Weekend CX roundup: Pan Am successes and another strong World Cup
Canadians collect some solid hardware in Texas; Rochette 4th at Boom
There was plenty of ‘cross racing this weekend, despite the UCI World Cup being cancelled in Antwerp. On Saturday, the next round in the Superprestige in Boom, Belgium. On Saturday and Sunday, the Pan Am Champs took place in Texas.
Pan Am Championships: Holmgren wins title
Over twenty Canadian cyclists competed at the 2021 Pan American Cyclocross Championships in Garland, Texas, over the weekend, with athletes bringing home five medals, including a junior title for Orillia’s Ava Holmgren.
Ava shared the podium with her twin sister, Isabella, who took home the bronze in the same event. The pair have had a tremendous start to the season, both finishing on the podium across numerous races in mountain bike and cyclocross. On the Elite side, former U23 Pan American champion Ruby West was competing in the Elite field for the first time, where she finished second to clinch a silver medal.
Golden ? morning for Ava Holmgren!
On day 2️⃣ of racing, the women’s Junior rider took the win at CX Pan Am Champs, with her sister Isabella clinching the ? pic.twitter.com/gktZf3spnQ
— Cycling Canada (@CyclingCanada) December 5, 2021
“I had one of my best races ever in 7 years of racing cyclocross,” said Holmgren. “After the pre-ride, I wasn’t feeling very confident about the longer pedalling sections because I know how strong my other competitors are, but my legs were feeling great! All I needed was a good start and to follow through with my plan, which I did. The support from the amazing Team Canada crew, teammates, and my family made everything so much better. I am so happy about this accomplishment as a first-year Junior and I’m looking forward to competing at more international races.”
Two additional silver medals were claimed by Canadian men in the Junior and u-23 races, with Tyler Clark sprinting to second place in the highly competitive men’s u-23 field, while U17 Canadian XCO Mountain Bike U17 champion Ian Ackert also won silver in the Junior race.
Canadians looking good in silver ?♂️
Ian Ackert taking the third ? of the weekend in the men's junior category at CX Pan Am Champs.#PanAmCyclocross pic.twitter.com/twg6eHTkY4
— Cycling Canada (@CyclingCanada) December 5, 2021
“It felt great to be riding at the front of a big race like Pan Ams,” said Clark. “To be racing for the win with all the Canadians yelling from the side was amazing. I’m super happy to finally make it onto a Pan Am Championship podium and I’d like to give a big shout out to all the other Canadians who put down very good results!”
Other notable results include top-10 finishes by Owen Clark, Matthew Leliveld, Hugo Brisebois, Katelyn Walcroft, Christiane Bilodeau, Luke Valenti, Alex Woodford, Jenaya Francis and Kiara Lylyk. Men’s elite National champion just missed out on a top-10 coming in 11th.
Rochette has another solid ride at Superprestige in Belgium
In lieu of a World Cup race this weekend, Magahlie Rochette found herself instead coming fourth in a filthy round of the Superprestige series in Boom, Belgium on Saturday. Lucinda Brand dominated the race and pulled out a bigger gap at the top of the table after taking her fourth of five rounds.
Maghalie Rochette was riding her first Superprestige race of the season, after the cancellation of Sunday’s World Cup round in Antwerp–the scrubbed race referred to by some riders as Ain’twerp. The other Canadian was relatively unknown Severine Bouchez, who had contested one round of the Superprestige and one of the X2O Trofee (old DVV Trofee) in November.
Superprestige Series, Round 5, Boom, Belgium
1) Lucinda Brand (The Netherlands/Baloise Trek Lions) 47:24
2) Inge van der Heijden (The Netherlands/777) +0:37
3) Denise Betsema (The Netherlands/Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal) +0:43
4) Magahlie Rochette (Canada/Specialized) +0:59
Van Aert crushes
Wout van Aert returned to cyclocross racing on Saturday and dominated a muddy affair in Boom, Belgium in the fifth round of the Superprestige series. Nobody could hang with the Jumbo-Visma rider in the muck. It was Van Aert’s first Superprestige triumph since 2017.
Everyone was anticipating van Aert and Tom Pidock’s return to ‘cross, and with the Antwerp World Cup race cancelled, all eyes were on Boom. Van Aert was coming off a cold but still managed to put 1:40 into Toon Aerts.
Superprestige Series, Round 5, Boom, Belgium
1) Wout Van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma) 56:29
2) Toon Aerts (Belgium/Baloise Trek Lions) +1:40
3) Lars van der Haar (The Netherlands/Baloise Trek Lions) +1:48
