September 13, 2017 (Rochester, NY) – Sunday featured Category 2 races for the elite women and men at Rochester Cyclocross, but this second day of battles on the grass and gravel at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, N.Y. had a Category 1 feel. Coveted points on the USA Cycling Professional Cyclocross Calendar (Pro CX) were earned in hard-fought battles by Kaitlin Keough (Racine, Wisc./Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com) for the elite women and Kerry Werner (Birdsboro, Penn./Kona Factory CX Team) for the elite men.
Women’s Elite C2 Race
The sunshine brought dry and dusty conditions to the 3.5-kilometer track, which amped up the competition for a fast and furious battle along the Genesee River. By the second lap, the string of 38 riders had blown apart and four riders took charge – Keough, Emma White (Delanson, N.Y./ Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com), Maghalie Rochette (St-Jerome,Quebec/CLIF Pro Team), and Saturday’s winner Ellen Noble (Kennebunkport, Maine/Aspire Racing).
Rochette attacked and took the lead on the final lap, but had a mechanical over the barriers at the Rohrbach Beer Garden. Keough launched a counter-attack and never looked back.
“I was riding with Katie for the best part of the race. In the end, I tried to attack on one of the technical sections, and I got a little gap. But then I did a a little mistake, and I kind of back pedaled and my chain got stuck in my cassette, and I couldn’t pedal then,” explained Rochette about the circumstances on the final lap. “Katie passed me and Emma was on my butt. So I really was trying to make it to the finish line in second. It was a super fun event.”
Rochette scored back-to-back second-place finishes at Rochester Cyclocross. Third place on Sunday was taken by White. who improved from her fourth-place position at Saturday’s C1 event. Noble finished eighth on Sunday.
“This is pretty close to my home race, in my home state, so it’s exciting to be here and start the season,” said the N.Y. native, who also competes as a professional road cyclist in the summer. “I’m coming off a pretty strong road season, so I’m excited to get to ‘cross season. I’m trying to nail down my technical riding. I’ve improved from yesterday, so I am happy with that.”
Men’s Elite C2 Race
The same top names competed for the Elite Men Sunday afternoon in Rochester, but it turned out to be a whole new ballgame with C2 aggressive riding from the holeshot. Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz, Calif./Santa Cruz-Donkey Label Racing) led the field of 38 into the first series of serpentine turns in Genesee Valley Park, and all the favorites took turns in setting the pace.
Small attacks took place throughout the one-hour battle. With five laps to go, last year’s Rochester Cyclocross winner Jeremy Powers (Southampton, Mass./Aspire Racing) took over at the front, followed by Curtis White (Delanson, N.Y./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), Rob Peeters (Dessel, Belgium/ Pauwels Sauzen-Vastgoedservic), Spencer Petrov (Mason, Ohio/Aspire Racing), Stephen Hyde (Easthampton, Mass./Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com), Ortenblad and Werner.
With two laps to go and clawing his way through the technical Double Trouble section in the woods, Werner attacked after on a long, grassy section of the course near the pits. The aggressive move paid dividends for the 26-year-old who had two C2 wins in 2016.
“I knew the initial bit of that attack would be the most crucial, so I tried to settle in. I knew they would turn it on in the last half lap, so I was just seeing red,” Werner noted about creating as much as a 15-second lead in the final kilometer and holding on to a two-second win over Hyde. “After yesterday I wasn’t really happy with how I felt during the race, but after the race I was kinda surprised with how well I recovered. Finishing on top here today puts me in a good spot going into Jingle (Cross).”
Behind Werner on the final lap the chasers played a little cat-and-mouse, without any one rider taking charge. Eventually it was Hyde out-dueling Peeters to capture the final two podium spots.
“He played that well. We were all looking at each other, and if somebody went off, that was a great time to do it,” said Hyde about Werner’s surge on the faster section of the course on lap two. “Kerry is a courageous rider for getting out there and attacking, not making it a boring show. Good for him on that. It’s good to see him take a win, especially so early in the season.
“Yesterday I think I did a lot more work than I should have. Today, maybe I did a little less work than I should have in retrospect. Maybe we’ll find that balance somewhere. If maybe I had attacked before the barriers, maybe the outcome would be different.”
ProCX continues Sept. 15-16 as part of the Jingle Cross Cyclo-Cross Festival in Iowa City, Iowa. The UCI C1 races will be Sept. 15 and UCI C2 races on Sept. 16, all events held under the lights. Sunday will feature the Telenet UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup events. For more information, visit www.jinglecross2.com.
USA Cycling ProCX features the premier cyclocross events in America and uses an overall ranking
system to determine the best individual male and female ‘cross racers over the course of the season. The
ProCX calendar includes 43 UCI-inscripted category 1 and 2 races in the country. To learn more about USA
Cycling, visit usacycling.org, and follow Pro CX all season on Twitter – @USACProCX (#ProCX).
