Rochester Cyclocross is the first UCI cyclocross race in the United States and for this year it was a classic. Both C1 races on Saturday were nail biters with Ellen Noble taking the win over Maghalie Rochette and Stephen Hyde winning in a 3-up sprint with Jeremy Powers and Rob Peeters. For Sunday’s C2 race, nobody sat out so there may have been less points on the line but the fields were the same C1 caliber. For the men, Kerry Werner attacked with two laps to go and held off a charging Stephen Hyde for a big win.
Katie Keough, third place on Saturday, showed up to the venue early to dial in a few lines she felt she could be faster on. And the earlybird practice session paid off as she continued to pressure the field throughout the race before shedding Rochette to take the solo victory. Rochette had a great weekend with two second places and a lot of confidence going into next week’s World Cup races.
Jeremy Powers struggled with mechanical issues on Saturday before catching the lead group and almost taking the win. But Hyde learned from his second place performance last year against Powers and knew he had to be first onto the gravel if he wanted the victory. Hyde put in a big effort on the grassy sections before the finish, secured the lead and was able to hold off a charging Powers and Peeters.
Emma White put in two strong performances on the weekend and Spencer Petrov celebrated his 19th birthday with a pair of fourth place finishes in the elite field. White and Petrov both animated the racing putting in attacks off the front before ultimately falling back.
You can hear our under-an-hour recap of the C1 race on the latest Crosshairs Radio right here.
Below is a two-minute highlight video of the weekend’s UCI action. We will have video interviews up later this week along with several Big Picture photo galleries from our photographer partners.
And here’s a new feature we will be doing throughout the season. The Richter Scale. Check it out to see how many GNARS this track received by the top riders.
Feature Photo ©2017 Bruce Buckley
