Smith wins day 2 at Really Rad 'cross festival

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While Scott Smith (Dirt League) has stood atop three ProCX podiums so far this year, victory on day 2 of the 2018 Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross in Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA, on Sunday was his first ProCX and UCI win.

"I knew it was going to be a group race today with the course being so fast," said Smith, who was second on Saturday at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds races.

"It was really punchy, so you wanted to be in the front of the group, like second wheel. And that's what I tried to do all day – I just tried to stay second wheel. Justin [Lindine] kept attacking us a lot and he was putting us under pressure. And finally I got Nick Lando to pull through for a couple of laps. And he put us under a lot of pressure."

With three laps remaining in the nine-lap affair, Lindine (Hyperthreads/Apex Pro Cycling) – Saturday's winner – got a front flat tyre and lost valuable seconds. The lead group was down to three riders: Smith, Nicholas Lando (UVM Cycling) and Kevin Bradford-Parish (Setcoaching p/b FSA).

"Kevin hit it with one to go and strung us out. I didn't know if I could get him back," added Smith. "But I rode back on his wheel around the log-hop and the uphill. I passed him there and put the pressure on through the technical sections. Then I rode as hard as I could in the straightaways. I had about five seconds [of an advantage].

"I rode the stairs on the last lap pretty clean. And when I came into the start/finish area, I was by myself, so I was really happy with that. I was happy to pull the win out of thin air. I mean, I've been having a rough season, with fitness and sickness. I am so happy right now."

Bradford-Parish improved from a third-place finish on Saturday to second on Sunday, nine seconds behind Smith. It was his fourth ProCX podium of the season. Twenty-one-year-old Lando would finish third, 20 seconds behind Bradford-Parish.

Bradford-Parish said it was a tactical race. He thought he had a good chance to win, until he lost track of the laps.

"Guys were attacking and I was just trying to follow wheels and stay in contention and not get too far off the lead group. I was still trying to be patient," said the Washington State native, who took two silver medals last week at HPCX in New Jersey.

"I was not on the right laps in my head, and so I put in a pretty hard dig on the second to last lap, which was trying to be a win. So, I went too early and paid for it. Scott just feathered by me and I was too far in the red to really respond and do anything."

Lando, who earned two silver medals at this year's at U.S. Collegiate Mountain Bike nationals (short track cross-country and cross-country disciplines), was third at KMC Cross Fest earlier this season. He claimed his second ProCX podium of the season in Falmouth.

"I could tell from pre-riding that it was going to come down to group racing," observed Lando. "I kind of just stalked the back and made sure not to let any gaps open up. If they did, I'd close them down. The group just got whittled down until three laps to go, when it was just the three of us. It just exploded with one to go. Scott and Kevin kept drilling the attacks. I just couldn't hang, but I managed to come around for third."

Lindine would roll across the line in fourth, 43 seconds off the winning time. Merwin Davis (Cycle-Smart) would finish fifth.

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