For 2022, the traditional Friday afternoon C2 at the Trek CX Cup became a C1. On a shorter course than what we will see on Sunday for the World Cup event, the elite men and women set a blistering pace on relatively flat track under sunny skies.
Since the beginning of the North American UCI calendar, which started four weeks ago at GO Cross in Roanoke, Virginia, the questions on most people’s minds were some form of what is Clara Honsinger up to and what kind of race form will she have coming into the season?
After a bit of rest following a long road season, Clara toed a UCI cyclocross start line for the first time this season on the Trek Headquarters grounds on Friday afternoon. She started in the way we are accustomed going from first row to third or fourth row by the time the start straight ended. But she easily worked her way to the front group. Once there she hung around for a little why putting in consistent lap times. As the other riders began to falter and fall of the fast starting pace, Clara just remained consistent. No attacks, no pushing of the pace, just steady consistency. A steady consistency that nobody else in the field could match.
In the end, Clara won the race with Helene Clauzel in second and Manon Bakker in third. The real test for the American National Champ will be the World Cup, tomorrow, but if the warm-up was any indication, she should be battling at the front with the other favorites.
In the men’s race, a road race broke out with a big peloton dominating the day. Curtis White tried his best to animate the field with a few attacks, but in the end, it was Lars van der Haar who used a last-lap attack to take the victory over Daan Soete and David Menut.
Van der Haar is skipping Fayetteville to be able to spend more time at home with his newborn daughter. This means he’s extra motivated to secure as many points as possible this weekend. When asked if he whether the high pace on Friday would burn too many matches for Sunday’s World Cup, all he said is that none of that even entered his mind, “a win’s a win.”
So good to see Clara on form and in “the jersey” at a World Cup. Seems this is a year we wont see the rainbow bands or (mens) Stars and Stripes much in Europe. So what Lars is really saying is he would rather not make the US trip but has to for Trek as major team sponsor (but totally get it). Curious to not see anyone from Blue Cycles team in the results - they just skip Friday?