BOULDER, Colo. (Oct. 14, 2017) – The U.S. Open of Cyclocross featured a full docket of UCI races on Saturday, and points for USA Cycling’s Professional Cyclocross Calendar (ProCX). Strong winds provided as much of a challenge as the new courses at Valmont Bike Park, which began with the second event of the year for the Junior 17-18 Men. It would be the first Under-23 competition of the season for USA Cycling’s Professional Cyclocross Calendar (ProCX).
Gomez-Villafane Wins Juniors, Hecht U23s
Benjamin Gomez-Villafane (Top Club CycloCross) would claim his second Junior victory of the 2017 season, adding to a win and a third place he earned at KMC Cross Fest two weeks ago.
Gage Hecht of Parker, Colo. (Alpha Bicycle Co. – Groove Subaru) was well off the front on the bell lap and won the U23 contest. Among the chasers were a Boulder duo of Grant Ellwood (Boulder Cycle Sport) and Eric Brunner (EVOL Racing), who would finish would finish second and third, respectively.
Men's U23 #USOPENOFCROSS 1 Hecht, 2 Ellwood, 3 Brunner pic.twitter.com/YnTKzqkEqC
— Mary Topping (@butterflywriter) October 14, 2017
“Today was a super fun race. It’s probably the best I have felt this season,” said Hecht about winning the opening U23 race of the ProCX calendar. “I was excited to put some power into it today. It was so windy out there. A couple of sections out there I was actually having to run just because you couldn’t keep the bike underneath you. It definitely made it a huge challenge out there. It was a blast.”
Mountain Bike Star Huck Wins Women’s Race
The UCI Category 2 Elite Women’s race was won by 2017 U.S. National Short Track Cross Country national champion Erin Huck of Boulder. She made her move in the final half lap of the women’s event to outdistance France’s Caroline Mani (Van Dessel) and 17-year-old Katie Clouse (Alpha Bicycle Co.).
“I figured I might as well go for it,” said Huck about her first cyclocross race of the year. “I was using my mountain bike skills to descend pretty well. Definitely noticed that I had a lack of some cyclocross skills, any time it came to a dismount section. So I figured the girls would catch up to me on the back side, but fortunately I was able to keep my distance.”
2017 US Open of Cyclocross podium © B. Lee
Driscoll Outsprints Van den Ham in Men’s Race
The UCI C2 Elite Men came down to a wild-west sprint between Jamie Driscoll (Donnelly Sports) of Park City, Utah and Canadian Michael van den Ham (Garneau Easton), with Driscoll scoring his first ProCX win of the year. Twenty-three-year-old Keegan Swenson (Cannondale/3Rox) of Park City would finish third.
“It was just fast and bumpy out there. I had the classic diesel engine, but I thought I’d have a little more pop. I was able to climb my way back after many accelerations, so I knew it wouldn’t be a late move that would give me any success,” said Driscoll about his C2 sprint win, which was won by centimeters rather than inches. “I went full gas the entire (last) lap. Because of the head wind on the sprint, I was expecting people to come around me. It was a short enough sprint that I held them off. Honestly, when I crossed the line, I didn’t know I took it (the win). Michael was there. We both threw the bike and it was inches.”
#USOpenofCross men's podium 1 Driscoll, 2 MVDH, 3 Swenson, 4 Riveros, 5 Krughoff pic.twitter.com/n1YJX5cacg
— Mary Topping (@butterflywriter) October 14, 2017
ProCX racing continues in at Valmont Bike Park in Boulder on Sunday, with additional contests for all UCI events. Sponsors for the event include Clif Bar, Shimano and Giant Bicycles. The Ska Brewing Beer Garden opens to the public at 11 a.m., with proceeds benefiting the Believe Ranch and Rescue Foundation.
