Here, Luke Keough relaxes during a mid-ride ice cream break. Now, he's dominating the USA Crits series. © Molly Hurford
While the Kat’s away, the … well, Molly will attempt to write Rumors and Rumblings, though without Kat’s typical flair. Kat Statman will be returning to writing next week – thank goodness – after he gets home from his honeymoon.
In the meantime, we wanted to bring you some of the latest news from the cyclocross front, as road season for ’crossers has kicked into high gear lately. With Luke Keough dominating the USA Crits series, Team Mountain Khakis, managed by Adam Myerson, is ramping up their season. However, the Keoughs aren’t the only ’cross racers in the series. USA Nationals in Georgia saw a lot of cyclocross racers, and a lot of great finishes. Kathy Sherwin won the Utah State Championship race. Bart Wellens had a super-long solo escape in the Belgian road championship that lotsa folks were talking about. Arnaud Jouffroy just won a mountain bike race, what will this mean for his ’cross season? Nature Valley is over, how did the many ’crossers racing fare? And of course, the Tour De France starts tomorrow, which ’crossers will be lining up?
Luke Keough has been having a great summer. He’s now leading the USA Crits series, after taking the title that was held just weeks ago by his brother Jake Keough. This puts Team Mountain Khakis into second place for overall team leaders in the series. His winning streak has continued, and last night he won one of New England’s classic summer bike races, the 29th annual Exeter Hospital Criterium, using his cyclocross handling skills to avoid a crash at the finish and ride to victory.
However, it’s not just Keoughs in the mix in the USA Crit Series. Jamey Driscoll actually took the win at the Hyde Park Blast that cinched L. Keough’s series lead. And who can forget Laura Van Gilder? She is currently leading the Overall Women in the USA Crit Series after a win at the Giro D’Grafton two weeks ago.
Road Nats
USA Road Nationals in Georgia this past weekend brought in a lot of our favorite cyclocrossers. Sarah Huang was dominant, and added THREE new jerseys from the 15-16 women’s ranks to her closet, taking the road race, time trial and criterium. Huang’s regular Wisconsin competitor Corrie Osborne took second in the road race and fifth in the criterium. Look for her to continue to blister the cyclocross course this fall. Logan Owen also showed great consistency on the men’s side of the 15-16 group, taking fourth in the RR, third in the crit and sixth in the time trial.
Congratulations to Alexis Ryan for adding both road and criterium titles in the 17-18 age group to her cyclocross championship in Bend. Emily and Katherine Shields brought home the silver and bronze medals in the road race, behind Ryan.
On Friday, Emma White sailed into second place in the 13-14 women’s crit after taking second in the time trial the day before.
Coryn Rivera also added another title to her growing collection, taking third overall in the Elite women’s crit, good enough for the U23 title. Rivera also took fourth in the time trial.
Sunday’s Road Race saw Meredith Miller in fifth place in the Elite women’s event. And Luke Keough is back in the news, taking second in the U23 men’s criterium, with fellow Massachusetts native Gavin Mannion making the podium in fifth. There were lots of cyclocrossers in attendance, so if we missed anyone who had a great ride, please let us know in the comments!
Kathy Sherwin Update
Kathy Sherwin has had a busy summer and is heading to another MTB World Cup next week. She dropped us a line to say: “Just got back from an extremely successful journey over to WI for the ProXCT races. Placed eighth in Cross Country, sixth in Short Track and second in Super D! I had so much fun!” Great job Kathy, and for those readers interested in finding out more about her, stay tuned for a Women’s Wednesday interview with her in coming weeks.
Euro Highlights
Bart Wellens demonstrated his brute strength when, in the Belgian road championships, he soloed off the front for “hours,” at one point creating a six minute gap on the field, only to be caught and overtaken by the Omega Pharma-Lotto train on behalf of eventual winner Philippe Gilbert.
Arnaud Jouffroy was out for much of last year’s cyclocross season due to knee injury. The former Junior world champ just won a MTB race, and will be battling in the U23s this coming season with current champ Lars van der Haar and the rest of the young studs.
Lars Boom will be starting in the Tour De France tomorrow. Stay Tuned!
The Tour De France starts tomorrow, and we’ll be following Lars Boom and John Gadret for the next three weeks, so stay tuned.
Jesse Anthony and Nature Valley
Nature Valley Grand Prix finished two weekends ago, and with it, some cyclocrossers turned roadies had strong overall standings. Jesse Anthony, who seems to be leaning towards road and away from cyclocross this season, won the overall for one of the biggest results of his career – congrats Jesse! Andy Jacques-Maynes finished seventh, Jamey Driscoll eighth and Tyler Wren 12th – amazing rides from the cyclocross contingent!
