McNicholas earns first career UCI victory

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In New Gloucester, Maine, top racers from the northeast came together to contest the third round of the Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series. A stark contrast from last year's mud and rain, competitors were greeted by crisp autumn air and a technical course suited to riders with better handling skills and sharp accelerations.

In the elite women's race, the battle between the crossresults.com p/b JRA Cycles team and Ladies First Racing continued. Sally Annis (crossresults.com p/b JRA Cycles) picked up her second series win by dropping her teammate Sara Bresnick-Zocchi on the last lap as the two had built an insurmountable gap over Crystal Anthony (Ladies First Racing).

Anthony was able to get within 10 seconds of the leaders following a bad start and crash but that was it. Behind Anthony in fourth was series leader Andrea Smith (Ladies First Racing) whose finish was just good enough to keep her in the leader's jersey.

Mechanicals and crashes were the order of the day in the elite men's race. From the gun a group formed with Adam Myerson (Cycle-Smart), Nick Keough (Champion System p/b Keough Cyclocross), Christian Favata (Favata's Tablerock Tours and Bikes) and Dylan McNicholas (Pedro’s). As the pace picked up, Favata fell off just a little, leaving McNicholas, Keough and Myerson at the front.

McNicholas attacked the group on one of the short flat straighaways and Myerson was unable to match due to slow leaks in his tires, narrowing the front group to two. As the race went on, McNicholas was able to dictate the pace and eventually pushed Keough to the brink. Once Keough was off his wheel, McNicholas never looked back, eventually stretching his lead to nearly twenty seconds. McNicholas came across the line for his first UCI victory.

Pre-race favorite Justin Lindine (bikereg.com/Joe's Garage/Scott) fell victim to a crash and mechanical early in the race and was forced to fight from the back. Through sheer determination, he was able to navigate through the field and bring himself into the lead chase group and immediately shot to the front.

Lindine's high pace came at the cost of technique and he was forced to put a foot down several times. These small bobbles added up and Lindine, despite racing faster than almost the whole field for much of the race, was never able to get closer than 10 seconds to the leader and he came across the line second.

Third place went to Christian Favata who was able to ride a high pace and steer clear of the mechanical issues that plagued many of the rest of the top racers. Behind Favata was Josh Dillon (Richard Sachs/RGM Watches/Radix) who had to come through the pit three times in the race. Peter Bradshaw (Embrocation Cycling Journal) had the best UCI result of his career with fifth place.

In developments that were shocking to few, the Masters 35+ men race was dominated by 2009 National Champion Roger Aspholm (Westwood Velo), and 2010 Champions in their age groups, teammates at Corner Cycles, Jonny Bold and Kevin Hines. Aspholm was able to break away from the group midway through the race and held on for the victory. Hines outsprinted Bold and Rob Hult (Gear Works/Spin Arts) for second. Racing will resume at Pineland Farms again on Sunday morning for the fourth round of the Verge New England Cyclo-Cross Series presented by Cycle-Smart.

The next round takes place on Sunday, October 24 in Gloucester, Maine.

Results