White takes second and Swartz finishes third in C1 men's race
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Men's C1 podium at 2022 Rochester Cyclocross (l to r): Curtis White in second, winner Vincent Baestaens and Caleb Swartz in third(Image credit: Bruce Buckley / USCX)
Vincent Baestaens wins C1 race at 2022 Rochester Cyclocross(Image credit: Bruce Buckley / USCX)
Vincent Baestaens (Spits CX) defended his C1 title from a year ago and won Saturday’s elite men’s contest at Rochester Cyclocross in upstate New York. The Belgian won in 1:04:27 for his third straight victory in the US this ‘cross season.
Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation) secured second place, 17 seconds off the winning pace, and Caleb Swartz (Giant/ENVE) took his first podium of the year in third, 56 seconds back.
In his first race of the year, Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz Bicycles) took fourth, and Michael van den Ham (Giant x Easton) took fifth. Eric Brunner (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build), the US men’s elite cyclo-cross national champion, had an early mechanical and two crashes to take him out of contention and he managed sixth.
Baestaens swept the opening two rounds of the USCX series at Virginia’s Blue Ridge GO Cross p/b Deschutes Brewery in Roanoke. The US cyclo-cross series rolled to Rochester this weekend for C1 races on Saturday and C2 races on Sunday, which marked the mid-point of the eight-race series. Baestaens won both days at Rochester Cyclocross in 2021.
“At the beginning of the race, I had not so good feeling, but Curtis kept me pushing all the time so I was gaining, gaining, gaining all the time. My legs were feeling better and better on each lap. Then four or five laps from the end, I said ‘I’m going to push this as hard as I can’ and I made a good gap. I was able to keep a comfortable gap,” Baestaens said.
His girlfriend Annemarie Worst (777 CX team) won the elite women’s race earlier in the afternoon. He said her win and a third time staying with the same host family in Rochester made his day ‘really special’.
On the final circuit, Baestaens continued to hold a solo lead, but he made an unexpected stop in the pits for a shoe change that allowed White to close down his lead to less than 10 seconds. However, Baestaens punched harder to give himself more of a cushion.
“Curtis came back at the end because I had to change my shoe on the last lap. Yeah, that’s why I have one black and one grey shoe now. I was a little bit nervous at the end, but it was still good enough.”
Baestaens explained that he almost slipped out of his right pedal a couple of times on the last two laps, and he thought it was a problem with the plate on his shoe, so he made the stop in the pits with half a lap remaining to make the shoe change.
The men’s field kicked up the dust on a dry, sunny day at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, early fall colour showing on the trees. Brunner powered to the front in the stars-and-stripes jersey followed by his Blue teammate Scott Funston.
Driving an intensely-fast pace on the opening lap, Brunner lost his balance in a rocky uphill section, taking a tricky inside line that caused a mechanical issue. He lost several positions while he remounted to turn into chase mode.
By the next lap, White was riding solo at the front, and he stayed in control for a full pass of the 3km course.
With six laps to go, White began to lose his lead as Baestaens accelerated through a wooded section on the back of the course. The catch was made on the small section of paved bike path, followed by Swartz. As the trio slowed the pace a bit on a grassy, smooth section, Brunner was able to bridge across and join the leaders. Behind, Van den Ham and Ortenblad worked to make up a gap of about 20 seconds.
On the next circuit, Baestaens put pressure on the group with an attack. In chase mode, Brunner crashed for a second time in a corner, holding up his companions Swartz and White for a time and allowing the Belgian to power away at the front of the race with a 15-second advantage.
With four laps to go and not far beyond passing through the start/finish, the US champion went down a third time, hitting a rear tire as he attempted to jump the barriers, tumbling over his bike. Swartz and White continued in their quest of Baestaens.
With two laps to go, White had closed his margin to the lone leader to just 10 seconds, putting Baestaens in his sight as he dismounted and ran over the barriers. Swartz held on to third, while Ortenblad moved into fourth.
The stop in the pits for a shoe change almost changed the dynamics at the front of the race, as White closed to within 10 seconds of the leader. But another acceleration from Baestaens on a short climbing section gave him all the time he needed for the victory.
“I know Vinnie and Eric are really crafty racers and they know how to go fast at the end, so I kept my eye on them. On the second lap I saw they were farther back than maybe they had planned, I don’t know. But this course has a strong accordion effect, it pays to be racing at the front. So I took advantage of poor positioning early on,” White told GCN at the finish to conclude the livestream for the USCX coverage.
“Vinnie, to be honest, he’s the strongest guy in the race. I tried to put him [Baestaens] under pressure, I tried to put Brunner under pressure. It all came back together and I had one lap that I needed to cover the most and that is where Vinnie went. That’s where he has experience. I tried to bring it back in the end, but he had a big enough gap.”
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
