Hyde victorious in Derby City Cup C1

Stephen Hyde (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld) opened a gap on his competitors with four laps to go and stayed ahead of two chase groups to repeat as the UCI C1 Elite Men’s winner at Derby City Cup. He won the eight-lap contest in just over one hour.

Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz Factory Racing) and Kerry Werner (Kona Endurance Team) battled in the lead group for the entire race, but could not overtake Hyde, who took his fourth C1 win of the 2016-17 Pro CX season. Ortenblad was second, 10 seconds back, and Werner out-sprinted Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo) for third.

“The first couple of laps, I definitely held back quite a bit,” said Hyde. “(Before) my attack, yeah, I got a stick or something jammed in my rear derailler just before the pavement. I was able to regroup, get a new bike, and everything was working great again.

“It's one of those courses that rewards punchy efforts between the technical sections,” added Hyde about the course. “I think if you can hold back a little bit on the pedaling sections, and be able to get a couple of pedal strokes between each small section, then you can get a bigger gap without having to use as much effort.”

The big names from 2015 Derby City Cup, Hyde and Jeremy Powers, were sitting near the back for the first three laps. With six laps to go, Ortenblad and White were driving the pace at the front with Hyde beginning to make his way through the field, and others chasing.

With five laps to go, 2015 Derby City Cup C1 runner-up Powers had moved to the third chase group, but he was not able to close the gap any further, and finished eighth.

White, who won the 2016 Pan Am U23 Men’s Cyclo-cross championship last week in Covington, Ky., had a flat during the race that ended his chance to trade punches in the lead group, and he finished fifth overall.

Racing continues at Eva Bandman Park in Louisville on Sunday for C2 races at Derby City Cup.

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