Vida Lopez de San Roman (Bear CX) rode away former two-time U23 champion Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) on the ultimate lap and received her first elite girls’s title at USA Cycling Cyclocross Nationals on Saturday afternoon.
For a lot of the six-lap race, Clouse and Lopez de San Roman dictated the tempo. Clouse, who was second within the elite race final yr, suffered cramping in her leg on the final half lap. She couldn’t match an acceleration by the 18-year-old Lopez de San Roman, who opted to leap into the elite contest moderately than defend her girls’s junior 17-18 nationwide title from final yr.
Clouse held on to the silver medal, driving 1:05 behind the brand new elite champion. Her Steve Tilford Foundation Cycling teammate Raylyn Nuss was one other 13 seconds again for the bronze medal, the duo replicating their podium spots from final yr.
Natalie Quinn (CCB p/b Levine Law Group Cycling) rode solo for fourth, whereas her teammate Lizzy Gunsalus, final yr’s U23 champion and the reigning U23 Pan-Am champion completed fifth.
“Pretty particular race on the market. So thrilling to be out with the elites for the primary time, and sort of simply bounce within the combine. I did not have too many expectations. I simply raced as patiently as potential and keep calm and sensible all the way in which till the tip. There had been moments on the market I completely doubted the consequence, however I simply tried to remain in it. And it labored out in the long run. It’s actually, actually thrilling,” Lopez de San Roman informed FloBikes commentator Brad Sohner after the end.
To transfer as much as elites was a troublesome determination for {the teenager}, who mentioned, “I used to be torn between simply leaping within the U23 race and doing extra of what I’m comfy with. But a couple of week and a half in the past I made a decision I used to be up for the problem.
“It was a troublesome battle with Katie on the market. I’m tremendous pleased with my determination in the long run.”
The elite girls’s discipline of 27 riders had been the fifth of six teams navigating the 3km black course at Joe Creason Park, driving in a counter-clockwise path on a route with extra technical descents and off-camber climbing than final yr. Under grey skies, the clouds didn’t launch any precipitation however the course remained cheesy with thick mud in a lot of the corners, brought on by morning frost that melted in hotter temperatures.
Clouse took management from the outlet shot, adopted by Gunsalus and Anna Megale (Competitive Edge Racing). Across the flyover, Clouse set the tempo with Gunsalus and Lopez de San Roman adopted a couple of seconds again by Raylyn Nuss (Steve Tilford Racing) and Megale. Once by means of the climbing and off-camber sections, Natalie Quinn (CCB p/b Levine Law Group Cycling) had bridged to the entrance to make it a gaggle of six.
The six riders had carved a 27-second result in start the second of six laps, Anna Dorovskikh (Donovan Racing p/b AES), Amelia Shea (Feedback Sports) and Caitlin Bernstein (Easton Overland) main the chase. Other notables included Crystal Anthony (Liv Racing) rode in tenth place and Lauren Stephens was fifteenth.
Clouse, a former two-time U23 champion, and reigning junior champion Lopez de San Roman marked one another to start the third lap. Nuss caught the again wheel of Clouse because the circuit started, with the CCB duo of Quinn and Gunsalus tagging alongside to make it a five-rider group headed to the descent to the stone stairs on the mansion. The corners weren’t as slippery because the morning rounds, which allowed Clouse and Lopez de San Roman to trip by means of the mud and never run, solely Gunsalus falling off the again.
The Clouse-Lopez de San Roman choreographic sequence settled on laps 4 and 5, however they saved the tempo excessive and put distance in all contenders. Nuss and Quinn started to battle for the bronze medal, as they trailed by simply over 20 seconds because the bell rang for the ultimate lap.
On the final move on the again facet of the course on the mansion, Lopez de San Roman opened a big hole on Clouse, the previous U23 champion seen grimacing and taking her left hand off the handlebars, showing to undergo cramps on one leg. The 18-year-old might not have seen the bodily problems with Clouse, however she detected the change in cadence and velocity and sailed away.
“I’m happy with my trip, and tremendous happy with Katie for actually going for it. I do know she was gutted over the leg cramp on the final lap as a result of she actually needed it,” Nuss informed Cyclingnews about her teammate’s trip.
“Our pre-ride on Saturday earlier than the ladies’s U23 race was a correct mudder with half-lap pit adjustments, and working, to after we raced nearly absolutely rideable. It saved us on our toes, and highlighted what makes cyclocross so distinctive.”
Before she scored her first nationwide title within the elite class, Lopez de San Roman received the ladies’s Varsity collegiate race at cyclocross nationals on Thursday.
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