Trek CX Cup Day One Race Report
Clauzel and Werner win first day of Trek USCX final weekend
For Hélène Clauzel (Van Rysel Racing Team), Saturday at the Trek CX Cup put her one win away from an eight-race win streak and a sweep of the Trek USCX Series. For Kerry Werner (Groove Off Road Racing), Saturday’s win was a return to the top step of a UCI C1 race for the first time since 2019 and a reminder that not too long ago, Werner was the number one racer in American cyclocross.
Elite Women
Maghalie Rochette (Canyon) came off the line hard and led the field through the first half of the course. However, by the time the field reached pit two, the status quo of the past month re-established itself with Manon Bakker (Crelan-Corendon) and Clauzel on the front.
Rochette dropped back to third as a gap formed to the leading pair. Sidney McGill (Cervèlo Orange Living) sat in fourth place, looking for opportunities to get around Rochette as quickly as possible.
I tried to go with [Clauzel and Bakker] the first couple laps, but I kind of got hung up and burned a few extra matches just to get around other riders. I did eventually catch back on at, I think, the start of the third lap. But I burned a few too many matches doing that, and then they attacked somewhere in the back, and I couldn't go with them.
As McGill sat in cyclocross purgatory—stuck between the leading duo and the chasing field—Bakker and Clauzel continued their rivalry born out of several weeks of head-to-head competition. For this week, both riders agreed that they were racing at the same level, which led to a strategic race in which each tried to be in front at the parts on course where the other was stronger. For Clauzel, this meant picking her spots to go out front.
The first part of the track is really technical and physical, so it was really important for me to always be at the front of Manon.
One section in which Bakker had a seemingly significant advantage was the barriers. While Clauzel ran the feature every lap, Bakker rode the planks and either gained time if in front or could recover a bit if behind, knowing she would catch back on without too much effort.
Most of the time, I just let her go in front after the barriers because there was a headwind after it. And I was like, “You can go first. I'll just go in your wheel.” So, it was definitely a lot faster to jump to barriers. I think you could gain probably five seconds if you're a really good jumper. So, yeah, it's a big difference, but then she knew she had to be in front.
Regarding the final lap at the Trek CX Cup, the conventional wisdom is that you want to be first to the barriers and keep that lead through the technical Factory Hill section and, finally, the finish.
Bakker questioned this strategy because of the high winds at the venue. The long stretch after the barriers and before Factory Hill was a strong headwind, and Bakker’s concern was that if she led after the planks, Clauzel could catch back on and sit in the draft before attacking right before Factory Hill. Bakker thought her best bet was to save her matches and turn the tables on Clauzel with her own late pass.
Clauzel had a different plan, however, attacking right after pit two on the final lap, establishing a gap and carrying that momentum through the final half of the course. Clauzel took the win with room to spare to secure her seventh win in a row.
Bakker finished second, with McGill in third, Caroline Mani (Groove Off Road) in fourth and Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Foundation) in fifth.
Series Standings
Elite Men
Scott Funston (Cervèlo Orange Living) jumped out to an early lead and led the procession through the first lap with Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes), Tyler Clark (Hockley Valley Resort Armada), Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation) and a dangling Kerry Werner (Groove Off Road) who had a slow start and needed some time to rejoin the lead pack.
Once with the leaders, Werner threw caution to the headwinds and attacked.
I wanted to get to the front early and coming into that big off-camber section, I think Strohmeyer might have crashed when he was on my wheel. So that's where I got my initial gap. And then I knew just like staying on it would require the field splintering behind me, and then we'd have a group.
Strohmeyer didn’t necessarily crash, but his misadventures on the off-camber had the same effect on Werner's escape.
After the off-camber, there's a U-turn that comes back up the hill, and I don't know what position I was in, but I was trying to follow the wheel in front of me and just leaned it over a little too much in the corner and slid out. I had to jump off my bike and run to the top. Then, the front tire on that bike was losing air. I hit something really hard on the first lap, so I had to pit. That kind of gave Kerry a gap and I had to chase from there.
Once off the front, Werner put in a strong effort that forced Strohmeyer to dig deeper than he wanted.
I was trying not to burn matches, just keeping the pace high and riding back slowly. But this course is so hard, and it's so windy, that I ended up having to ride pretty hard to catch him again—pretty much the same speed but harder than he was going. So that took it out of me a little bit.
From Werner’s perspective, he knew he couldn’t keep the high pace forever and would have to employ more racecraft once Strohmeyer caught him and Funston continued to chase.
In my head, I knew Strohmeyer was playing that game like, “I'm winning the USCX. I don't need to be pulling right now.” So that put a little pressure on me to set the pace. Fortunately, that would happen every time on the start-finish straight. I'd sit on, and then Funston would almost connect, and then I'd punch it again. So I was confident that I could keep Funston away, but then I was worried about the matches being blown.
And then Strohmeyer attacked with two laps to go.
I never want to leave it to the last lap because who knows what guys have on the last lap. Even if you're hurting, it's just a different animal. So, with two to go, I knew I'd attack up the hill. And I attacked like I had done at Rochester and GO Cross, and everything was good. But I just couldn't get the heart rate to come back down. It was just hot and a super hard course. And I just couldn't recover at all. So, eventually, the legs just stopped working. And I had nothing left when he caught me, which is how it goes sometimes.
When pressed on why Strohmeyer had suffered late-race collapses in two races in a row, he reluctantly—not wanting to make excuses or take anything away from Werner’s exceptional race performance—shared that he had gotten sick after Rochester and hadn’t fully recovered.
I pretty much didn't ride my bike the whole week leading up to Charm. I’m recovering better now, but I'm still working through some energy things. It's been a long four weeks—a lot of racing, a lot of really high intensity. So, yeah, it's going to be nice to go home and take a little rest. But I can't be upset with seconds.
As for Werner, he didn’t know why Strohmeyer faltered, but he’ll take the victory.
I'm not sure exactly what happened, but halfway through the last lap, he just detonated in a really big way. Like the wheels just came off. And I kept thinking to myself, it can't be this easy, but yeah, I just had to keep it together there and just ride it and clean.
Werner took the win and is looking forward to trying to sweep the weekend in tomorrow’s race. On top of a race victory, the other battle will be for second in the series. With today’s win and Funston’s third place, Werner moves two points ahead of Funston for second place overall.
Clauzel and Strohmeyer clinched the series with today’s win and second place.
Series Standing
Just goes to show being in cycling media is real work when you are posting at almost 2am😳. Thanks for the writeup so we have something to go with our morning coffee 👍