Stephen Hyde (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) and Crystal Anthony (Boulder Cycle Sport-Yogaglo) won the Elite Men’s and Women’s UCI C2 race on the second day of racing at the Trek CXC Cup in Waterloo, WI. Hyde spent most of the race recovering from a series of falls to beat Allen Krughoff (Noosa Pro Cyclocross) in a sprint finish, while Anthony took charge early in the first lap of the women’s race and held for the win.
Elite Men
After a second place finish in yesterday’s C1 race, Stephen Hyde spent the entirety of the second day of racing chasing a lead group composed of Krughoff, Kerry Werner (Raleigh-Clement), Dan Timmerman (Stans NoTubes), and Brian Matter (KS Energy Services.)
Hyde ran into trouble early in the race but maintained his composure and kept chipping away at the leaders to stay in contention.
“I think I laid on the ground maybe three times today,” Hyde said. “I slid out once and on another Kerry [Werner] slide out in front of me and we got tangled up. It was funny. Our bikes were very intertwined and we were both tugging on them until I paused and took breath.”
Halfway through the race Krughoff separated from the lead group and spent several laps off the front with a 10 second lead.
On the second to last lap, Hyde went straight passed Dan Timmerman and moved into second place behind Krughoff. Hyde then made contact with Krughoff and the game of cat and mouse began. The last lap featured Hyde and Krughoff trading 2 second leads.
“Hyde made a big effort to come up to me and I knew he was going to get across,” Krughoff said. “He is flying right now. I started dialing it back because I knew he would catch me and we would have a sprint.”
The finish came down to a two-man duel between Krughoff and Hyde. On the final turn down the straightaway, Krughoff opted to take the right side of the lane to limit Hyde’s chances at getting by him. Hyde made a quick move on the inside and was able to pass with inches between the railing and Krughoff’s handlebars.
“[Hyde] came up inside when I was closing it down,” Krughoff said. “It was probably the nice thing to do and not shut the door completely and put him into the fence.”
Hyde sprinted in for the win, with Krughoff in second. Dan Timmerman, Brian Matter and Jamey Driscoll filled out the remainder of the top five.
Elite Women
Crystal Anthony took advantage of the course’s technical features and moved to the front of the race halfway through the first lap. Once at the front Anthony took charge of her own destiny and jumped away from the field.
“I got a gap on the first lap through one of the technical sections,” Anthony said. “I just attacked from there before I really knew what I was doing. Then I think I had like 15 seconds and thought that was worth going for it and just tried to ride my race.”
Katie Compton (Trek Factory Racing) fell out of contention early in the race after making several bike changes in an attempt to dial in her tire pressure. Compton ultimately finished outside the top ten, but after a rough weekend she was already looking ahead towards the Valkenberg World Cup on October 18th.
Behind Anthony the main chase group of the day was driven by Caroline Mani (Raleigh-Clement) who towed around Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) and Amanda Miller (Boulder Cycle Sport-Yogaglo) in the closing laps of the race.
“I didn’t feel so awesome at the beginning of the race so I think I needed time to get back,” Mani said. “I didn’t get a good start but I guess it’s because I didn’t feel great. It was good for her [Anthony] because she just went and I tried to close the gap. I would need one more lap maybe to get up to her, but I’m pretty happy with second.”
Antonneau rounded out the podium in third, followed by Amanda Miller in fourth and Sunny Gilbert (Michelob Ultra-Big Shark Racing) in fifth.
