As sports fans, we watch sporting events for any number of reasons. Fun, diversion, camaraderie, weird obsessions, whatever it might be.
One of those reasons for many is the hope that if we watch enough events, we will get to witness something special. It does not happen often, but every once in a while a great game or race comes along that stands out as an event we will remember not just next week but next year.
So what makes a cyclocross race achieve greatness? That is a good question.
In ’cross, the races we remember seem to come down to battles between two riders—Nys v. Stybar, 2014; Vos v. Cant, 2017, the races may start with large groups, but they usually seem to come down to a duel between two. The chess match between the two, the attacks and counters push riders to their limit and force them to raise their respective ’cross games to another level.
We remember the examples above because the stakes were so high. Great races can happen locally on any given Saturday or Sunday, but true greatness is usually reserved for those races when the most prestigious titles are on the line.
Finally, there are the storylines. Every athlete comes to the line with a story—where they are in their career, what they've accomplished that season, what they have not accomplished that season. These stories can elevate a race to something that is about much more than just a race.
This calendar year, there have been a number of cyclocross races that were nothing short of barn burners. Today, we look back at six classic races that have a good chance of being remembered years from now.
Use the next button to read about each.
Stephen Hyde v. Curtis White – 2018 U.S. Cyclocross Nationals, Louisville
The Elite Men’s race at the 2018 Louisville Cyclocross Nationals was one surrounded by questions.
The Elite Men’s race at Louisville Nationals had a lot of question surrounding it. Elite Men. 2018 Cyclocross National Championships, Louisville, KY. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine
For Stephen Hyde, the question was whether or not he could bounce back from his second major injury of 2018 suffered at Pan-Ams and win his third-straight U.S. Cyclocross Nationals. Hyde is known as one of the toughest athletes in U.S. ’cross, but a second major recovery was a lot to ask of the defending champion.
Curtis White was looking to add his name as part of the answer when folks as who the best U.S. male cyclocross racer is. White headed to Louisville coming off the best season of his career, winning six of the eight Vittoria Series races and the Pan-American Championship talked about above.
Oh, and largely thanks to being the same age as Logan Owen, despite everything White has accomplished on the cyclocross course, he has never won U.S. Cyclocross Nationals.
When the predicted rain arrived in Louisville on Friday of Nationals week, it was hard not to look at the tea leaves for what to expect. White literally ran away from Kerry Werner in the snow and mud at the Supercross Cup, but Hyde returned at the NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross and won both days.
Stephen Hyde returned and won both days of the NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross. 2018 NBX Gran Prix of Cyclocross Day 2. © Angelica Dixon
Throwing a wrench in the predictions, Gage Hecht opted to race the Elites, and he headed to Louisville coming off a weekend sweep of Ruts n’ Guts, a race that White also started in.
Gage Hecht won at Ruts n’ Guts and then opted to race Elite Nationals. Elite Men, 2018 Ruts n Guts Day 1. © B. Bickerstaff
What would those results mean for Nationals? Good question. That’s why they race the races.
According to the athletes who raced, the best comparison for the thick mud at Joe Creason Park in Louisville was the 2018 World Championships in Valkenburg. With numerous off-cambers and plenty of elevation change, the conditions meant there would be a lot of running. It would take a complete cyclocross race to win.
There were certainly plenty of questions at the start line two Sundays ago in Louisville. Midway through the first lap, Hyde and White showed they had the answer.
The two Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld teammates got off the front and locked into a two-man duel. Thanks to the conditions, once off the front, the two were racing the challenging course as much as each other.
Curtis White and Stephen Hyde hit the front and left everyone stuck in the mud. Elite Men. 2018 Cyclocross National Championships, Louisville, KY. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine
In the second lap, White went crashing into the snow fence on one of the big drops. The next lap, Hyde slipped out on the corner after the flyover. Both times, the two men came back together.
Back and forth the two men went. At the start of Lap 4, Hyde had a small advantage. Then White took control heading into two to go by riding more of the last climb up to Pit 2.
Midway through the race, White and Hyde were off the front. Elite Men. 2018 Cyclocross National Championships, Louisville, KY. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine
With just two laps standing between Hyde and White and a Stars-and-Stripes jersey, the time for teammate tactics was over. The duel between the two finally started to get some resolution in the latter half of Lap 5.
In Lap 4 the slick climb to Pit 2 giveth White the lead. In Lap 5 while chasing a few seconds behind Hyde, it taketh away his chance to close the gap. White slipped out on the bottom of the climb and had to run the part he rode the previous lap.
Hyde’s powerful climb up the hill gave him a 12-second advantage at the bell.
Not even a brief crash on the big descent into the bowl during the last lap could keep Hyde from his third straight National Championship.
Stephen Hyde wins his third straight Cyclocross National Championship. Joe Creason Park, Louisville, KY. © D. Smaic / Cyclocross Magazine
In one of the coolest moments of the weekend, Hyde waited at the finish line to give his teammate a show of appreciation and a giant hub after their incredible battle in the thick Louisville mud.
It was a fitting ending to the Nationals week and a memorable year of domestic racing that started in January in Reno.
For more, check out our race report from the Elite Men’s race in Louisville.
