Stephenson Overcomes Mechanical to Crank Out Men’s 17-18 Championship

One of the themes of Nationals week in Hartford has been overcoming adversity and dealing with the ups and downs of cyclocross. In Sunday’s Men’s 17-18 race, Denzel Stephenson (Boulder Junior Cycling) had to overcome a mechanical and a tough battle against Lane Maher (Hands on Cycling) to take home the Stars-and-Stripes jersey.

Temperatures Sunday morning were in the teens and the grounds crew hit the course early in the morning to clear most of the 4” of snow that fell on Saturday. Corners were slick and icy, and bike handling and focus were at a premium. The conditions also made the start important because the conditions made it difficult to push the pace through corners and the technical sections to work back to the front.

Stephenson and Maher solved the problem of falling behind by jumping out to a fast start. They were able to ride the narrow plateau along the embankment high line to jump out to an early lead.

17-18 men down the levee #cxnats pic.twitter.com/L2ra5jJ4qS

— Cyclocross Magazine (@cyclocross) January 8, 2017

An early chase of Caleb Swartz (Trek Cyclocross Collective), Sam Noel (Cannondale Cyclocrossworld), and Evan Clouse (Hot Tubes Development Cycling) formed behind the lead duo.

Stephenson and Maher engaged in a battle at the front of the race for two laps before Stephenson was able to break off the front. The gap proved to be fortunate because his crank arm fell off.

“At the top of the hill, my crank fell off,” said Stephenson. “That kind of bummed me out because I thought that was the race gone right there. I made it around to Pit 2 and pitted for my other bike, and then I just tried to ride as smooth as I could from there. I was able to catch Lane again and just get past him and then just lead the rest of the way from there.”

When Maher passed Stephenson during his run to the pit, the Boulder native said keeping a level head was important, “I just stayed calm. I was still in second, which was still good. I tried not to panic and just rode my race from there.”

Once Stephenson was able to regain the lead he established a healthy lead back to win his third career Junior Stars-and-Stripes jersey.

He said living in Colorado helped prepare him for Sunday’s snow, “I was pretty comfortable in these. I live in Colorado, so it snows a lot and gets icy. I’m experienced with this stuff. I got out here early this morning and rode the course, and I felt pretty comfortable on it.”

Maher said he had his own share of mechanicals to overcome, “Denzel got a mechanical half-way through the lap, and I passed him and got a little gap. But then I went down and my shoe came off. I got it back on but it kept unbuckling.” The shoe issue was yet another equipment issue to befall a rider on the Hartford course, “I’m a little frustrated, but everyone had their fair share of mechanicals.”

While Stephenson and Maher were off the front, an exciting battle broke out for third. Swartz and Noel went wheel-to-wheel for two laps before another Boulder man Ross Ellwood came tumbling to the chase group.

Swartz and Ellwood went into the last lap together and engaged in an epic two-up race for third for the entire last lap. The two engaged in a cyclocross battle sport traditionalists would tip their cap to.

At the gazebo off-camber, Swartz went to his feet on the outside to try to run past Ellwood to take the lead, but Ellwood was able to beat Swartz out of the section after some close racing.

Both riders likely knew getting to the pro-only section shortly before the start/finish first was going to be the key to winning. Ellwood hit the section first, and despite a small bobble at the top of the run-up, Swartz was not able to get around and Ellwood was first off the hill and first across the finish line to take third.

“On the last lap I had maybe five seconds on Caleb and then he caught up to me and we were both together. We were both duking it out. Even on the run-up, I was running and he tried to pass me. Luckily I was in front of him and I was able to dictate it, and I wouldn’t let him pass. And through the woods, he and I were together and I was just trying to hold him off. I made it all the way to the end, luckily still in front of him.”

Said Swartz about the snowy, frozen course and the great battle against Ellwood:

“The ruts, the frozen ice in the ruts, the 180 corners with frozen ruts, just everywhere. I can’t even count the number of times I had to like clip out and just dab my foot just to keep myself upright, just over and over and over again, and going down two or three times. Luckily I never messed up my derailleur or anything. But on the last lap I had a few little errors, and I needed to be in front going into the last lap and I just wasn’t there.”

