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The USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships return to Hartford, Connecticut, for the first time in five years, flooding Riverside Park with a torrent of wheels and course tape this week and culminating with junior 17-18, U23 and elite winners crowned for men and women on Sunday, December 11.
On the field of play, the heated battles for stars-and-stripes jerseys have a new generation of stars to watch, as a changing of the guard among the elite fields has taken place in five seasons. Stephen Hyde and Katie Compton no longer command podiums, and now Hyde is on the other side of the tape as a Cyclocross National Team coach for USA Cycling.
However, a few of the young men’s challengers from the last Hartford outing are back as veterans themselves, including Tobin Ortenblad and Kerry Werner, who was third in the men’s elite race there, and U23 winner in 2017 Lance Haidet and that year’s U23 runner-up Gage Hecht.
Compton posted her 13th consecutive title for elite women in Hartford, then added two more titles for a total of 15. In 2020, she tested positive for an anabolic steroid from an out-of-competition control and was handed a four-year ban which ended her career. The lineup of elite riders expected to take over the reins included Kaitie Keough, Ellen Noble and Rebecca Fahringer, but retirement and injuries have taken a toll, and Clara Honsinger is the new queen of ‘cross for the US since winning the elite race as a 22-year-old in 2019.
Men’s field
Eric Brunner (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build) said he’s ready to “rip it” in Hartford and add a second elite cyclocross national title to his resume. He moved up to the elite level last year after taking a collection of medals in the U23 ranks, the last time gold in 2019. Since winning the elite men’s Pan-American CX Championship in early November this season, his second career Pan-Am title, the Colorado rider has ripped off another four consecutive victories, sweeping UCI races at Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross and Northampton International, both based in New England. It will be tough to stop Brunner in Hartford.
Could this be the year for Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation)? He’s only 27 but has been racing cyclocross for more than a decade, with a large majority of his success in New England near his home in western New York state. This season he repeated as…
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