VERONA, WISCONSIN— “Hello, Cyclocross Fans,” a shivering but grinning Pete Webber (Boulder Cycle Sport) said, after taking yet another National Championship win, wearing his Masters World Champion skinsuit. The highly decorated rider, originally from Maine but now residing in Colorado, has been one of the main staples of cyclocross for years, and his dominant win with a gap of nearly 30 seconds to second place came as no surprise.
While the morning started promising, with sun and warmer temperatures, as Mike Yozell (Kapelmuur Independent) told us after his race, temperatures actually seemed to drop while riders were on course. Yozell finished the race and immediately began loading on layers, saying, “I couldn’t feel my hands, so it was making shifting difficult.”
Early on in the race, Yozell took the holeshot, and charged onto the course with Webber hot on his heels. As the racers hit the barriers for the first time, Webber and Yozell were the first through, followed by Edward Baker (Team Kappius), Brian Hludzinski (Boulder Cycle Sport),Michael Robson (MOOTS), Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sport) and Mark Savery (Midwest Cycling Community).
Savery broke from the chase group to go after Yozell, putting in digs and slowly closing the gap. By the time they came through with two to go, Savery made the pass, and Yozell was back in third spot as Savery then began chasing Webber in earnest, though Webber’s 20 second gap was nearly untouchable at that point. Behind them, Dwight and Baker were tussling for fourth and fifth position.
Webber’s lead held, and with four laps taking nearly the entire 45 minutes for the race leader, he soloed in for a clean victory, grinning from ear to ear. Savery came in for second, with Yozell in third.
Having a good pit crew could make or break this race, with the peanut butter thick mud, and as Webber remarked, “Boulder Cycle Sport had a great pit crew. I think we had 10 guys in there for us.”
Stay tuned for more photos, video interviews and full results. Tune into http://cxmagazine.com for LIVE VIDEO COVERAGE of the Elite races starting at 1:00 p.m. Central time on Sunday. And don’t forget to enter to win a trip to Worlds courtesy of Raleigh!
Interview with Pete Webber:
Interview with Mike Yozell:
Masters 40-44 Cyclocross National Championships Photo Gallery:
IN THE COWBELL FORUMS:
Loading ...
