Livermon repeats at Kingsport Cyclo-cross Cup

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Travis Livermon (SmartStop-Mock Orange Bikes p/b Ridley) remained perfect in Kingsport, Tennessee as he won the elite men's Kingsport Cyclo-cross Cup for the second straight year. Dylan McNicholas (Cyclocrossworld.com) finished alone in second, 49 seconds back, while Livermon's teammates Adam Myerson outsprinted Ryan Knapp (Bob's Red Mill Cyclocross) to claim the final podium position.

"I get a lot of thirds and fourths, So it's great to get the win – this is the second year in row I've won [Kingsport]," said Livermon.

On the opening lap, McNicholas took an early lead and Livermon soon bridged the gap and settled in on his wheel. "In the second lap, I slipped up in a corner and lost all my momentum and then I was going really hard to catch back on," said Livermon. "Then he fell and I had all this momentum as I came up on him as he was down and I just kept going."

Livermon rode clean wheels all the way to the finish for the victory. "With three to go, I was riding obviously really hard but also conservatively, in case Dylan had a punch. Then I saw the gap start getting bigger, so then I thought I was pretty safe. I kept riding really hard but just making sure not to make any mistakes and riding clean - taking no chances."

After a strong start, followed by a crash, McNicholas held on for second place. "That's usually how I start. But in the second lap I fell and the derailleur hanger went into the wheel. It happened on the back with a couple of really long straightaways and I was stuck in a very small gear so I immediately lost 20 seconds.

"I tried to catch Travis. I tried to just do a time trial and see if I could ride him back. I begged on a mistake, but he didn't make any and he was stronger than me."

The race for third was the closest race of the day as Adam Myerson (Smartstop-Mock Orange Bikes p/b Ridley) raced smart and strong and got the final podium place.

"When [Ryan] Knapp started attacking, that was hard, and I was glad I saved some matches for that," said Myerson.

Early in the last lap, Robert Marion (American Classic-Blue) battled Myerson for the lead into a turn leaving Myerson tangled in the fence. "It's my own fault, I could have put my brakes on, but he was inside of me and took me all the way to the fence," said Myerson. "I came to a complete standstill. It took me the whole technical section going as hard as I could, using the effort I wanted to use in the finish, to catch those guys.

"Then I chilled and attacked on the last corner and made sure I led through the last turn. I went as slow as I wanted to around the last corner. Whoever was going to pass, they weren't going to be able to go the long way and go faster because it was muddy through the last turn."