Virgina's Blue Ridge GO Cross Preview

Trek USCX Series gets underway this weekend in Roanoke

We are in Roanoke, Virginia, for Virginia’s Blue Ridge GO Cross, and the course is pinging. The first round of the Trek USCX series kicks off with two days of UCI racing at Fallon Park, home of the only permanent public cyclocross venue in the Commonwealth.

In its twelfth year and sixth as a UCI race, GO Cross is an East Coast mainstay. Predominantly a grass track, GO Cross sets itself apart with a hefty amount of climbing and no room to recover.

New (or returning for 2024) are a few more climbs, around 190 feet of elevation gain per lap, a revised entrance to the sand pit that doesn’t have the same speed limit as last year’s version, the “U” logs and some tweaks to Meg’s Mountain¹ (formerly School Hill).

Course Preview with Strohmeyer and Brenneman

The Fields

Elite Men

Last week’s Englewood Open CX may have been the UCI season opener for North America, but GO Cross is the first real test for many of the top riders.

The men’s field will feature a rematch of the second through fifth-place finishers at last year’s U.S. national championships. Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes), Scott Funston (Cervélo Orange Living), Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation) and Kerry Werner (Groove Off Road) will pick up where they left off in Louisville last December.

Race prediction: Strohmeyer takes the win, Funston second, Werner third. Second and third is a tough one to call. Werner has the hometown advantage and is focusing on cyclocross this season, but Funston is coming off a good showing last weekend that included a win at Englewood, so he gets the edge.

Darkhorse: Marcis Shelton (Bear National)

Here’s your full men’s elite start list.

Elite Men (Start time 4:05p ET)

Elite Women

For the women, it may come down to a battle between Manon Bakker (Crelan-Corendon) and Helene Clauzel (Van Rysel Racing Team) both of whom will be racing the full Trek USCX series. If you look at the head-to-head from Cyclocross24 between these two, they are always within a few riders of each other.

The top North American challenger to the Dutch and French riders is Sidney McGill (Cervélo Orange Living), who is coming off two commanding wins at Englewood last week. Joining McGill at the top of the field should be Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Racing) and Caroline Mani (Groove Off Road), who has won six out of the ten UCI events held at Fallon Park. In the other four, Mani placed second.

Unhinged Race Prediction: Ignore everything I wrote above. Bakker will take the win one out of two days. Clouse will get second. Mani will win one day and be off the podium for the other. McGill and Clauzel will fight for third.

Darkhorse: Lauren Zoerner (Comp Edge Racing)

Women’s Elite (Start time 2:55p ET)

1. Meg’s Mountain is named in honor of Meg Burrow: “We are sending love to the Burrow Family from the Go Cross community.

Meg spent her short, bright life battling Cerebellar Hypoplasia, a rare and severe neurological disorder. Together with her family she fought each obstacle with strength and joy, one step at a time - the way you conquer a mountain. She passed away on August 22nd.

To honor her fight we have renamed School Hill, the hardest climb at Go Cross, Meg's Mountain.

We invite our competitors to climb for Meg. And, we hope everyone will join us in supporting and sending love to the Burrows and our cycling community who are all grieving Meg's loss.

If you are so inclined, a fundraiser has been set up to assist the Burrows with medical expenses.”