeah, I was back a little bit, but I was pretty patient and was just able to move through the group without too much issue.
Werner, a ten-time winner of the NCGP, continued to push the pace with Caleb Swartz (ENVE Forward Endurance Coaching), Brunner, Funston, Orschel and Dillon McNeil (CXD Trek Bikes) in tow.
By lap three, Brunner was on the front with only Funston and Werner able to stay with him. Swartz suffered a mechanical and dropped out of the race, and McNeil joined a chase group with Orschel and Jules van Kempen (Cervélo Orange Living).
Funston dangled in third for a while before losing a pedal, one-legging it to the pit and playing catchup for the remainder of the hour.
At the front, after shedding the rest of the field, Werner and Brunner traded pulls for a few laps before Brunner went all in.
I liked all the elevation. So the last part of the lap and then the first part of the lap was where a lot of the climbing was. And that's where I tried to put the pressure on. I came to the front, I think, the third lap and rode a lap of tempo, not really attacking but just trying to put some pressure on the group. I was able to break it up. Then I traded places with Kerry for a lap and then I really put a dig in about halfway through and was able to get away.
Brunner maintained his lead for the final half of the race, putting in fast laps and taking the victory by almost a minute. Werner finished second, already thinking about what he needs to do differently on Sunday.
Behind the two leaders, van Kempen, Orschel and McNeil fought for the final podium spot. Orschel continued his adventurous racing style in Hendersonville, crashing and catching back on. Van Kempen looked like he had the advantage in the final lap but washed out in one of the final turns, allowing Orschel to sneak by and grab third place.
