2021 Jingle Cross Day 1 UCI Elite Men Results and Report: Bad Legs, Headache No Problem for Baestaens

The traveling cyclocross show continued Friday night under the lights at the Johnson County Fairgrounds where the Elite Men lined up for the C1 event of the weekend. Due to travel and race fatigue from the heavy schedule the past week many top men chose to sit out the Friday night race, but those itching to race lined up ready to go.

Quickly after the women finished racing the men lined up and after the whistle blew they took off down the long start/finish stretch with Kerry Werner getting the holeshot and leading into the first rutted off-camber, before he was quickly passed by Anton Ferdinande.

Unlike the women’s race which splintered pretty quickly, the first few laps were a tight group of ten containing Ferdinande, Werner, Vincent Baestaens, Thijs Aerts, Eric Brunner, Michael Van Den Ham, Gosse Van Der Meer, Brannan Fix, Lance Haidet, and Andrew Dillman. Clocking in extra fast lap times, around 5 minutes, the men went round and round for a 12 lap race.

The front group eventually dwindled down to contain Aerts, Ferdinande and Brunner (who was putting in an impressive ride) with Baestaens a few seconds behind. With roughly 7 laps to go Brunner suffered a broken chain on the steep climb up Mt. Krumpit (most of the top men were riding the chewed-up hill), leaving him to coast, scoot, and run his way to Pit 2, losing valuable time and many placings along the way.

After a quick bike exchange, Brunner was on his way with chase mode engaged. It looked as if the leading duo was about to take this bike race home as they rode away from everyone and continued to put time into Baestaens.

Meanwhile, Brunner was patiently putting in his time. Remaining calm and keeping his head in the race, Brunner slowly but surely caught rider after rider and found himself riding in fifth, then fourth and then eventually catching up to Baestaens in 3^rd with roughly two to go. 1.5 laps remaining in the race and Baestaens found another gear eventually catching the leading duo Aerts and Ferdinande, looking to leave Brunner in fourth.

“I changed bike with three laps to go and I feel a little bit better, and I saw that I came close and I say ‘yeah, come on Vincent, go fo it one last time and just try it, and if it doesn’t work out, you tried,” Baestaens recalled.

The three went up Mt. Krumpit together, but a mishap and tangle between Aerts and Ferdinande at the top of Mt. Krumpit gave Baestaens just the time and space he needed to open up a gap. By the time he hit the end of the sandpit he had a solid eight seconds on the two.

Baestaens escape was helped by an Aerts mishap. “I couldn’t get out of my pedal and I crashed on Mt. Krumpit,” Aerts explained. “That small mistake is a big mistake to win or second place.”

Baestaens took advantage, and added to his lead to the finish rolling across to take the win by 22 seconds as Aerts and Ferdinande looked at each other, waiting for one to make a move.

As the crowd was waiting for the Ferdinande and Aerts to come down the finish stretch, they were surprised to see Brunner had caught the duo and was leading them down the start stretch with a small lead.

“It was totally unexpected, I came around the last corner and they were right there, and they were looking at each other, so I just hit it,” said Brunner, the 2019 U23 USA Cycling National Champion.

Brunner started his sprint and it looked like he might hold it for second, but was beat to the line by Aerts. Brunner held off Ferdinande to take the final step on the podium.

With the Jingle Cross Day 1 win, Belgian Vincent Baestaens took his fifth win during his impressive U.S. campaign. His decision to skip the Fayetteville World Cup appeared to pay off handsomely.

It’s a quick turnaround after a night race. After his podium appearance and signing autographs, Baestaens attached a light to his helmet and ode back to his hotel.

Full results below.

Our 2021 UCI Cyclocross World Cup coverage is brought to you by Bike Rags Apparel with additional support from BikeIowa.

