The USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships return to Louisville, Kentucky for a third time this week, from December 12-15 with a tougher course, live webcast and elite fields as unpredictable as the weather.
More than 1,400 competitors are expected to descend on Joe Creason Park, with the prominent UCI categories for women and men - junior 17-18, under-23 and elites - headlining the schedule on Saturday. All six races that day will be broadcast live by FloBikes.
"Cyclocross is quite a niche sport, but there are a lot of people across the country who love the sport and want to watch. So the ability to broadcast live from Louisville is terrific for us, terrific for the sport. It's a great healthy, lifestyle sport," Greg Fante, CEO and president of the Louisville Sports Commission, told Cyclingnews.
"We are happy USAC [USA Cycling] were able to strike a deal with FloBikes and be able to provide the content on Saturday. That is a step up from previous years, a better production and enjoyable experience. Louisville has a long, strong history in cycling. We are fortunate to have the partnership with USAC, Medalist Sports, FloBikes."
A live broadcast on FloBikes is available for subscribers, with analysis and commentary made by Brad Sohner and former U23 US champion Ellen Noble, who came out of retirement this year with JAM Fund/NCC and placed sixth in the women's Singlespeed event on Thursday. The junior men lead off the live-streaming broadcast of six races at 8:40 a.m. EDT Saturday. Awards for elite women and men close the broadcast at approximately 17:30 local time. FloBikes subscriptions range from $29.99 a month or $150 a year.
On Friday at 14:00 local time, a free preview show will be provided on the USA Cycling YouTube channel. The pre-show, On Course with USA Cycling: Presented by goodr, will feature course previews, athlete interviews and event highlights.
Louisville is a sports-centric city known for fast-paced, internationally-acclaimed competitions - from the Thoroughbreds who compete at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby to the runners and climbers who now traverse through Joe Creason Park for cyclocross glory.
Louisville made sports history in February 2013 when the 'Gateway to the South' became the gateway for cyclocross in North America, serving as the first host city outside Europe for the UCI Cyclocross World Championships. The event was staged at Eva Bandman Park on the banks of the Ohio River, which gained fame when massive rain and rising water led to a compression of two days of events onto one Saturday, thus avoiding the cancellation of races.
The same park hosted the Singlespeed World Championships the next year, and in 2017 a move to Joe Creason Park, a 61-acre park away from the river and near the Louisville Zoo, was made to accommodate the Pan-American Cyclocross Championships. This is now the third time the US nationals have been held at the same venue.
"The course is always weather dependent. In 2018 we felt we had a great course, but had six inches of rain over the event, so it was very hard, very muddy, very long and a lot of running had to happen," Fante said about the first US Nationals held at the park.
"We did shorten the course a little bit last year, and then we did not have any rain. It was very dry and so the lap times were a little too short. We've toughened it up with more length this year. If it gets muddy, we can shorten it a little. The riders are going to have to take what Mother Nature gives them and what the course gives them and plan accordingly."
The start/finish area will remain along Sheridan Avenue, a flat stretch at the west end of the park, and the route will be completed in a counterclockwise direction. An extended descent at the base of a large naturalised meadow beyond the 'mansion', a Metro Parks administrative building, will bring back climbing sections used in 2018. There is only 70 feet of elevation gain on each lap, but it is concentrated on the open field section.
"I was a bigger fan of the old Pan Am course than the Nationals course last year. From what I've heard, there is going to be significantly more climbing this year. The course goes to a much lower point on the hill before climbing back up, so it will be a little better for me this year," defending elite men's champion Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing) noted.
"One thing I was surprised about last year was that gaps didn't really get that big. I think if it's dry, it could be more of a group race because the course wasn't quite so selective. But then again, with more elevation, that could help to break it up."
There is only a slight forecast of rain on Saturday, which would make the off-camber sections tricky, make the laps times slower and disperse the field. Whatever Mother Nature brings, it is a course that demands technical skills with a lot of power sections to make moves.
"I would absolutely love for it to rain for our race! Fingers crossed," said Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing), who was second last year in the elite women's race.
Saturday contenders
Five-time elite women's champion Clara Honsinger has retired, so the top step is there for the taking. Seven-time junior and U23 cyclocross champion Clouse will compete alongside her Steve Tilford Foundation teammate Raylyn Nuss, both looking to improve from second and third, respectively, from last year.
What makes the elite women's race very interesting is that the reigning U23 national 'cross champion Lizzy Gunsalus (CCB p/b Levine Law Group) and last year's junior women's champion Vida Lopez de San Roman (Bear CX National Team) will move into that category. And two-time US gravel and two-time Pan-American road race champion Lauren Stephens will give 'cross a try.
The elite men’s race will feature defending champion and four-time Pan-Am winner Brunner against the top four riders from the 2024 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Series – Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes), Scott Funston (Cervèlo/Orange Living), Kerry Werner, Jr., (Groove Off Road Racing) and Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation).
Wildcards in the elite men's mix will be 2019 US elite men's champion Gage Hecht, who has focused on road cycling since 2021, and former US criterium champion Ty Magner, who has four 'cross races under his belt this year with a pair of top 10s at Nash Dash in Georgia.
In the other women's division, Lidia Cusack (CXD Trek Bikes) is the favourite to defend her women's junior 17-18 title. The 17-year-old comes into Louisville with her first World Cup victory, winning the junior race in Dublin. Looking to take the win will be Alyssa White (FinKraft Junior Cycling), who was second at last year's nationals.
There's a log jam of top riders in the women's U23 category, led by Ella Brenneman (CXD Trek Bikes), Cassidy Hickey (CCB Racing) and Lauren Zoerner (Competitive Edge Racing) as all three finished in the top five last year. Zoerner comes in as the U23 Pan-American champion.
The men's junior 17-18 field has more than 50 riders hunting one jersey, with the top contenders being Benjamin Bravman (Bear National Team), Jack Bernhard (FinKraft Junior Cycling), Dylan Haynes (Boulder Junior Cycling), Porter Melvin (Team Stampede), and Aidan Vollmuth (FinKraft Junior Racing).
Defending U23 men's winner Jack Spranger (Bear CX) returns, along with last year's silver medallist Dylan Zakrajsek (Competitive Edge Racing). They'll see competition from former top juniors Henry Coote (Competitive Edge Racing) and Miles Mattern (CXD Trek Bikes).
