USA National Road Championships: Stephen Bassett leads Project Echelon podium sweep in men's elite criterium

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Project Echelon riders lose two to a late crash, Bassett and Rhim ride away, McGill wins sprint for third

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Men's Elite Podium - criterium
Stephen Bassett and Brendan Rhim 1-2 the 2024 pro criterium championships for Project Echelon(Image credit: Snowy Mountain Photography)

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.

For 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

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RankRider (Team)Time
1Stephen Bassett (Project Echelon Racing)01:28:51
2Brendan Rhim (Project Echelon Racing)0:00:00
3Scott McGill (Project Echelon Racing)0:00:00
4Tyler Williams (Miami Blazers)0:00:00
5Robin Carpenter (L39ion of los Angeles)0:00:00
6Evan McQuirk (Above and Beyond Cancer Cycling Team p/b Bike World)0:00:00
7Danny Summerhill (Reign Storm Racing)0:00:00
8Michael Hemmerlin (Landis Cyclery - Trek)0:00:00
9Clayton Travis (Velocious Sport)0:00:00
10William Hardin (Velocious Sport)0:00:00
11Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers)0:00:04
12Sean Guydish (Bike Works p/b Fred Beans)0:00:04
13Fergus Arthur (Reign Storm Racing)0:00:06
14Brandon Feehery (Miami Blazers)0:00:06
15Kyle Tiesler (Nashville Local Cycling)0:00:06
16Kein Denzler (etp Cycling)0:00:08
17Michael Garrison (mgr p/b Nich Speedclub)0:00:08
18Eamon Lucas (Team MikE'S Bikes p/b Equator Coffees)0:00:11
19Johnathan Hsu (Expeditors)0:00:11
20Sean Azcui (Fount Cycling Guild)0:00:11
21John Heinlein iii (Velocious Sport)0:00:15
22Elijah House (Reign Storm Racing)0:00:16
23Andrew Dillman (Pjct D1zl Cltv)0:00:20
24Matthew Amano (Subaru Santa Monica Racing)0:00:20
25Matthew Doyle (rip Grande Elite Cycling)0:00:20
26eli Woodard (Velocious Sport)0:00:20
27Wyatt Gaulke (Groove Subaru Excel Sports)0:00:20
28William Seitz (Nashville Local Cycling)0:00:20
29Nate Coleman (606 Racing)0:00:20
30Cory Lockwood (Miami Blazers)0:00:20
31Andrew Scarano (Work Hard be Humble Cycling)0:00:20
32Colin Fitzgerald (Bike Works p/b Fred Beans)0:00:20
33Tanner Ward (Miami Blazers)0:00:20
34tim McBirney (Team Mike’s Bikes p/b Equator Coffees)0:00:20
35Nsek, Amaette Iffiok-Obong (Pinarello / Maap / Hunt / the Feed)0:00:39
36Lenord Antonelli (Super Squadra p/b Applewood Manor)0:00:55
37Spencer Moavenzadeh (Miami Blazers)0:01:10
38Tyler Magner (L39ion of los Angeles)0:01:21
39Daniel Estevez (L39ion of los Angeles)0:01:53
40ian Williams (Expeditors)0:02:05
41Joshua Anderson (Denver Disruptors)0:02:15
42Daniel Uhranowsky (Project 412)0:02:26
43Lucas Huesman (rio Grande Elite Cycling Team)0:02:26
44Colby Lange (Project Echelon Racing)0:02:26
45Bradley Green (Bike Works p/b Fred Beans)0:02:26
46Alexander Zambrana (Super Squadra pb Applewood Manor)0:02:26
47Luke Pharis (Team Skyline)0:02:26