Denzel Stephenson Interview – 2017 Cyclocross National Championships – Junior Men 17-18

Lane Maher Interview – 2017 Cyclocross National Championships – Junior Men 17-18

Ross Ellwood Interview – 2017 Cyclocross National Championships – Junior Men 17-18

2017 CX National Championships Hartford Results - Junior Men

Place	Bib	Last	First	Team	Time	Gap
1	201	STEPHENSON	Denzel	Boulder Junior Cycling	39:45:00
2	203	MAHER	Lane	Hands On Cycling	40:05:00	20
3	209	ELLWOOD	Ross	Boulder Junior Cycling	40:47:00	1:02
4	204	SWARTZ	Caleb	Trek Cyclocross Collective	40:49:00	1:04
5	205	WOOD	Calder	Rad Racing NW	41:13:00	1:28
6	206	NOEL	Sam	Cannondale Cyclocrossworld	41:27:00	1:42
7	207	FUNSTON	Scott	Rad Racing NW	41:34:00	1:49
8	211	GUNSALUS	Gregory	AP Junior Development	41:45:00	2:00
9	214	SOTEBEER	Drew	Alpha Bicycle Co.- Vista Subaru	41:51:00	2:06
10	213	JONES	Henry	Bend Endurance Academy	42:06:00	2:21
11	217	BROOKS	Camden	AP Junior Development	42:40:00	2:55
12	216	LOGUE	Clyde	Killington Mountain School	42:49:00	3:04
13	202	GOMEZVILLAFANE	Benjamin	Cycle Sport - Specialized p/b M	42:55:00	3:10
14	212	CLOUSE	Evan	Hot Tubes Development Cycling T	42:57:00	3:12
15	219	MCCORMACK	Alex	Hot Tubes Development Cycling T	43:50:00	4:05
16	208	BOOTS	Kendrick	Alpha Bicycle Co.- Vista Subaru	44:15:00	4:30
17	229	BIRKY	Donovan	Hutches/Bend Dental	44:21:00	4:36
18	210	SCHULZ	George	Van Dessel Factory Team	44:26:00	4:41
19	215	GOGUEN	Kevin	RACE CF	45:19:00	5:34
20	250	BUCHANAN	Brayden	Rad Racing NW	45:45:00	6:00
21	247	MYLES	Mark	Be Real Sports	45:49:00	6:04
22	221	BRUNNER	Nolan	Boulder Junior Cycling	45:50:00	6:05
23	249	POWERS	Ben	Riverside Racing	45:59:00	6:14
24	223	VAUGHN	Daniel	Northampton Cycling Club	46:03:00	6:18
25	225	SEIB	Donald	BMB Racing	46:27:00	6:42
26	251	WATSON	Campbell	Boulder Junior Cycling	46:44:00	6:59
27	241	LUKENS	Joseph	Bend Endurance Academy	46:46:00	7:01
28	252	JEFFERSON	Gentry	Monticello Velo Club	47:17:00	7:32
29	228	CAMPBELL	Alex	TEAM CLIF BAR Cycling	47:27:00	7:42
30	218	AITTANIEMI	Ryan	AP Junior Development	48:49:00	9:04
31	254	O'CONNOR	Finnegan		51:24:00	11:39
32	222	DELLAMAESTRA	Ethan	Storm Racing Team	38:58:00	@1Lap
33	230	RAWLS	Amai	Team Louisville	39:01:00	@1Lap
34	227	JOHNSTON	Spencer	Mock Orange Bikes	28:48:00	@2Laps
35	238	WOODARD	Eli		28:49:00	@2Laps
36	220	YOUNG	Zachary	BoltzStrong	29:49:00	@2Laps
37	224	HARRIS	Benjamin	Rock Creek Velo	30:01:00	@2Laps
38	248	ZWICK	Ryan	CT Cycling Advancement Program	30:46:00	@2Laps
39	226	GOLDBERG	Evan	Rock Creek Velo	30:57:00	@2Laps
40	235	HEATH	Jackson	Riverside Racing	31:05:00	@2Laps
41	233	BANKS	Austin	Young Medalists	31:26:00	@2Laps
42	243	LAUBACH	Laraib	Rock Creek Velo	32:08:00	@2Laps
43	231	SMITH	Garrett	Tri Cities Road Club	32:15:00	@2Laps
44	232	MELTON	Wiley	Melton Design Build / GS CIAO J	32:15:00	@2Laps
45	253	SHEA	Matthew	Somerset Wheelman	32:57:00	@2Laps
46	242	SMITH	Tyler	Van Dessel Factory Team	22:08	@3Laps
47	240	MULLALY	Kyle		23:07	@3Laps
48	246	RIDER	Bo	Rock Creek Velo	23:58	@3Laps
49	239	RYAN	Nathaniel	New England Devo	25:00:00	@3Laps
50	237	DIXON	Aidan	Rock Creek Velo	26:34:00	@3Laps
51	236	FRANZE	Brent	Giant Co-Factory Off-Road Team	17:27	@4Laps
DNF	234	NORVOLD	Christian	New England Devo
DNS	245	KIRKPATRICK BAIRD	Leo	KMS Cycling-Killington Mountain