Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) stormed across a snow-covered course in Hartford, Connecticut to win his first stars-and-stripes jersey at the US Cyclocross National Championships. He took a hard-fought elite men’s victory against Eric Brunner (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build), who settled for the silver medal.
It was an emotional win for the 27-year-old White, who had pursued a cyclocross national title for 17 years and finished second seven times across various divisions.
“Chasing the stars-and-stripes, my peers haven’t made it easy on me and I thank them for that. You know, day after day my family, my fiancée, my friends are sacrificing. It’s freezing (today)! All the sacrifices have paid off. National champion, finally,” White said through a few tears at the finish. “I wanted that stars-and-stripes so bad. It is something I thought about every day.”
Kerry Werner (Kona Adventure Team) moved methodically through the field for the seven-lap race to finish third. Scott Funston (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build) was fourth and Lance Haidet (L39ION of Los Angeles) was fifth.
It was like a home win for White, who grew up in western New York state and lives in nearby Massachusetts. This season he was second to Brunner at the Pan-Am Championships, but took top honours ahead of Brunner for the overall title of the US Cyclocross Series. The last three rides at CX Nationals left him in the runner-up position in the elite field, last year behind Brunner.
“Eric [Brunner] has really upped his game the last few years, he’s a fierce competitor. This race I knew what he was going to do, I knew what he was capable of. He’s done a lot of work on the technical side. When he got a gap with three or four [laps] to go, I knew anything could happen. So I rode my own race, tried to perfect things that I could have done better,” White said.
“What won the race for me was taking a risk on the decent off-camber. I don’t know if I was the only one riding it, but I saw my chance to gain momentum. When I caught him [on lap six], I don’t know if he saw it. I put all my eggs in that basket.”
After five other races decided stars-and-stripes winners earlier on Sunday, the men’s field of 42 riders faces wind, ice and snow-globe conditions in Hartford, Connecticut.
Funston, last year’s U23 men’s champion, took the holeshot. As the field wound through the opening s-turns by the pits, Haidet rode at the front with White in tow and the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…