48Luke Manning (etp Cycling)0:02:26
49Henry Lutz (606 Racing)0:02:26
50Zachary Berend (Reign Storm Racing)0:02:26
51Jordan Miller (Landis Cyclery - Trek)0:02:26
52Shawn Litster (Project 412)0:02:26
53Tyler Cheslik (Jacomo Racing p/b MinskY'S Pizza)0:02:26
54Frank Wyer (Subaru Santa Monica Racing)0:02:26
55Yumeto Shigihara (Subaru Santa Monica Racing)0:02:26
56Joshua Friedman (Project 412)0:02:26
57Zachary Rivenbark (Velocious Sport)0:02:26
58Matthew Kleckner (Landis Cyclery - Trek)0:02:26
59Michael Migler (Ardor Racing)0:02:26
60Jake Buescher (606 Racing)0:02:26
61Chris Wilson (Fount Cycling Guild)0:02:26
62Sean Burke (Ardor Racing)0:02:26
DnfMichael Hernandez (Reign Storm Racing)Row 62 - Cell 2
DnfKyle Perry (Reign Storm Racing)Row 63 - Cell 2
DnfTimothy Smith (Reign Storm Racing)Row 64 - Cell 2
DnfLucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws)Row 65 - Cell 2
DnfJonathan. Clarke (Austin Outlaws)Row 66 - Cell 2
DnfLuke Fetzer (Austin Outlaws)Row 67 - Cell 2
DnfMatthew Bailey (Empyr)Row 68 - Cell 2
DnfMcCarthy Dorf (Empyr)Row 69 - Cell 2
DnfTimothy Matchulat (etp Cycling)Row 70 - Cell 2
DnfMichael Watkins (Jacomo Racing p/b Minsky's Pizza)Row 71 - Cell 2
DnfChristian Perpinan (Kingdom Elite Racing)Row 72 - Cell 2
DnfKyle Murphy (L39ion of los Angeles)Row 73 - Cell 2
DnfRichard Arnopol (Project Echelon Racing)Row 74 - Cell 2
DnfCade Bickmore (Project Echelon Racing)Row 75 - Cell 2
DnfSamuel Boardman (Project Echelon Racing)Row 76 - Cell 2
DnfCaleb Classen (Project Echelon Racing)Row 77 - Cell 2
DnfHugo Scala jr. (Project Echelon Racing)Row 78 - Cell 2
DnfTyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing)Row 79 - Cell 2
DnfCole Davis (Ribble Rebellion)Row 80 - Cell 2
DnfHeath Dotson (Super Squadra p/b Applewood Manor)Row 81 - Cell 2
DnfDavid Tolley (Super Squadra p/b Applewood Manor)Row 82 - Cell 2
DnfPhilip Wikoff (Super Squadra pb Applewood Manor)Row 83 - Cell 2
DnfCraddock, g Lawson (Team Bike Exchange - Jayco)Row 84 - Cell 2
DnfEddy Huntsman (utc – Butcherbox Cycling p/b Look)Row 85 - Cell 2
DnfAndrew Giniat (Utc-Butcherbox Cycling p/b Look)Row 86 - Cell 2
DnsThomas Kehrer (606 Racing)Row 87 - Cell 2
DnsAlfredo Bueno (Aevolo Cycling)Row 88 - Cell 2
DnsSean Christian (Aevolo Cycling)Row 89 - Cell 2
DnsQuinn Felton (Aevolo Cycling)Row 90 - Cell 2
DnsGavin Hlady (Aevolo Cycling)Row 91 - Cell 2
Dnsian Lopez de san Roman (Aevolo Cycling)Row 92 - Cell 2
DnsBrody McDonald (Aevolo Cycling)Row 93 - Cell 2
DnsGabriel Shipley (Aevolo Cycling)Row 94 - Cell 2
DnsBrooks Wienke (Aevolo Cycling)Row 95 - Cell 2
DnsBrody Burnham (First Internet Bank Cycling)Row 96 - Cell 2
DnsDavid Richter (Fount Cycling Guild)Row 97 - Cell 2
DnsCarlo Roche (Kingdom Elite Racing)Row 98 - Cell 2
DnsLiam Flanagan (Team Skyline)Row 99 - Cell 2
Laura Weislo
Laura Weislo
Managing Editor

Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.

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