The singlespeed men delivered the thriller of the week so far.
Kerry Werner (Kona Adventure Team) and Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz Bicycles) converted bikes to one gear and added to the star power of the final race of the day. Lining up with them were former singlespeed champs Ben Frederick (The Small Monsters Project pb Ornot-Ritchey) and Jake Wells (Alpha Bicycle Co. – Groove Silverthorne), along with pros Cody Kaiser (Kinetic Cycles – Specialized – SRAM – Zipp) and Max Judelson (Rock Lobster International). Teacher Casey Hildebrandt made his return to racing with his students cheering him on.
The singlespeed title race has come along away since 2015 in Austin, when it was mostly a singlespeed purist’s race, with a few cyclocross pros jumping in and upsetting those dedicated to one-gear.
Now it’s anyone’s race, and a good opener for the pros.
#cxnats2022 #cxnats pic.twitter.com/8SJXPyBth1
— HangingHills (@HHillsBeer) December 10, 2022
Werner and Ortenblad quickly made it a two-man race, and it came down to each turn.
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USA Cycling offered its take on the race:
The biggest field of the weekend was the Men’s Singlespeed race with 101 registrants [Ed. note: 92 starters], and it lived up to the hype. In one of the closest races of the day, Kerry Werner (Vinton, Va.; Kona Adventure Team) and Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz, Calif.; Santa Cruz Bicycles ) stayed wheel to wheel for the entire race.
It came down to the final stretch, where Werner was able to create a small gap as they went onto the pavement, not even having a moment to post-up after giving everything he had to win on that last lap. The duo rode the fastest lap of the day on the course, riding under a 9-minute lap time.
Casey Hildebrand (Antigo, Wisc.; Broken Spoke) made his comeback to racing after taking some time off to pursue teaching full-time. The kids in his classroom were cheering loud for him to take third in a stacked Singlespeed field.
Werner spent the day playing defense. He recalled the one-on-one battle:
I think [that was] partly luck and partly putting my head down and going for it. Tobin was really crafty on that last lap, I just kept on trying to take away lines from him that he had been taking, but then he would just do the opposite line, and he would get in front of me, I knew there wasn’t a lot of space to pass in the last two minutes of the lap, so I really wanted to be in front, and I passed him in the dip on heading into the stairs, and once I got on the front, I had to stay on the gas.
When looking ahead to the Elite race tomorrow, Werner said, “I’m not saying I thought this would be easy, but I didn’t think it would be quite so hard. I was kind of using it as an opener, but I don’t know. I think we’ll just go into it and do the best we can for recovery tonight. I typically do better on the second day in a weekend, but I’m also racing against a lot of other guys that also will be racing for the second day, so it will be interesting to see.”
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Werner has had lots of success at Nationals but also a lot of heartbreak, including getting stuck in course tape while in contention for the title in Lakewood in 2019.
Tim Love celebrated Werner’s big win with some great artwork.
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The one-gear title caps off Werner’s part-time cyclocross season that was mixed with gravel and mountain biking. Both Werner and Ortenblad will line up tomorrow for a crack at the Pro Men’s title.
