Stephen Bassett led a Project Echelon podium sweep in the elite men's criterium at the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships on a rainy night in Charleston, West Virginia.
Bassett and Rhim kept riding and held off the chasing field, with their teammate Scott McGill bringing home the final podium spot from the bunch sprint behind.
Article continues belowFor Bassett, who was second at the US Pro road race in 2019, it's his first elite national title and came as quite a surprise in his first race with Project Echelon.
"It's pretty incredible, pretty unexpected," he told Cyclingnews. "I'm definitely more of a road racer, but in the meeting before they're like, Steve, do you want to save it for the road race? And I said, Absolutely not. I'm here to here to race my bike, so we did that."
"We wanted to go for a sprint with Scott [McGill] and Cade [Bickmore] and then there was a crash with two to go. I saw the gap, and it was me and Brendan, who are probably the two of the bigger roleurs on this team. So we just went full."
The victory also came as a thank you to the team for picking him up after first Human Powered Health ended suddenly after the 2023 season and then, just months into this year, his National Cycling League squad, the Denver Disruptors, also went under.
"I feel like I've been through the roller coaster these last few months, but, you know, probably within six hours of the team folding, I got a phone call from Eric [Hill] at the airport. By Tuesday afternoon, we had the contract signed.
"I kept saying, I just feel like I need half a chance, and this team has given me a chance and a half already in the first race. I'm so stoked to be here, really proud of the team, proud of his mission, and proud to be racing bikes today."
Results
| Rank | Rider (Team) | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Bassett (Project Echelon Racing) | 01:28:51 |
| 2 | Brendan Rhim (Project Echelon Racing) | 0:00:00 |
| 3 | Scott McGill (Project Echelon Racing) | 0:00:00 |
| 4 | Tyler Williams (Miami Blazers) | 0:00:00 |
| 5 | Robin Carpenter (L39ion of los Angeles) | 0:00:00 |
| 6 | Evan McQuirk (Above and Beyond Cancer Cycling Team p/b Bike World) | 0:00:00 |
| 7 | Danny Summerhill (Reign Storm Racing) | 0:00:00 |
| 8 | Michael Hemmerlin (Landis Cyclery - Trek) | 0:00:00 |
| 9 | Clayton Travis (Velocious Sport) | 0:00:00 |
| 10 | William Hardin (Velocious Sport) | 0:00:00 |
| 11 | Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) | 0:00:04 |
| 12 | Sean Guydish (Bike Works p/b Fred Beans) | 0:00:04 |
| 13 | Fergus Arthur (Reign Storm Racing) | 0:00:06 |
| 14 | Brandon Feehery (Miami Blazers) | 0:00:06 |
| 15 | Kyle Tiesler (Nashville Local Cycling) | 0:00:06 |
| 16 | Kein Denzler (etp Cycling) | 0:00:08 |
| 17 | Michael Garrison (mgr p/b Nich Speedclub) | 0:00:08 |
| 18 | Eamon Lucas (Team MikE'S Bikes p/b Equator Coffees) | 0:00:11 |
| 19 | Johnathan Hsu (Expeditors) | 0:00:11 |
| 20 | Sean Azcui (Fount Cycling Guild) | 0:00:11 |
| 21 | John Heinlein iii (Velocious Sport) | 0:00:15 |
| 22 | Elijah House (Reign Storm Racing) | 0:00:16 |
| 23 | Andrew Dillman (Pjct D1zl Cltv) | 0:00:20 |
| 24 | Matthew Amano (Subaru Santa Monica Racing) | 0:00:20 |
| 25 | Matthew Doyle (rip Grande Elite Cycling) | 0:00:20 |
| 26 | eli Woodard (Velocious Sport) | 0:00:20 |
| 27 | Wyatt Gaulke (Groove Subaru Excel Sports) | 0:00:20 |
| 28 | William Seitz (Nashville Local Cycling) | 0:00:20 |
| 29 | Nate Coleman (606 Racing) | 0:00:20 |
| 30 | Cory Lockwood (Miami Blazers) | 0:00:20 |
| 31 | Andrew Scarano (Work Hard be Humble Cycling) | 0:00:20 |
| 32 | Colin Fitzgerald (Bike Works p/b Fred Beans) | 0:00:20 |
| 33 | Tanner Ward (Miami Blazers) | 0:00:20 |
| 34 | tim McBirney (Team Mike’s Bikes p/b Equator Coffees) | 0:00:20 |
| 35 | Nsek, Amaette Iffiok-Obong (Pinarello / Maap / Hunt / the Feed) | 0:00:39 |
| 36 | Lenord Antonelli (Super Squadra p/b Applewood Manor) | 0:00:55 |
| 37 | Spencer Moavenzadeh (Miami Blazers) | 0:01:10 |
| 38 | Tyler Magner (L39ion of los Angeles) | 0:01:21 |
| 39 | Daniel Estevez (L39ion of los Angeles) | 0:01:53 |
| 40 | ian Williams (Expeditors) | 0:02:05 |
| 41 | Joshua Anderson (Denver Disruptors) | 0:02:15 |
| 42 | Daniel Uhranowsky (Project 412) | 0:02:26 |
| 43 | Lucas Huesman (rio Grande Elite Cycling Team) | 0:02:26 |
| 44 | Colby Lange (Project Echelon Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| 45 | Bradley Green (Bike Works p/b Fred Beans) | 0:02:26 |
| 46 | Alexander Zambrana (Super Squadra pb Applewood Manor) | 0:02:26 |
| 47 | Luke Pharis (Team Skyline) | 0:02:26 |
| 48 | Luke Manning (etp Cycling) | 0:02:26 |
