Caroline Mani (Alpha Groove Silverthorne) started her 2022 season in the same fashion as last year with a sweep of two days of racing at Virginia’s Blue Ridge GO Cross p/b Deschutes Brewery in Roanoke. On the men’s side, Vincent Baestaens (Spits CX Team) captured both days at GO Cross, returning to dominance like he did in early US races from a year ago.
GO Cross hosted the opening C1 event on the international cyclo-cross calendar and a C2 race to launch the 2022 USA Cycling Pro Cyclo-cross calendar (Pro CX), the points-based series covering 18 races across nine states. GO Cross was also the opening weekend for the eight-race USCX Cyclo-cross Series, which offers points and a new prize purse for elite fields.
While French rider Mani took the early USCX lead by winning back-to-back races in Virginia, she was joined at the top of the standings by two US riders, Raylyn Nuss (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) in second and Austin Killips (nice bikes) followed in third each day. Maghalie Rochette (Specialized/Feedback Sports) of Canada, who was seventh at UCI Cyclo-cross Worlds, only raced the C1 event on Saturday and finished fifth.
Top competition for Baestaens came from US elite CX national champion Eric Brunner (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build), who tried to respond to late charges by the Belgian both days and took a pair of second places. On Saturday, Roanoke resident Kerry Werner (Kona Adventure Team) held off Michael van den Ham (Giant x Easton) for third. On Sunday, Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) took the final step on the podium, distancing the duo of Werner and Van den Ham.
USCX returns with $15,000 payout, 4 cities, livestreams
The USCX Cyclocross Series returns with four weekends racing this fall, and announced this month that all events will be live streamed, beginning with last weekend’s opening C1 and C2 races at Virginia’s Blue Ridge GO Cross presented by Deschutes Brewery. Broadcasts for elite women’s and men’s races will be available for subscribers with GCN+, Eurosport+, and Discovery+.
In addition to a reformatted points structure, athletes will also compete for a $15,000 prize purse, split equally between men’s and women’s elite fields at the conclusion of the season, November 5-6 at Really Rad Festival of Cyclo-cross.
GO Cross and Really Rad Festival were added this year to the lineup, as both events added C1 racing…
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