Much like GO Cross last weekend, Rochester Cyclocross is a duality of technical and power riding. The first half of the Rochester track includes tricky off-cambers, a legitimate run-up, several ride/run decision points, a flyover and a set of planks. The track's second half has long, fast grass sectors that reward big watts and invite group riding.
Although some contenders, like Manon Bakker (Crelan-Corendon), didn’t think the technical sections were difficult enough to produce opportunities to affect the race, if not raced well, they could be catastrophic. It’s the old “You may not win the race in the technical sections, but you can certainly lose it” adage1.
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Elite Women
Let’s return to our duality theme and hear from our two visiting riders for the USCX series. Helene Clauzel (Van Rysel Racing Team), who won her third Trek USCX Series race in a row, said the racing at Rochester was “super fast and like a race in Europe. It was really fun but also really hard.” Manon Bakker, who finished just off the podium for the third time in three tries in U.S. races, said, “It's different racing here than in Europe,” adding the technical parts aren’t hard enough to make a difference because even if you get away, the long grass sections make it difficult to keep any advantage.
Before the women’s race started, a light rain helped tamper much of the dust that consumed the track. Much like we discussed last week, with the arid conditions decreasing traction in Roanoke, the rain at Rochester helped riders attack the technical sectors more confidently.
Along with Clauzel and Bakker, the rider everyone was watching in the early laps was Maghalie Rochette (Canyon), making her 2024-2025 cyclocross debut. Coming off a season of long-form endurance racing and a bout of illness in the past few weeks, how Rochette would fare in a relatively short, high-intensity effort was a mystery even to her.
At first, I don't know, I was spaced out and I missed the start. Like they said “go” and I was just like [looks around absently] …. But it was actually a good thing because it got me working on positioning and, you know, just being in the race right away. You have to be focused, and that was cool. I crashed twice on the first lap, which was not ideal either. But again, like I told you, it took me a lot to get into it. Then it got better.
While Rochette may have taken a bit to find her footing, she had enough to join a familiar trio in this year’s Trek USCX series that included Clauzel, Bakker and Sidney McGill (Cervélo-Orange Living). That group of four had to keep the pace high as Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Racing) and an ever-present Caroline Mani (Groove Off Road) threatened to join the front.
Twenty minutes into the race, Rochette, having found her footing, started to put in some digs at the front. Clauzel and Bakker chased behind, with Mani joining McGill as the third chase group.
Clauzel was able to “clawzel” her way back to Rochette’s wheel bringing Bakker along. Once the trio was back together, the pace settled a bit allowing McGill to rejoin the front with Mani continuing to dangle just behind.
On the final lap, Mani joined the other four, setting up the race for one high-speed, high-risk circuit to see who would win. As the group reached the technical sectors, Clauzel led, with Rochette in second. McGill made a nice move to get around Rochette but faltered shortly after. That held up Rochette and gave Clauzel the advantage.
When Mani and Sidney got back to us, Sid did an awesome pass. So she passed me right in front of the technical section, and then she messed up. So Helen got away. Then I bridged a gap, dropped her, but I think that was like not the ideal spot to do it.
Clauzel was able to reel Rochette back in, setting up a sprint finish. The book on Rochester has always been that if you make the left-hand turn from the grass onto the gravel finishing straight first, you have the best chance to win the race.
Clauzel popped into view first, with Rochette on her wheel. When the rain-dampened dust settled, Clauzel was able to maintain her advantage and take her third Trek USCX series win in a row.
Not far behind, McGill pipped Bakker in a photo finish to take third.
Coming into the race, the assignment for Scott Funston (Cervélo Orange-Living), Kerry Werner (Groove Off Road), Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation), Marcis Shelton (Bear CX) and any other riders hoping to win the race was simple: figure out how to beat Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes). Executing that assignment may not be as easy as defining it.
To complicate matters, somebody left the joker in the deck when shuffling the starting lineups for this weekend’s races. That wild card? Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz SRAM htSQD).
Like Rochette needing a few laps to recalibrate her racing from feature-length to short-form, Ortenblad also needed some time to adjust to skinny tire racing.
I don't ride these bikes very much. I don't ride tubulars at all, so I thought coming yesterday and doing a lot of pre-ride would be enough, but I was definitely being outridden almost everywhere.
But that didn’t mean Ortenblad wasn’t ready for the fight when the whistle blew.
I had a pretty aggressive first lap … I had to make some choppy moves. And then, yeah, for me, if I can be on the front, I can dictate the snap out of all the corners, which was good for me. I know I've got the diesel engine to just ride hard, but the punch is harder for me nowadays. I'm almost 30.
True to form, Ortenblad muscled his way to the front and led by the time the field reached double-trouble.
If you’ve followed his recent career, you know that Ortenblad’s main job these days is to get to the front of long gravel or mountain bike races to keep the pace high for his teammate, Keegan Swenson. Although Swenson wasn’t in attendance, the nearly 30-year-old dog doesn’t have many new tricks and kept the pace high at the front, creating a group of four that included Strohmeyer, Funston, and White.
After getting a taste of what Swenson must enjoy, Funston appreciated Ortenblad’s effort.
On a course like this, [you won’t let anyone] back into the race if you go hard for the first two laps. Luckily, Tobin ended up doing that for me, so I didn't really have to. We were on a good clip. It was almost perfect, stretching it out, and then... I went to the front and kept the pressure on.
Once Funston made his bid for the front, Strohmeyer latched on his wheel, happy to let Funston drag him around. That effort distanced Ortenblad and White, who fell off the pace. Ortenblad was able to right the ship and started to claw back to the leading duo while White drifted back to the next group of chasers.
At the front, Strohmeyer was happy with how the race developed without him having to do much work at the front. Strohmeyer decided to put in a bit of a dig halfway through the race, and Scott was able to close it down. After that, Funston went to the front, and the pair drilled it for a lap.
Scott noticed that we dropped Tobin when we did that. So, when he came back Scott pushed it for a lap and really tried to get rid of [Tobin]. And that was coming into four to go.
Ortenblad, slowed by a bike change for a flat tire, was out of contention for the win following Funston’s big effort. But that left the door open for Strohmeyer to make a move.
Scott led a whole lap and didn't let off. So, I knew coming into that lap, I was going to make my move on the start straight and then pass the pits, it's a slight uphill, and then into the barriers, which I was able to hop really fast and everyone else was running. So, yeah, he pulled a full lap and he pulled off to let me pull through on the start-finish and I just attacked.
Strohmeyer was able to distance himself from Funston on that move and cruised to his third victory in a row in the Trek USCX series. The real drama happened behind in the battle for second and third.
The ride of the day easily goes to Henry Coote (Comp Edge Racing), who worked his way through the field before riding with his coach, Curtis White, for a few laps behind the three leaders.
In the final laps, Coote caught Funston and Ortenblad and was a real threat to take the second step on the podium. However, coming into the half-pipe section, his youthful exuberance got the best of him, and Ortenblad was able to get Coote out of position after the Comp Edge rider came into the feature a bit too hot.
Coote was able to fight back from that but ended up dropping a chain, taking him out of contention for the podium. Funston was able to hold off Ortenblad, who knew that without the chain drop, he would have had a tough time holding off Coote.
One part of the course we haven’t mentioned is the cobbled section, built for this year’s edition. After many rider concerns were voiced to the race organizer over the section’s tendency to damage wheels, the organizers agreed to remove the cobbles for Saturday’s race. For Sunday, the cobbles should return with the course running in the opposite direction and riders coming into the section on an incline, significantly reducing the speed and the potential for wheel damage.
Thanks for the report. Any word on why the two men were DSQ's?
“Rock garden”