Results
Pro Women
1. Kaitlin Keough (Cannondale pb CyclocrossWorld.c) 41:59.6
2. Maghalie Rochette (CLIF Pro Team) 0:14
3. Emma White (Cannondale pb CyclocrossWorld.c) 0:25
4. Crystal Anthony (Maxxis Shimano Pro Cyclocross) 1:12
5. Christel Ferrier (Sas Macogep Aquisio) 1:20
6. Arley Kemmerer (Fearless Femme Racing) 1:31
7. Caroline Mani (Van Dessel / Atom Composites) 1:37
8. Ellen Noble (Aspire Racing) 1:49
9. Rebecca Fahringer (Stan’s NoTubes p/b Maxxis / gof) 1:56
10. Amanda Nauman (SDG – Muscle Monster) 2:12
11. Cassandra Maximenko (VanDessel/Atom Composite Wheels) 2:21
12. Laurel Rathbun (Donnelly Sports) 3:21
13. Emily Shields 3:40
14. Natalie Tapias (JAM / NCC)
15. Kim Hurst (Vanderkitten/Niner) 3:42
16. Regina Legge (Trek Cyclocross Collective) 3:49
17. Julie Wright (Team Averica) 4:00
18. Rachel Rubino (Fearless Femme Racing) 4:15
19. Brittlee Bowman (HOUSE IND/NOKIA HEALTH/SIMPLEH) 4:58
20. Julie Hunter (SEAVS/Haymarket) 5:09
21. Taylor Kuyk-White (Philadelphia Bike Expo) 5:25
22. Alexandra Campbellforte (Vanderkitten Entourage Racing) 5:32
23. Leslie Lupien (Team Averica) 6:05
24. Gabriella Sterne (Vanderkitten Entourage Racing) 6:10
25. Erin Faccone (Team Averica) 6:28
26. Taryn Mudge (Fearless Femme Racing) 6:54
27. Beatrice Le Sauteur 7:01
28. Meghan Owens (Hands-On Cycling p/b Guerciotti) 7:27
29. Turner Ramsay (Alpha Bicycle Co. – Groove Suba) 8:10
30. Emily Molden (Nantucket Velo) 8:24
31. Rebecca Lewandowski (Rare Disease Cycling / Keswick) 9:26
32. Madeline Smith (KMS Cycling – Killington Mounta) 9:39
33. Lydia Hausle (B2C2)
DNF Natasha Elliott (Garneau-Easton p/b Transitions)
DNF Ruby West (Cannondale Cyclocrossworld.com)
DNF Katie Clouse (Alpha Bicycle Co. – Vista Subar)
DNS Rhys May (JAM / NCC)
DNS Gray Patton (Freddie Fu Cycling Team)
Pro Men
1. Kerry Werner Jr. (Kona Factory CX Team) 1:00:40.5
2. Stephen Hyde (Cannondale P/B Cyclocrossworld.) 0:02
3. Rob Peeters (Pauwels Sauzen – Vastgoedservic) 0:15
4. Spencer Petrov (Aspire Racing) 0:19
5. Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz / Donkey Label Racin) 0:21
6. Jeremy Powers (Aspire Racing) 0:29
7. Matthieu Boulo (Team Pays de Dinan) 0:33
8. James Driscoll (Donnelly Sports) 0:45
9. Curtis White (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.) 0:56
10. Troy Wells (Team CLIF BAR) 1:30
11. Lance Haidet (Donnelly Sports) 1:39
12. Gage Hecht (Alpha Bicycle Co. Groove Subar) 2:06
13. Jack Kisseberth (JAM / NCC) 2:21
14. Travis Livermon (Maxxis/Shimano) 2:32
15. Derrick St. John (Van Dessel p/b Hyperthreads) 2:38
16. Alex Ryan (Mock Orange Bikes) 2:57
17. Trevor O’Donnell (Lakeside Storage Cyclocross) 3:10
18. Brannan Fix (Alpha Bicycle Company/Groove Su) 3:12
19. Michael Owens (Hands-On Cycling p/b Guerciotti)
20. Marc-Andre Daigle (Garneau Easton Cycling) 3:53
21. Jordan Snyder (East Ridge Outfitters/@BicycleR) 4:09
22. Nicholas Diniz (NCCH Elite p/b MGCC) 4:29
23. Andrew Wulfkuhle (717cycling p/b RSI Panels) 5:07
24. Brendan Mccormack (Apex/NBX/Hyperthreads) 5:18
25. Matt Clements (Rotor Bike Components) 7:03
26. Gregg Griffo (Park Ave Bike p/b Borah Teamwea) 7:41
27. Peter Mancini (Crank Studio) 7:57
28. Andrew Borden (X-Men)
29. Kale Wenczel (JAM / NCC)
30. Edouard Tougas
31. Ted Willard (Absolute Value CX)
32. Dan Fitzgibbons (GREEN LINE VELO driven by Zipca)
33. Christian Ricci (Lakeside Storage Cyclocross)
34. Bryan Tyers (Lakeside Storage Cyclocross)
35. Spencer Perry (Ferretti Cycles)
DNF Jeremy Durrin (Neon Velo Cycling Team)
DNF Scott Smith (JAM / NCC)
DNF Dan Chabanov (HOUSE IND/NOKIA HEALTH/SIMPLEH)