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Team USA Recap: USA Cycling Medals at Santiago 2023 Pan American Games; BMX Racing & Freestyle World Cup Wins

By: Anne Stein  October 24, 2023

We recap the latest in American bike racing from the past two weeks (October 10-23)

PAN AMERICAN GAMES

(October 20-November 5) – The opening days of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Championships in Chile saw Team USA earn two golds and two silvers in BMX Racing, Time Trial, and Team Sprint.

Kamren Larsen and Cameron Wood made it a 1-2 sweep in the men’s BMX Racing finals. On the women’s side, Payton Ridenour and Daleny Vaughn placed 5th and 7th in the finals.

Kristen Faulkner earned gold in elite women’s individual time trial to kick off day 1 of competition, coming in nearly 22 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. It was a sweet comeback for Faulkner, who was injured in June and took most of the summer off to recover. US gravel national champion Lauren Stephens placed 4th.

The Women’s Team Sprint squad of Keely Ainslie, Kayla Hankins, and Mandy Marquardt rode to a new National Record and a silver medal. The Men’s Team Sprint squad of Josh Hartman, Dalton Walters, Evan Boone, and Jamie Alvord qualified for the bronze medal match up. They would ultimately finish fourth setting a personal best competition time.

Competition continues through November 5, with more Track events, Road Race and BMX Freestyle on the schedule.

How to Watch here

Complete results here

BMX RACING
UCI BMX Racing World Cup, 9 & 10: Santiago Del Estero, Argentina

(October 13-14) – Team USA wrapped up the final weekend of BMX World Cup racing with a slew of podium finishes at another weekend of racing in Santiago Del Estero.

Seventeen-year-old Ava Corley (Tangent/ Rift/ Rockstar Racing Team) had her best race weekend ever, taking first both days in the U23 race. She won her first U23 World Cup race the previous weekend, and for the season placed 3rd overall in the U23 Women’s World Cup rankings.

Cameron Wood (Mongoose/USA BMX Foundation) placed 1st in the men’s elite final after taking 2nd in the finals the week before, marking a remarkable comeback from early-season injury. Felicia Stancil (Factory SSquared/Answer) placed third for the second weekend in a row in the women’s elite final, marking her second World Cup podium this season.

Day 2 saw Alise Willoughby (Team Toyota/ Daylight Cycle Co) placing 3rd in the women’s elite race, and for the season she takes fourth overall in the Elite Women’s standings.

Complete results here

BMX FREESTYLE
UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup: Bazhong, China

(October 12-15)Hannah Roberts (Hyper BMX) placed 2nd in the final BMX Freestyle World Cup race of the season and clinched the overall World Cup win, thanks to her four podiums in four contests this season.

Marcus Christopher (DK Bicycles) and Nick Bruce (DK Bicycles) placed 5th and 6th in the men’s finals.

Complete results here

TRACK
UCI Track Champions League: Round 1, Mallorca

(October 21)Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) placed 2nd overall in the women’s Endurance category to kick off Season 3 of the UCI Track Champions competition. Round 1 took place in Mallorca, and races will follow at velodromes in Berlin, Paris, and London. Williams won the Scratch race and was 3rd in Elimination.

Riders compete in either Sprint (Sprint and Keirin races) or Endurance (Elimination and Scratch races) categories. There are 36 men and 36 women from around the globe in each category, and two US riders are taking part in the league: Gavin Hoover (L39ION of Los Angeles) and Williams(Human Powered Health), both competing in the Endurance category.

The next round takes place in Berlin on October 28.

Complete results here

ROAD
Gree – Tour of Guangxi: China

(October 12-17)Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar) took 7th overall at the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, the final stage race on the men’s World Tour calendar. The six-stage race covered 958 kilometers, starting in Behai on China’s southwest coast and finishing in Guilin. Jorgenson, 24, placed 3rdoverall in the young rider’s category.

Complete results here

Japan Cup: Utsunomiya, Japan

(October 14-15) – Just a week after winning Paris-Tours -- the biggest victory of his career so far -- Riley Sheehan (Israel PremierTech) wrapped up his season in Japan with two top-10 placings. He finished 2nd at the Japan Cup criterium and the next day, placed 6th overall at the 164 kilometer Japan Cup road race.

Results: criterium and road

Women’s Chrono des Nations: France

(October 15)Amber Neben (USA) placed 5th at the women’s version of the Chrono des Nations, a 27.2 km time trial course around Les Herbiers, France. Neben, 48, placed 3rd at this year’s ITT national championships and 8th in ITT at this year’s Worlds.

Complete results here

CYCLOCROSS
UCI CX World Cup: Waterloo, Wisconsin

(October 13-15) – CX national champion Clara Honsinger (Team S&M CX) was the top US finisher as UCI World Cup racing opened the season with its only US race. Top CX racers from around the globe battled it out in Waterloo, Wisconsin, with Honsinger placing 7th overall in the elite women’s race, and Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek) taking 12th on the men’s side.

The series continues October 29 in Maasmechelen, Belgium.

Complete results here

Kings CX, Cincinnati Cyclocross Festival: Mason, Ohio

(October 21-22) – The Pro CX came to Cincinnati and US national cyclocross champions Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation) and Clara Honsinger (Team S&M CX) won the C1 elite men’s and women’s races on day 1. Marcis Shelton (Bear CX) and Lizzy Gunsalus (Marian University) both placed 3rd in the men’s and women’s races.

Miles Mattern (CXD-Trek Bikes), Henry Coote (Competitive Edge Racing) and James Halverson(Minnsesota Junior Cycling) took the top three spots in men’s junior C1 racing, while Vida Lopez de San Roman (Bear National), Lidia Cusack (CXD Trek Bikes) and Alyssa Sarkisov (CXD-Trek Bikes) went 1-3 on the women’s junior side.

Day 2 of C2 racing saw White take the win again in men’s elite, with Scott Funston (WTB/ Pivot Endurance) in 2nd. Honsinger and Gunsalus were 2nd and 3rd in the women’s elite race. Mattern, Coote and Luke Walter (Fairview Mountain Bike Team) went 1-3 in the men’s junior race, while Sarkisov, Cusack and Alyssa White (Finkraft Junior Cycling) took the top 3 spots in the women’s junior race.

Complete results here

MOUNTAIN BIKE
Collegiate MTB National Championships: Zirconia, NC

(October 12-15) – Ride Rock Creek played host over four days to the largest gathering of collegiate varsity and club champions in Cross-Country, Short Track, Downhill, Dual Slalom, and Team Relay.

In the Team Omnium, Colorado School of Mines took home the Club title, while Colorado Mesa University defended their Varsity omnium title. Individual Omnium titles were won by Paul Vrouwenvelder (Appalachian State University) and Avah Cherry (University of Tennessee - Knoxville) for the Club categories and Jack Spranger (Colorado Mesa University) and Nicole Bradbury (Brevard College) for the Varsity categories.

Recap here

Results here

GRAVEL
Big Sugar Gravel: Bentonville, Arkansas

(October 21) – The pro men’s race came down to a sprint finish at Big Sugar Gravel, with Alexey Vermeulen (Jukebox-Shimano-Q+M) taking 3rd and overall series leader Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles) 4th after nearly five hours of racing through the Ozark Mountains, in northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri. Norway’s Torbjorn Andre Røed was first.

In the women’s pro race, Lauren De Crescenzo (Cinch Racing) was 2nd and Anna Hicks (Cynisca) 3rd, coming in behind UCI Gravel World Champion Kasia Niewiadoma, who took a solo victory.

Big Sugar was the seventh and final race in the Lifetime Grand Prix series. With his four victories overall, Swenson earned the series title for the second year in a row, while Vermeulen was second. Sofia Gomez Villafane (Specialized Off-Road) won the overall women’s title, with Alexis Skardain 2nd.

Complete results here