2021 Jingle Cross Day 1 Results: Elite Men

Rank	Bib	Name	Affiliation	Time	Split Time
1	7	Vincent BAESTAENS	CX TEAM DESCHACHT-GROUP HENS-CO	1:00:45.	4:56
2	21	Thijs AERTS	BALOISE TREK LIONS	1:01:07.	5:19
3	30	Eric BRUNNER	Blue Competition Cycles p/b Bui	1:01:07.	5:01
4	18	Anton FERDINANDE	PAUWELS SAUZEN - BINGOAL	1:01:08.	5:20
5	20	Michael VAN DEN HAM	Easton Giant CX	1:01:37.	5:18
6	28	Gosse VAN DER MEER	*Bombdrike/Hunt	1:02:05.	5:25
7	35	Brannan FIX	Fix Racing	1:02:15.	5:11
8	31	Andrew DILLMAN	Rigd-Leitner	1:02:46.	5:33
9	25	Lance HAIDET	L39ION of Los Angeles	1:03:01.	5:21
10	8	Kerry WERNER	Kona Maxxis Shimano	1:03:33.	5:19
11	27	Scott MCGILL	Aevolo	1:03:42.	5:11
12	41	Matt LELIVELD	Hardwood NextWave	1:03:45.	5:06
13	67	Jacob LEBLANC	Competitive Edge Racing	1:03:57.	5:14
14	64	Brian MATTER	Linear Sport Racing	1:03:58.	5:19
15	38	Matteo OPPIZZI	Cannondale-Iland	1:04:08.	5:25
16	39	Lief RODGERS	Giant Canada Off-Road Team	1:04:17.	5:06
17	71	Michael LARSON	Red Kite Fund	1:04:20.	5:09
18	94	Tommy SERVETAS	Competitive Edge Racing	1:04:24.	5:13
19	74	Ross ELLWOOD	Alpha Bicycle Co. - Groove Silv	1:04:26.	5:15
@2Lap	87	Mark MYLES	Be Real Sports		5:25
@2Lap	90	Andrew GINIAT	The Pony Shop p/b KPMG		5:24
@2Lap	63	Rory JACK	The Pony Shop p/b KPMG		5:26
@2Lap	51	Casey HILDEBRANDT	Donkey Label		5:33
@2Lap	56	Nick CARTER	NorthStar Development		5:56
@2Lap	62	Dylan ZAKRAJSEK	KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team		5:40
@3Lap	58	Terol PURSELL	Forever Endurance		5:31
@3Lap	77	Joseph SCHMALZ	Steve Tilford Foundation Racing		5:29
@3Lap	80	Ian MCDONALD	KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team		5:40
@4Lap	54	Mathieu BELANGER BARRETTE	BarreTendre		5:26
@4Lap	43	Hugo BRISEBOIS	Ride with Randall		5:30
@4Lap	81	Frederick JUNGE	Broom Wagon Works		5:32
@4Lap	85	Vin HLUDZINSKI	Boulder Junior Cycling		5:38
@4Lap	69	Nick LANDO	Competitive Edge Racing		5:38
@4Lap	61	Nicholas TABARES	ASU Devo Pro CX		5:56
@5Lap	97	Jack TANNER			6:08
@5Lap	82	Dillon MCNEILL	Trek Cyclocross Collective		5:39
@5Lap	70	Seamus OCONNOR-WALKER	Donkey Label		5:39
@5Lap	92	Finnegan OCONNOR	Comp Edge Racing		5:44
@5Lap	79	Jeremy BLOYD-PESHKIN	The Pony Shop p/b KPMG		5:37
@5Lap	75	Josh BAUER	Angry Catfish - Endura		5:38
@6Lap	86	Dakota OLSEN			5:51
@6Lap	52	Owen BRENNEMAN	CXHAIRS DEVO : TREK BIKES		5:54
@7Lap	59	Luke ARENS	Adapt Cycling		5:31
@7Lap	84	Michael SANDERS	Wahoo Fitness		5:48
@7Lap	60	Kevin MCCONNELL	Iowa City Cycling Club		5:58
@7Lap	88	Nicholas LEMKE	KUHL Cycling Team		6:01
@8Lap	76	Matthew RILEY	Linear Sport / Trek		5:54
@9Lap	65	Thomas SAVAGE			6:19
@10Lap	83	Donald MORGAN	Pentabike Racing		7:10
DNF	96	Jonathan ANDERSON	J moneyz factory racing		5:26
DNF	68	Kyle JOHNSON	Giant Bicycles/ HiFi Sound Elit		5:49
DNF	93	Jules VAN KEMPEN	Alpha Bicycle Co.- Groove Silve		5:11
DNF	78	Kaler MARSHALL	Team Walla Walla		6:03
DNF	91	Bjorn SELANDER			5:33
DNF	89	Lucas STIERWALT	Aether Racing		5:52
DNF	95	Luke FEUERHELM	KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team		7:10

Check out the full results for the Elite Women’s race at the 2021 Jingle Cross Day 1 here.