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See the full results for the race below.
Featured image used with permission from Tim Love. Follow him at Mit Evol on Instagram.
2022 USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals Hartford, CT Results: Singlespeed Men
| Rank | Bib | Name | Affiliation | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 764 | Kerry WERNER JR. | Kona Adventure Team | 36:20:00 | 4 |
| 2 | 765 | Tobin ORTENBLAD | Santa Cruz Bicycles | 36:23:00 | 4 |
| 3 | 768 | Casey HILDEBRANDT | Broken Spoke | 37:58:00 | 4 |
| 4 | 762 | Max JUDELSON | Rock Lobster International | 38:08:00 | 4 |
| 5 | 761 | Ben FREDERICK | The Small Monsters Project pb Ornot-Ritchey | 38:10:00 | 4 |
| 6 | 763 | Jake WELLS | Alpha Bicycle Co. - Groove Silverthorne | 38:59:00 | 4 |
| 7 | 770 | Andrew GINIAT | Pony Shop Cyclocross Team | 39:32:00 | 4 |
| 8 | 857 | Cody KAISER | Kinetic Cycles - Specialized - SRAM - Zipp | 39:40:00 | 4 |
| 9 | 776 | Nick LANDO | Competitive Edge Racing | 39:54:00 | 4 |
| 10 | 771 | Keiran EAGEN | Team Durango Segment 28 | 40:09:00 | 4 |
| 11 | 769 | Frederick JUNGE | Broom Wagon Works | 40:30:00 | 4 |
| 12 | 822 | Cobe FREEBURN | Bear national team | 40:43:00 | 4 |
| 13 | 815 | Kent HAMMOND | PAA Cycling | 41:17:00 | 4 |
| 14 | 782 | Henry CONAWAY | Bissell ABG Giant | 41:23:00 | 4 |
| 15 | 781 | Ryan POPPLE | Cycle-Smart | 41:46:00 | 4 |
| 16 | 829 | Justin ROBINSON | Santa Cruz Free agent | 42:13:00 | 4 |
| 17 | 849 | Aaron ANDERSON | Biciclista US | 42:22:00 | 4 |
| 18 | 777 | Tommy SERVETAS | Competitive Edge Racing | 42:32:00 | 4 |
| 19 | 778 | William HARDIN | Project Echelon Racing | 42:33:00 | 4 |
| 20 | 780 | Jay GANSER | Carpe Diem | 42:34:00 | 4 |
| 21 | 790 | Donny GREEN | 1 PVD Cycling | 42:45:00 | 4 |
| 22 | 767 | Nathaniel VACURA | Go4Graham | 42:56:00 | 4 |
| 23 | 789 | Logan KASPER | 0 | 43:03:00 | 4 |
| 24 | 785 | Paul BOURCIER | Symantec Corp-SPR | 43:05:00 | 4 |
| 25 | 788 | Eli WOODARD | Velocious Sport | 43:11:00 | 4 |
| 26 | 853 | Cody PHILLIPS | WTB | 43:32:00 | 4 |
| 27 | 800 | Benjamin STRINE | 717 Cycling | 43:34:00 | 4 |
| 28 | 794 | Cole OBERMAN | V??sen Brewing --- V??t Fot Bicycles | 43:43:00 | 4 |
| 29 | 801 | Philip MAYNARD | CNYC-NYCM Insurance | 43:45:00 | 4 |
| 30 | 791 | Cole ELLISON | Cole & Matts Big Adventure | 43:50:00 | 4 |
| 31 | 858 | Michael WISSELL | B2C2 p-b JRA Cycles | 43:58:00 | 4 |
| 32 | 805 | Wells WILLETT | Dartmouth Cycling Team | 44:02:00 | 4 |
| 33 | 766 | Jason HARTMAN | Groove Subaru Excel Sports | 44:05:00 | 4 |
| 34 | 793 | Shawn GEIGER | 0 | 44:05:00 | 4 |
| 35 | 783 | Zach BENDER | Cycle-Smart | 44:27:00 | 4 |
| 36 | 843 | Chad CHEENEY | Durango Devo | 44:47:00 | 4 |
| 37 | 787 | Coakley JOPLING | Stage 1-Airline Cycles | 45:04:00 | 4 |
| 38 | 798 | Mark HARMS | Neff Cycle Service | 45:15:00 | 4 |
| 39 | 855 | William WARBURTON | Cascadia Junior Cycling | 45:33:00 | 4 |
| 40 | 823 | Kevin ORLOWSKI | Chainline Cycles | 45:37:00 | 4 |
| 41 | 840 | Tyler STEIN | DNA Cycling | 45:45:00 | 4 |
| 42 | 775 | Andrew HARBUCK | Alpha Bicycle - Groove Silverthorne | 45:46:00 | 4 |
| 43 | 797 | Frank DEAL | The Black Bibs | 46:03:00 | 4 |
| 44 | 796 | Miles ERICSON | Farmington Valley Youth Cycling | 46:05:00 | 4 |
| 45 | 786 | Dan LARINO | The Valley Om p-b Two Rivers Brewing | 46:09:00 | 4 |
| 46 | 824 | Samuel BRAMEL | NorthStar Development | 46:45:00 | 4 |
