Van Gilder Does the Double at Granogue Day 2 – UPDATED: Report, Full Results, Photo Gallery

The women's podium, with Van Gilder on top. © Cyclocross Magazine

by Molly Hurford

GRANOGUE, DELAWARE—Day two of racing at Granogue was just as furious as the first, since the double UCI weekend provided the women with two chances for points, which in turn could lead to better start positions, especially for the newly minted elite riders who recently joined the field.

With one win in the books already, Laura van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom) again soloed to victory, cementing her dominance of the Granogue double UCI weekend. She was followed by Andrea Smith (Ladies First), who took the holeshot in the race. Third place was Arley Kemmerer (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes).

The race strung out quickly, and the course served Van Gilder well by providing a mix of both technical sections and quite a few power sections. She almost immediately powered her way into a solo break after a mere half lap, and increased her lead from there.

Post-race, the top three women were meandering around the podium, giving Cyclocross Magazine a great chance to hear about the race straight from the women who ran away with it.

Andrea Smith told us she had a good start today, but “Laura rode away from us. She’s strong and she just doesn’t make any mistakes. I didn’t have the legs to stay with her today. I was with her half a lap.”

Speaking of Van Gilder, she told us: “The wind helped! I just set a pace I felt comfortable with. Today it wasn’t as important to get to the hill first, because it definitely was a running hill, but it’s still important to lead through anything you think might cause some sort of blockage on the course. It was a little more open, but with a more open course you have the wind factor, and I thought it was pretty climb-y, a lot of elevation gain, so on my pre-rides I sorted out where I wanted to find spots to recover and where I wanted to put the hammer down.”

She added, “Andrea Smith has been a formidable competitor all season, and both Nikki (Thiemann) and Arley (Kemmerer) as well.”

Cyclocross Magazine caught up with Arlie Kemmerer post-race to see how her third place finish came about. “Andrea got the hole shot and Laura pretty much rode away from us, which is the way it usually goes, unfortunately for us. Then, it was hard; it was hard from the start. We split apart right away. Andrea (Smith) got away with Nikki (Thiemann), and I was sitting behind them, but we just couldn’t catch each other.”

Her favorite part of the course? “The tailwind section.”

The race differed from Day 1 in that lap times were so fast that racers did six laps instead of five, which, while it was the same amount of time, felt different from the first day. Kemmerer added, “When I saw the four to go sign, I was like, ‘I got a long way to go here,’ so I was being patient, picking off five, six seconds a lap. I caught Nikki after the big run-up on the descent and sat for a second, but then decided I had to go then or I wouldn’t.”

Even Van Gilder was mentally thrown by the six laps, instead of the standard five. “I will admit in my mind, I thought we were going to do six laps, but it’s a hard nut to swallow, seeing four laps on the lap counter.”

Stay tuned for video interviews.

Results follow photo gallery.

Photo Gallery:

Full Elite Women’s Results: