Team owner and manager Stu Thorne confirmed yesterday that Women’s Elite Cyclocross National Champion Clara Honsinger will join the Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com roster for the 2020-2021 season. In a year defined by COVID-related uncertainty, cancellations, and postponements, the news ends speculation about where the reigning Women’s Elite National Champion might land.
The addition of Honsinger helps fill the vacuum left by the departure of three-time Men’s Elite Champion, Stephen Hyde, and adds even more fire power to the formidable women’s roster that includes returning members Kaitlin Keough and Katie Clouse. Former Pan-American champion Curtis White also returns to round out the squad as the lone Men’s Elite rider.
Amid a cloud of uncertainty around what remains of the US ProCX calendar, the team will head straight to Europe and focus their energy on the relative stability of the World Cup circuit, beginning with the first event in Overisje, Belgium, on November 1 and will capitalize on years of experience with overseas race logistics that Thorne and team will bring. When asked, Honsinger confirmed this stating, “one of the reasons I joined the team is because I really like how it was a program that you could slot into as an athlete…it’s nice to have the structure set up for me.”
Stay tuned to CXhairs for an extended interview with Honsinger and check out the official Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com press release below for more details.
Photo credit – Allen Krughoff
| Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com Team Targets 2020 European Cyclocross Success – Team adds 2019 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Champion Clara Honsinger to Roster Beverly, Mass. — The Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com team has announced that it will open its 2020-2021 season with a full slate of European races, focusing primarily on success in the UCI Cyclocross World Cup series. Due to the unprecedented changes to the American cyclocross calendar, the team will begin its campaign at the UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Overisje, Belgium. “We always planned on racing a full U.S. calendar, with a trip to the E.U. for the balance of the season after Nationals,” says Stu Thorne, Team Principal for Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com. “We’ve done this for the past few years, and it’s really worked well for us. With the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the U.S. creating a void of racing, we changed up the plan and head over to Europe to race the full World Cup schedule, as allows.” The team’s first World Cup race of 2020-2021 season takes place in Overisje, Belgium, on November 1, followed by the stop in Koksijde, Belgium on November 22 and the Besançon round on November 29. “There are so many unknowns, and nothing is set in stone. We’re keeping a very close eye on things both here and abroad, and we’ll adjust our plans to make sure we’re supporting our riders in the way that helps them achieve their goals. We also want to be the best ambassadors we can be for our partners and for American cyclocross as a whole.” U.S. Champ Honsinger joins the roster Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com has also announced its roster for the 2020-2021 season, which returns long-time stalwart Katie Keough for her 11th season with the team, 2018 Pan-American champion Curtis White and 2019 U23 National Champion Katie Clouse. Joining the team for 2020, and bringing the set of Stars and Stripes she earned at the 2019 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, is Clara Honsinger. Clara Honsinger, at age 24 is one of U.S. Cyclocross’ rising stars and took four UCI Category C2 victories in 2019, culminating with the biggest win of her career and her first National Championship. She continued that rich vein of form through to a sixth-place finish at the UCI World Cup in Nommay, France. Honsinger will look to build on her strong foundation of European success, and target the podium at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships on January 30 in Ostend, Belgium. In a year of unpredictability, the rest of Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com is an exercise in stability. Katie Keough, who first joined the team in 2010, returns to build on her recent European success. Curtis White, another long-time member of the team, takes aim at his 9th season in Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld colors. Katie Clouse, the 2019 U23 Women’s Cyclocross National Champion, and 4th place finisher in the U23 Women’s UCI Cyclocross World Championships, rounds out the roster. Looking ahead to an important season “With so much going on at home and abroad in the first half of the year, it’s been a challenge to find the team’s place in everything,” said Thorne. “At this point in the year, we hope that we’ve got a path forward to really put on a show and be the standard bearers for the U.S. Cyclocross community. With the long-time support of great partners like Cannondale, SRAM, Zipp and Giro, we’re hoping that we can make this fall and winter feel a little more normal when you see a Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com jersey on the front row of a World Cup starting grid, and hopefully on a few podiums!” ### |