| 47 | 784 | Zach ANDREWS | Bissell-ABG-Giant | 46:53:00 | 4 |
| 48 | 806 | George LEWIS | Team Bikenetic | 35:00:00 | 3 |
| 49 | 808 | Brooks NABLO | Stage 1 - Airline Cycles | 35:03:00 | 3 |
| 50 | 792 | Brody BURNHAM | NorthStar Development | 35:13:00 | 3 |
| 51 | 804 | Shane BLACK-MACKEN | pedalpowertraining.com | 35:28:00 | 3 |
| 52 | 861 | Ryan CONLEY | Capital Bicycle Racing Club | 35:35:00 | 3 |
| 53 | 845 | Alexander WARNER | Alpine Carbon Racing | 35:39:00 | 3 |
| 54 | 841 | Clyde Sebastian LOGUE | Dartmouth Cycling Team | 35:48:00 | 3 |
| 55 | 814 | Matthew KIEL | 0 | 36:03:00 | 3 |
| 56 | 859 | Robert DONOVAN | Avout Racing | 36:15:00 | 3 |
| 57 | 813 | James STRANE | ECE Racing - SWOOD Racing p-b Cutaway | 36:39:00 | 3 |
| 58 | 802 | Jeffrey SLADE | 717Cycling | 37:13:00 | 3 |
| 59 | 818 | Nolan HOLMES | Dartmouth Cycling Team | 37:30:00 | 3 |
| 60 | 812 | Matthew REINHARDT | Aquidneck Cyclocross | 37:34:00 | 3 |
| 61 | 863 | Ian BURNETT | Fort Lewis College | 37:56:00 | 3 |
| 62 | 807 | Sean SMITH | JB???s Bike Shop Racing | 38:06:00 | 3 |
| 63 | 819 | Christopher ARNDT | Smanie | 38:15:00 | 3 |
| 64 | 816 | Noah HALLISEY | Mythic Bike Works-URI Cycling | 38:15:00 | 3 |
| 65 | 832 | David STEARNS | Fritz???s bicycle Shop | 38:20:00 | 3 |
| 66 | 825 | Eric WYZGA | 0 | 38:20:00 | 3 |
| 67 | 852 | Evan ADAMS | dfL | 38:28:00 | 3 |
| 68 | 817 | Pete MOHR | Old School Industries | 38:43:00 | 3 |
| 69 | 809 | Jim MOLNAR | Hammercross | 25:56:00 | 2 |
| 70 | 860 | Brian ROSENER | TMB Racing-Trek Bicycle Summit | 25:58:00 | 2 |
| 71 | 773 | Doug RICHARDS | Feedback Sports | 25:59:00 | 2 |
| 72 | 842 | Nicholas BROCATO | NBX-Narragansett Beer-Apex | 26:09:00 | 2 |
| 73 | 839 | Grant HALSEY | 0 | 26:22:00 | 2 |
| 74 | 811 | Chris HOWELL | Bike Dr Frederick-Dirty Kitten Gravel | 26:35:00 | 2 |
| 75 | 836 | John CORBO | Cheshire Cycle Racing | 26:40:00 | 2 |
| 76 | 828 | Jonathan SAWN | Hartland Hollow | 26:50:00 | 2 |
| 77 | 831 | Kurt LITSINGER | Stage 1 - Airline Cycles | 26:55:00 | 2 |
| 78 | 821 | Derek GRIGGS | Recycled Sports | 27:01:00 | 2 |
| 79 | 830 | Patrick LA PETINA | Hand Ups Off-Road Project | 27:04:00 | 2 |
| 80 | 820 | Jack KOSMA | Flowers | 27:07:00 | 2 |
| 81 | 846 | Alex LAIFER | 0 | 27:43:00 | 2 |
| 82 | 851 | Geoff WILLIAMS | NBX | 28:21:00 | 2 |
| 83 | 833 | Peter MORGAN | Valkyrie Racing | 28:32:00 | 2 |
| 84 | 848 | Alan CONNELL | Applied Direction | 28:38:00 | 2 |
| 85 | 850 | Benjamin KOYLE | Minuteman Road Club | 29:16:00 | 2 |
| 86 | 847 | Dillon PRONOVOST | Cheshire Cycle Racing | 29:33:00 | 2 |
| 87 | 827 | Jake FOX | Bike Doctor Frederick Racing Team | 30:02:00 | 2 |
| 88 | 837 | Skyler FUGELSO | Portlands Finest | 30:13:00 | 2 |
| 89 | 854 | Axel KABAN | 0 | 27:13:00 | 1 |
| DNF | 835 | Kobi GYETVAN | 0 | 1 | |
| DNF | 862 | Spencer HACKETT | Inter Cap City Elite United p-b Re??l Westerville Bike Shop Fac | 1 | |
| DNF | 838 | Lawrence PURTILL | Stedmans | 1 | |
| DNS | 772 | Grant HOLICKY | Blue Competition Cycles | 0 | |
| DNS | 774 | Paul RAPINZ | 0 | 0 | |
| DNS | 779 | Seamus OCONNOR-WALKER | University of Iowa Cycling Club | 0 | |
| DNS | 799 | Anthony VECCA | Stage 1 - AirLine Cycles | 0 | |
| DNS | 795 | Jurgen BENEKE | DaHANGER - Harmony Builders | 0 | |
| DNS | 803 | Devin CLARK | Pastaria Big Shark | 0 | |
| DNS | 810 | Keith BURGOYNE | BikeReg | 0 | |
| DNS | 826 | David SKROCKI | 0 | 0 | |
| DNS | 844 | Anthony CLARK | Squid bikes | 0 |
See all our 2022 USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals coverage here.
