Rochette wins Rochester Cyclo-cross C1

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Pan-American Champion Maghalie Rochette (St-Jerome, Quebec/Specialized X Feedback Sports) claimed her third consecutive victory at Rochester Cyclocross with a commanding solo performance.

Held in Rochester's Genesee Valley Park for a fourth year, the 3.2-kilometer course is designed in a U-shaped trail that makes it very spectator friendly. The terrain includes punchy, small climbs and descents, with approximately 139 feet of vertical climbing on each lap. 

"I definitely think that the technical sections play to my strengths and I enjoy that section a lot. I just think that it's a very complete course, the turns are fun. If you can keep good momentum on those corners, you save a lot of energy yet there are still some places where you can put the power down. It's very complete course and I love it all," Rochette said of the technical course.

Some of the top-ranked ProCX women battled for position on the opening lap of the six-lap contest lining up behind Ellen Noble (Trek Factory Racing CX) who took the holeshot. Rochette took over the pace making in the notorious ABUS Double Trouble section with tight turns, steep incline and roots. On her wheel were Noble, Kaitlin Keough (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cannondale Cyclocrossworld.com), Caroline Mani (Besançon, France/Pactimo/Colorado Proud) and the rest of the strung out field.

"I wanted to be in the first two or three people so I was following Ellen, I know that she's a great rider and I was comfortable following her. And then, when we came out of that section, she didn't put too much pressure on the pedals on the straightaway so I just thought, I'd go and see. I went first and I think I gained a second in the next technical section and since I had a second I thought I'd try it and I'll just go and see. So I tried and it worked out," Rochette said.

Rochette accelerated away from the 44-rider field early in the second lap, quickly growing a significant lead on a select chase group. A lead that she would hold to the end, as she went solo across the finish in 50 minutes, 16 seconds.

"I was working on that, trying to stay in control of what I was doing, always stay focused and composed but I was working hard,' Rochette added. "I'm feeling great. I'm very happy. I was a little bit of a ball of nerves at the start. You never know, first race, I think I'm feeling good but how everyone is going to be, so I'm excited, I'm happy that it went well."

Behind her, the battle for podium spots raged between Keough, Rebecca Fahringer (Concord, N.H./Kona Maxxis Shimano), Clara Honsinger (Portland, Ore./Team S&M CX), Mani and Noble. First Noble, then Mani would lose contact with the chase group in the next laps. 

"Becca, if course, is super strong on the parts where you have to pedal so it was sitting comfortably in a good position in the group and hanging onto her where I could when she lays the power down. And then in the technical parts, I tried to lead, felt super confident in those sections, a lot better than I have in the past, I worked really hard on that this summer," Keough stated.

With two laps to go, Honsinger made her move to get several bike lengths on Keough and Fahringer. 

"We were riding, Rebecca Fahringer, Kaitie Keough and myself, and Rebecca had been pulling for a long time, putting out some very heavy efforts and when we went around a corner and she sat up one moment. I thought that would be the opportunity to let it go and see if I could gap them and I did," said Honsinger who took advantage of a corner to power away.

Keough, who could not close the gap, continued,"I tried to close it but just really didn't have it. She rode strong. As the race went on, you could tell who had a little bit extra, gaps started to open up, some mistakes started to happen. It was a good race."

Honsinger took second place, 31 seconds behind the winner. Keough claimed third place, 38 seconds down. Fahringer would finish fourth, and Mani, fifth. 

Finishing in 12th place, Ruby West (Hamilton, Ont./Pivot-Maxxis pb Stans NoTubes) claimed the U23 title. "I'm very happy with that," she said. "Especially since I had a pretty rough day out there today, it was something nice to save the day."

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