September 08, 2018 ( Rochester, N.Y.) – The first Category 1 events for the 2018 USA Cycling Professional Cyclocross Calendar (ProCX) season returned to Rochester, N.Y. for Rochester Cyclocross, now in its 11th season. After steamy summer conditions last week in Roanoke, Virg., cooler temperates in the 60s were refreshing, much like the reworked 3.2-kilometer course at Genesee Valley Park.

Taking control of most of the Elite Women’s C1 race from the second lap, Maghalie Rochette (St-Jerome, Quebec/CXFever p/b Specialized) was all alone in the finishing stretch to win her first ProCX event of the season. The Elite Men’s C1 contest was controlled in the final laps by two-time U.S. Cyclocross National Champion Stephen Hyde (Easthampton, Mass./Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld), winning the C1 race for a second year in a row.

Women’s Elite C1 Race
Emerging from a cloud of dust in the field of 35 women at the start was Ellen Noble (Kennebunkport, Maine/Trek Factory Racing). Rochette was close on her back wheel, taking the lead on lap two.

“Everything went right and nothing went wrong,” said Rochette, who reversed last year’s C1 finish when she was second to Noble. Rochette won in a time of 46 minutes, 50 seconds, a solid 21 seconds in front of Noble. “I’m super happy. I did feel really strong in training, but you never know coming into the first race how that’s going to compare with the other girls. So I felt confident with the work that I did. I really didn’t know what would happen. I just went out, did my thing, and it worked out.”

In the mix were Kaitie Keough (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld), Ruby West (Hamilton, Ont./Specialized – Tenspeed Hero), and Crystal Anthony (Newbury Park, Calif/LIV Cycling). It was a seesaw battle between Rochette and Noble until Rochette attacked with two laps to go and stayed strong to the finish.

“On the first lap, Ellen and I got a gap pretty quickly,” recapped Rochette about the women’s race and her C1 win. “Then we worked together, we had like a 15-second gap. She said ‘want to work together?’ And I said ‘yeah, sure.’ So we worked together for a few laps. Then she attacked me, and I brought her back. Then on the fourth lap, I just went without really thinking about it. My thought was, oh, all right I’m attacking her so let’s make it count. The gap grew, so I just kept focusing on what I was doing, and not on her really. It worked out.”

With four laps to go, Anthony moved into third place, with all chasers beginning to lose touch, including Keough, Caroline Mani (Besacon, France/Van Dessel Factory Team), and Erica Zaveta (Brevard, N.C./ Garneau-Easton Cycling). Anthony, who had two podiums at last week’s Deschutes GO Cross, would push across the line six seconds ahead of Mani to secure the third podium spot on Saturday.

“I’m happy with it,” Noble said about second place in the first C1 race of the season. “Obviously, I always want to come to these races and win. But I feel like I put together the best race that I could. I made a couple of really, really, really small mistakes that allowed Maghalie to get away. On a course like this, it’s really just about not making mistakes.”

Men’s Elite C1 Race
The 37 riders in the field Elite Men’s field battled each other as much as the clouds of dust and some wind in the last race of the day. On the first of nine laps, Hyde grabbed the early lead heading into the Double Trouble technical area along the New York State Barge Canal. He was followed by Kerry Werner (Birdsboro, Penn./Kona Maxxis Shimano), Gage Hecht (Parker, Colo./Alpha Bicycle Co./Groove Subaru) and Lance Haidet (San Luis Obispo, Calif./Donnelly Sports). The foursome set the pace for the first four laps.

“My legs felt good and I kept looking at the lap counter. I was thinking maybe I don’t want to do this for five laps, maybe one of them would ride back up to me,” Hyde said about breaking free from the lead group about halfway through the race. “They kindof started coming back up. I hit it again and just kept the pressure going. They weren’t able to ride up to me. I was just super consistent. It worked.It was a good testament to fitness.”

With five to go, a chase group of three riders was working together – Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz, Calif./Santa Cruz/Donkey Label Racing), Jack Kisseberth (Westhampton, Mass./Garneau Easton p/b Transitions) and Jeremy Powers (Southampton, Mass./Aspire Racing). The threesome had closed the gap to the four leaders to just five seconds.

Hyde attacked several times on the final two laps, keeping Werner in second place and all the chasers at bay. He would hop the Full Moon Vista barriers on the final lap, while Werner dismounted. This gap proved to be the different as Hyde held on to win in a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 53 seconds, with Werner 18 seconds back.

With two laps to go in the chase group, Ortenblad caught and passed Hecht. Kisseberth was closing to Hecht next from the fifth spot. It would be Ortenblad battling Kisseberth to the line to finish third, just four seconds behind Werner.

“Third is OK, I’ll take it. It’s my best result in Rochester. So it’s a good step forward,” said Ortenblad. “I think the legs were there and my head was turned on. Everything lined up today, which is good.

“It was faster from the get-go than I think we all had imagined,” Ortenblad added. “There was a group of four, then Powers and I were chasing, Powers was doing the work. Then we were holding even, but maybe I picked up the tempo a little bit, and then Jeremy was gone. I just tried to ride forward most of the day, pick guys off one at a time. I was able to do that for sure, but I like to think that maybe if I was in that front group I could have made a move, gone with Hyde.”

Hecht would finish fifth, Haidet was sixth and Powers was seventh

Results(brief)

Elite Women

1. Maghalie Rochette (CXFever p/b Specialized) 46:50
2. Ellen Noble (Trek Factory Racing) 0:21
3. Crystal Anthony (LIV Cycling) 1:42

Elite Men

1. Stephen Hyde (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld) 1:02:53
2. Kerry Werner (Kona Maxxis Shimano) 0:18
3. Tobin Ortenblad (Donkey Label Racing) 0:22