Elite Women's Results - 2017 US Open of Cyclocross Day 1
| Place | Bib | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 111 | Huck, Erin | 3 Rox Racing-Cannondale | 43:51 |
| 2 | 101 | Mani, Caroline | Van dessel /atom composites | 43:56 |
| 3 | 110 | Clouse, Katie | Alpha Bicycle Co | 43:57 |
| 4 | 104 | Gomez Villafane, Sofia | Pivot Cycles pb DNA Cycling | 43:59 |
| 5 | 102 | Mcfadden, Courtenay | Pivot Cycles p/b DNA Cycling | 44:18 |
| 6 | 103 | Gilbert, Sunny | Van Dessel Factory Team | 45:02 |
| 7 | 117 | Bernstein, Caitlin | Vive La Tarte CX | 45:17 |
| 8 | 120 | Runnels, Samantha | Squid Bikes | 45:20 |
| 9 | 119 | Kachorek, Emily | Squid Bikes | 45:35 |
| 10 | 107 | Arman, Danielle | Tenspeed Hero/Firefly Bicycles | 45:44 |
| 11 | 105 | Gross, Rebecca | Zero-D Racing | 45:54 |
| 12 | 108 | Rathbun, Laurel | Donnelly Cycling Team | 45:55 |
| 13 | 137 | Gould, Georgia | Boo Bicycles | 45:56 |
| 14 | 114 | Ghent, Christa | Amy D Foundation | 45:7 |
| 15 | 138 | Engelsted, Anna Katrina | Boulder Cycle Sport | 46:15 |
| 16 | 135 | Schmidtmann, Petra | Van Dessel Factory Cycling | 46:17 |
| 17 | 133 | Legan, Kristen | EVOL DevoElite Racing | 46:18 |
| 18 | 134 | Beisel, Amy | Kenda tire | 47:00 |
| 19 | 112 | Mallory, Shannon | NWCX Project | 47:16 |
| 20 | 130 | Holland, Jolene | Ultra Violet | 47:19 |
| 21 | 115 | Franz, Heidi | NWCX Project | 47:28 |
| 22 | 127 | Livingston, Suzie | TOPO Cycling | 48:13 |
| 23 | 116 | Morris, Fiona | Speedvagen x MAAP | 48:30 |
| 24 | 121 | Larkin, Maria | The Meteor p/b Allied | 48:38 |
| 25 | 131 | Newlin, Meghan | Full cycle/Topo | 48:39 |
| 26 | 128 | Daniel, Marsa | MD Endurance Coaching | 48:42 |
| 27 | 126 | Lilley, Ava | Bend Endurance Academy | 49:13 |
| 28 | 140 | Ethridge, Leslie | Topo Designs Cycling Club | 49:32 |
| 29 | 118 | Ramsay, Turner | Alpha Bicycle Co.- Groove Subaru | 50:06 |
| 30 | 129 | Jorgenson, Nicole | Bauerhaus x Tenspeed Hero | 50:50 |
| 31 | 113 | Zoerner, Ashley | Groove Subaru excel sports | 53:03 |
| 32 | 139 | Jeddeloh, Laura | MD Endurance Coaching | @1Lap |
| DNF | 109 | Miller, Meredith | Rapha | |
| DNF | 125 | Dorovskikh, Anna | Boulder Cycle Sport | |
| DNF | 132 | Downey, Jenna | Peachtree Bikes | |
| DNF | 136 | Kuper, Dana | Team Roaring Mouse |
Elite Men's Results - 2017 US Open of Cyclocross Day 1
| Place | Bib | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Driscoll, James | Donnelly Cycling Cyclocross Team | 1:00:48 |
| 2 | 2 | Van Den Ham, Michael | Garneau - Easton P/B Transitions Life C | s.t. |
| 3 | 40 | Swenson, Keegan | Cannondale/3Rox Racing | s.t. |
| 4 | 9 | Riveros Paez, Hector Fernando | Stan'S Notubes P/B Maxx / Construction | 1:00:58 |
| 5 | 3 | Krughoff, Allen | Krughoff Racing | 1:01:15 |
| 6 | 6 | Kaiser, Cody | Lange Twins / Specialized | 1:01:16 |
| 7 | 4 | Millburn, Garry | Speedvagen X Maap | 1:02:02 |
| 8 | 38 | Baddick, Chris | Boulder Cycle Sport | 1:02:05 |
| 9 | 5 | Eckmann, Yannick | Cuore Racing Team | 1:03:10 |
| 10 | 11 | Mcpherson, Ian | Evol Racing | s.t. |
| 11 | 12 | Cupp, Cody | Gillespie Eye Care/Set Coaching/Arlberg | 1:03:13 |
| 12 | 7 | Bradford-Parish, Kevin | Gillespie Eye Care/Setcoaching | 1:03:34 |
| 13 | 24 | Flis, Mark | X-Men/ Trek/ Storm Cycles | 1:03:38 |
| 14 | 28 | Whitney, Josh | Evol Racing | s.t. |
| 15 | 14 | Wild, Alex | Trail Head Racing / Specialized | 1:04:05 |
| 16 | 39 | Dolzani, Samuel | Honey Stinger / Bontrager | 1:04:05 |
| 17 | 41 | Schroeder, Allan | Project Aka | 1:04:35 |
| 18 | 30 | Pursell, Terol | Redspoke Racing P/B Remax Pros. | 1:04:54 |
| 19 | 34 | Johnson, Kyle | Team Yacht Club | 1:04:59 |
| 20 | 35 | Day, Kevin | Rollout App | 1:05:02 |
| 21 | 8 | Mackey, Skyler | Kccx Elite Cyclocross Team | 1:05:36 |
| 22 | 54 | Jacobs, Jayson | Breismeister Factory | 1:06:22 |
| 23 | 43 | Huizenga, Jacob | Chicago Cuttin Crew | 1:06:23 |
| 24 | 26 | Fossell, Eric | Cos Racing | 1:06:25 |
| 25 | 25 | Ganter, Chris | Rolf Prima P/B Niner Maxxis Champsys | 1:06:26 |
| 26 | 42 | Allen, William | Feedback Sports | 1:06:29 |
| 27 | 36 | Rinn, Ryan | Vive La Tarte Cx | 1:06:30 |
| 28 | 32 | Ostrowski, Jeremy | Reynolds Roofing | 1:07:44 |
| 29 | 27 | Vaughn, Aaron | Rallysport | 1:08:14 |
| 30 | 31 | Dolzani, Zachary | Honey Stinger | 1:08:27 |
| 31 | 22 | Thomas, Nick | Trek Cyclocross Collective | 1:09:11 |
| 32 | 21 | Weiss, Timber | Lit Af | @ 1 Lap |
| 33 | 23 | Coats, James | Spokesman Cyclocross | @ 3 Lap |
| 34 | 33 | Kappius, Braden | Team Clif Bar | @ 5 Lap |
| 35 | 37 | Hindman, Steve | Pen Velo Racing / Summit Bikes | @ 5 Lap |
| DNF | 13 | Direen, Josh | Groove Subaru-Excel Sports | |
| DNF | 10 | Downing, Spencer | Panache Houndstooth Racing |
U23 Men's Results - US Open of Cyclocross Day 1
| Place | Bib | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46 | Hecht, Gage | Alpha Bicycle Co./Groove Subaru | 54:00 |
| 2 | 48 | Ellwood, Grant | Boulder Cycle Sport | 54:23 |
| 3 | 51 | Brunner, Eric | Evol Racing | 54:54 |
| 4 | 47 | Chance, Maxx | EVOL Racing | 55:14 |
| 5 | 45 | Haidet, Lance | Donnelly Cycling | 55:24 |
| 6 | 52 | Stephenson, Denzel | Evol Racing | 56:26 |
| 7 | 66 | Ellwod, Ross | Boulder Cycle Sport | 56:28 |
| 8 | 50 | Gerchar, Garrett | Clif Bar Cyclocross Team | 56:29 |
| 9 | 53 | Tanner, Jack | Clif Bar Development Cross Team | 57:35 |
| 10 | 49 | Fix, Brannan | Alpha Bicycle Co.-Groove Subaru | 57:55 |
| 11 | 63 | Sotebeer, Drew | Alpha Bicycle Co.- Groove Subaru | 1:00:04 |
| 12 | 62 | Buckley, Harrison | Procycling Race Team | 1:00:25 |
| 13 | 65 | Anderson, Jonathan | Fort Lewis College | 1:02:04 |
| 14 | 67 | Melton, Wiley | Melton Design Build PB GS Forza | @2Lap |
| 15 | 64 | Franze, Brent | giant co factory buena park bikes | @2Lap |
| 16 | 61 | Whittemore, Nevin | Clif Bar Development Cross Team | @3Lap |
Junior Men's Results - US Open of Cyclocross Day 1
| Place | Bib | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 71 | Gomez Villafane, Benjamin | TopClub CycloCross | 40:00 |
| 2 | 89 | Bickmore, Torin | Boulder Junior Cycling | 40:01 |
| 3 | 85 | Clark, Tyler | KMS cycling Killington Mountain School | 40:02 |
| 4 | 73 | Funston, Scott | Rad Racing NW | 40:03 |
| 5 | 72 | Wood, Calder | Rad Racing NW | 40:04 |
| 6 | 84 | Jones, Henry | Bend Endurance Academy | 40:06 |
| 7 | 91 | Martin, Conor | GARNEAU-EASTON p/b TRANSITIONS LIFECARE | 41:05 |
| 8 | 86 | Brown, Sam | Kona Super Grassroots | 41:51 |
| 9 | 90 | Johnson, Benjamin | Unattached | 42:19 |
| 10 | 82 | Watson, Campbell | Boulder Junior Cycling | 42:32 |
| 11 | 83 | Reynolds, Tyler | Trek Cyclocross Collective | 42:40 |
| 12 | 87 | Ritzow, Max | PDX Ti | 42:41 |
| 13 | 88 | Pawlak, Nathan | Prestige Imports | 44:03 |
| 14 | 81 | Limpach, Cole | Harvest Racing | @3Laps |
