Rochette doubles up in Rochester

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Pan-American Champion Maghalie Rochette (St-Jerome, Quebec/Specialized X Feedback Sports) took a commanding win for the Elite Women, riding away solo for a fourth consecutive victory at Rochester Cyclocross. 

Under cloudy skies and mild temperatures, the technical 3.2-kilometer course included  punchy, small climbs and descents, with approximately 139 feet of vertical climbing on each lap. The race course included the notorious ABUS Double Trouble section,Trek Cross Barrier obstacle, multiple run-up sections, and the Full Moon Vista Belgian staircase. 

After taking the holeshot, Rochette accelerated away from the 43-rider elite women's field in the first lap, quickly establishing a gap that would grow to over one minute by the time she gave her victory salute crossing the finish line. 

"I feel great about it. It was a fun race and a good day on the bike so I feel good." said Rochette. "I work up this morning, I'm like it's a fresh day, it's a new day but it's a new day for everyone so I have to enter the race with the same intensity that I had yesterday. Same intensity, same focus. And so, from the gun I just went full gas."

Rochette was victorious in dominant fashion, leading the race from start to finish. She finished the six-lap event in 43 minutes, and 59 seconds.

"I do love the course a lot, that's one thing. I had a different strategy this year. Last year, I came in really hot and then I kind of faded towards the end of the season," added the Canadian Cyclocross Champion who swept the Rochester Cyclocross races in 2018 and now in 2019. "I really wanted to push all the way til the end. I was attacking the corners as if someone was there. Everything was with the World Cups in mind, I really wanted to win today but it was also with the goal of having a strong ride to help me for next week."

Behind her, the battle was on for the podium spots.  

Halfway through the race,  Clara Honsinger (Portland, Ore./Team S&M CX), Rebecca Fahringer (Concord, N.H./Kona Maxxis Shimano), Kaitlin Keough (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cannondale pb Cyclocrossworld.com), Jennifer Jackson (Canada/Easton-Giant p/b TLC) and Caroline Mani (Besançon, France/Pactimo/Colorado Proud) had pulled away from the field. 

With two laps to go, Saturday's runner-up Honsinger separated herself from Keough and Fahringer and raced solo in second place. A position she would hold until the finish, crossing the line 1 minute, 5 seconds behind the winner. 

Keough and Fahringer continued to duel it out for third place, until Fahringer pulled away inside of two laps to go.

"We had a few aggressive passes, back in the woods. Yesterday she passed me pretty aggressively in the woods, forcing me to a wide line on the square log and I nearly thought that I'd flatted going over it," Fahringer noted.  "And then today, coming out of the woods, she tried to pass and I had to make this decision, 'do I kowtow or do I block her?' And I blocked her, and it worked out well for me. She did end up passing me back at some point but then she bobbled in the middle of Double Trouble and that was the final pass that I got on her."

Third place was taken by Fahringer, 1 minute and 18 seconds off the pace. She would finish 5 seconds ahead of Keough, who would take fourth.

Sunday's course included a direction change from the holeshot which sent  riders on the North Section of the course for the first lap only. The change to the start was made made by Fahringer to the organizers last year. 

"When you're not grid to your abilities and you pay for it when you go into technical stuff first because the front really accordions away and you're stuck sometimes standing still and it's a bummer," said Fahringer of day one's starting loop. "I think a lot of people responded well, even if the change didn't suit them, at least they still got it the other way [on Saturday], it's a nice way to have two different races on the same course."

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