Place Your Wagers Now: A CrossVegas Preview

Viva CrossVegas! It’s almost here, with almost everyone in Las Vegas for Interbike counting the hours until the big race. And in typical Las Vegas-style, we’re bringing you a “fight card” of some of the noteworthy racers who will be getting called up under the lights this Wednesday night. Place your bets, ladies and gentleman, because the fighting is about to get fierce as cyclocross season really gets underway and the clash of the titans begins.

Elite Men:

• Sven Nys, World Champion. Need we say more?
• Adam Craig, the current Singlespeed Cyclocross World Champion
• Ben Berden, the Raleigh-Clement Belgian racer turned American
• Carl Decker of Raleigh Midsummer Nights Cyclocross infamy
• Jamey Driscoll, Raleigh-Clement’s latest addition and the 2009 winner of CrossVegas
• Jeremy Durrin, the JAM Fund rider turned-pro in his first year on Optum
• Yannick Eckmann, the current US U23 National Champion
• Mike Garrigan, the new (Canadian) member of the Van Dessel family
• Christian Helmig: he lives in the US but raced at Worlds for Luxembourg
• Ben Jacques-Maynes, one of two Jacques-Maynes brothers, and prior U23 National Champion in 2000 and collegiate in 2002
• Tim Johnson, the Cannondale-CyclocrossWorld legend and one of the three US racers at CrossVegas to stand on the Worlds podium (the others being Jonathan Page and Danny Summerhill)
• Geoff Kabush, the Canadian MTB-er turned ’crosser for Scott
• Cody Kaiser, the CalGiant U23 racer
• Zach McDonald, one of the three to survive the paring down of the Rapha-Focus team and silver medalist at Nationals (check out our cover feature on him in Issue 22!)
• Shawn Milne, the latest addition to the Keough Cyclocross family
• Adam Myerson, the “godfather of ’cross” in New England, who recently had some stellar results at Nittany
• Jared Nieters, who heads to China to race immediately after rocking out to Elvis under the spotlights
• Jonathan Page, riding for Fuji, Competitive Cyclist and Sommerville Sports and our current National Champion
• Jeremy Powers, who will be showcasing his latest project, Behind THE Barriers TV, over the course of the week
• Weston Schempf, who will join teammate Nieters on the way to China the following morning
• Danny Summerhill, who just announced his new one-man team racing for K-Edge and Felt
• Ryan Trebon, who’s lanky frame and giant Cannondale can be spotted from nearly any spot on course (but most likely a lead group)
• Todd Wells, current short track National Champion who has started the ’cross season strong (along the other two Wells’, Troy and Jake)
• Sven Vanthourenhout, a staple of Belgian racing though less so in recent years and a teammate for Nys
• Bart Wellens, one of the first Belgians to come stateside for CrossVegas and former World Champion

 

The out-of-towners:

• From Japan: Yoshitaka Hama
• From Belgium: Quinten Hermans, Wout Van Aert, and Tim Van Nuffel

 

The question is: What does it mean for CrossVegas, having Sven Nys come out to race? And perhaps more important, what happens if he doesn’t win? The psyche of American cyclocross and fan devotion seems to keep Nys on a pedestal, and what happens if that pedestal is toppled? The power course that is CrossVegas is far from ideal conditions for the Belgian known for his great technical abilities, but if an American unseats him, will that change the way fans stateside will look at Nys, and at elite-level cyclocross? Back in Issue 20, post-Worlds, we looked at the near-hero worship that happens around Nys and his win. If any other Euro had taken the win at Worlds, would Americans have been as overjoyed? Perhaps. But Nys winning was the perfect ending to the adventure that was Worlds in the US, and it almost seemed as though the story should stop there. But while we’re all thankful that Nys elected to race at least another year, it’s almost nail-biting to see if he can stay on top. No one wants to see a hero falter, but if an American can take down the King at CrossVegas, what does that mean?

Elite Women:

• Katerina Nash, a past winner and Czech champion
• Georgia Gould, Olympic Bronze medalist
• Mical Dyck, women’s SSCXWC
• Lea Davison, women’s cross country MTB National Champion
• Laura Van Gilder, arguably the best women’s crit racer in the country
• Elle Anderson, one of the latest additions to the CalGiant cyclocross powerhouse on the West Coast (and interviewed in Issue 20 of Cyclocross Magazine)
• Crystal Anthony, who took home fifth at Nationals in Madison last year
• Lyne Bessette, who won CrossVegas back in 2007
• Amanda Carey, the winner of the Trans-Sylvania Epic on the MTB back in May
• Gabby Durrin (neé Day), the newlywed Rapha-Focus racer
• Amy Dombroski, the American-turned-Belgian racer back in the States (check out her interview in Issue 21!)
• Nicole Duke, who just signed on with Marin bikes
• Caroline Mani, winner of Raleigh Midsummer Nights Cross
• Amanda Newman, who turned down a trip to China for the UCI race in order to race CrossVegas
• Courtney McFadden, the Rock Lobster racer who took a surprising second at StarCrossed last weekend
• Maghalie Rochette, who is now seated fifth in the women’s standings in USA Cyclings Pro CX ranking

Let us know what you think, and who you’re putting money on, below in the comments!