| 49 | Henry Lutz (606 Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| 50 | Zachary Berend (Reign Storm Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| 51 | Jordan Miller (Landis Cyclery - Trek) | 0:02:26 |
| 52 | Shawn Litster (Project 412) | 0:02:26 |
| 53 | Tyler Cheslik (Jacomo Racing p/b MinskY'S Pizza) | 0:02:26 |
| 54 | Frank Wyer (Subaru Santa Monica Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| 55 | Yumeto Shigihara (Subaru Santa Monica Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| 56 | Joshua Friedman (Project 412) | 0:02:26 |
| 57 | Zachary Rivenbark (Velocious Sport) | 0:02:26 |
| 58 | Matthew Kleckner (Landis Cyclery - Trek) | 0:02:26 |
| 59 | Michael Migler (Ardor Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| 60 | Jake Buescher (606 Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| 61 | Chris Wilson (Fount Cycling Guild) | 0:02:26 |
| 62 | Sean Burke (Ardor Racing) | 0:02:26 |
| Dnf | Michael Hernandez (Reign Storm Racing) | Row 62 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Kyle Perry (Reign Storm Racing) | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Timothy Smith (Reign Storm Racing) | Row 64 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Lucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws) | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Jonathan. Clarke (Austin Outlaws) | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Luke Fetzer (Austin Outlaws) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Matthew Bailey (Empyr) | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | McCarthy Dorf (Empyr) | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Timothy Matchulat (etp Cycling) | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Michael Watkins (Jacomo Racing p/b Minsky's Pizza) | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Christian Perpinan (Kingdom Elite Racing) | Row 72 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Kyle Murphy (L39ion of los Angeles) | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Richard Arnopol (Project Echelon Racing) | Row 74 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Cade Bickmore (Project Echelon Racing) | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Samuel Boardman (Project Echelon Racing) | Row 76 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Caleb Classen (Project Echelon Racing) | Row 77 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Hugo Scala jr. (Project Echelon Racing) | Row 78 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Tyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing) | Row 79 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Cole Davis (Ribble Rebellion) | Row 80 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Heath Dotson (Super Squadra p/b Applewood Manor) | Row 81 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | David Tolley (Super Squadra p/b Applewood Manor) | Row 82 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Philip Wikoff (Super Squadra pb Applewood Manor) | Row 83 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Craddock, g Lawson (Team Bike Exchange - Jayco) | Row 84 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Eddy Huntsman (utc – Butcherbox Cycling p/b Look) | Row 85 - Cell 2 |
| Dnf | Andrew Giniat (Utc-Butcherbox Cycling p/b Look) | Row 86 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Thomas Kehrer (606 Racing) | Row 87 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Alfredo Bueno (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 88 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Sean Christian (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 89 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Quinn Felton (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 90 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Gavin Hlady (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 91 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | ian Lopez de san Roman (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 92 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Brody McDonald (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 93 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Gabriel Shipley (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 94 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Brooks Wienke (Aevolo Cycling) | Row 95 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Brody Burnham (First Internet Bank Cycling) | Row 96 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | David Richter (Fount Cycling Guild) | Row 97 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Carlo Roche (Kingdom Elite Racing) | Row 98 - Cell 2 |
| Dns | Liam Flanagan (Team Skyline) | Row 99 - Cell 2 |
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