2021 Jingle Cross Day 2 Report and Results: A Thrilling Vandeputte and Werner Duel

The chance to ride the World Cup course was an incentive to race Saturday’s UCI C2 Elite Men’s race for a handful of Europeans as well as many domestic racers chasing UCI points.

Mount Krumpit was rocking again on a warm, sunny, albeit windy afternoon in Iowa City. Thankfully racers had a tailwind down the long dusty stretch between the starting grid and finish line, which was a good thing, as the six-minute laps meant they would roll down that road ten times. That also meant the same number of rides up Mount Krumpit, the steep dirt ascent into the crowds, music and beer garden.

On the opening lap, Niels Vandeputte started to distance himself from the rest of the 45-rider field as they ascended the rutted climb. Kerry Werner was the first and only one to bridge up to his wheel.

Once the pair had a gap, they traded leads as they continued to ride away from the chasing riders.

Gosse ven der Meer was closest to the pair, but eventually would fall behind by two minutes. Sam Noel and Brian Matter also gave chase, but both Vandeputte and Werner would prove too fast for anyone to close the gap.

With a couple of laps to go, the front duo slowed, neither wanting to tow the other around the Johnson County Fairgrounds.

With one lap to go, they rolled comfortably through the finish line and across the dry, though typically muddy, Holy Hell Hole. Once past that, and Pit 1, Vandeputte exploded from behind Werner, flying over the first flyover, with Werner chasing hard. Vandeputte took his momentum up Mt. Krumpit, with the encouragement of the screaming crowds, quickly had several bike lengths lead on the American.

With three-quarters of the course to complete, Vanderputte kept up the pressure, Werner fading further back as the lap wore on. By the finish line straight-away, he had enough time to offer hi-fives to the crowd and still finish 14 seconds ahead of Werner.

Werner had no threat from the rear and took the time to hi-five the excited crowd.

Van der Meer rolled across the line nearly two minutes later, and from then on, riders from the disintegrated field made their way to the finish at 15-30 second increments.

All that awaits the UCI World Cup Tour of America is the final race in Iowa City on Sunday, before heading to begin its European slate of races. Some of the top racers should be well-rested after skipping Friday and Saturday’s races. Stay tuned for full coverage.

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 2 Results: UCI C2 Elite Men

Rank	Bib	Name	Affiliation	Time	Split Time
1	10	Niels VANDEPUTTE	ALPECIN - FENIX	1:01:20	5:54
2	1	Kerry WERNER	Kona Maxxis Shimano CX Team	1:01:33	6:08
3	11	Gosse VEN DER MEER	Bombtrack Bicycles p/b Hunt Whe	1:03:26	6:30
4	7	Sam NOEL	Competitive Edge Racing	1:03:59	6:29
5	37	Brian MATTER	Linear Sport Racing	1:04:28	6:32
6	51	Jules VAN KEMPEN	Alpha Bicycle Co.- Groove Silve	1:04:41	6:22
7	46	Andrew GINIAT	The Pony Shop p/b KPMG	1:04:41	6:23
8	18	Jonathan ANDERSON	J moneyz factory racing	1:04:43	6:25
9	24	Jacob LEBLANC	Competitive Edge Racing	1:05:05	6:35
10	58	Kaler MARSHALL	Visit Walla Walla	1:05:09	6:16
11	35	Lucas STIERWALT	Aether Racing	1:05:11	6:38
12	28	Dillon MCNEILL	Trek Cyclocross Collective	1:05:28	6:35
13	40	Joseph SCHMALZ	Steve Tilford Foundation Racing	1:05:44	6:36
14	41	Nicholas LANDO	Competitive Edge Racing	1:05:57	6:49
15	57	Casey HILDEBRANDT	Donkey Label	1:06:02	6:41
16	38	Ian LOPEZ DE SAN ROMAN	Bear National Cyclocross Team /	1:06:11	6:39
17	22	Isaac NEFF	Neff Cycle Service	1:06:22	6:25
18	17	Michael LARSON	Red Kite Fund	1:06:24	7:15
19	42	Vin HLUDZINSKI	Boulder Junior Cycling	1:06:26	6:36
20	52	Ian MCDONALD	KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team	1:06:49	7:05
21	44	Ross ELLWOOD	Alpha Bicycle Co. - Groove Suba	1:07:11	6:54
@1Lap	43	Dylan ZAKRAJSEK	KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team		6:46
@1Lap	29	Terol PURSELL	Forever Endurance		6:52
@1Lap	31	Rory JACK	The Pony Shop p/b KPMG		6:57
@1Lap	36	Jack TANNER	Forever Endurance		6:46
@2Lap	48	Matthew RILEY	Linear Sport / Trek		6:57
@2Lap	21	Nick CARTER	NorthStar Development		7:03
@2Lap	27	Luke ARENS	Adapt Cycling		6:56
@2Lap	26	Luke FEUERHELM	KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team		6:56
@3Lap	23	Frederick JUNGE	Broom Wagon Works		7:04
@3Lap	32	Peter SWINAND	The Pony Shop p/b KPMG		7:01
@3Lap	53	Jacob PETERSON	Max Mortgage - C3 Bike Shop		6:57
@3Lap	33	Finnegan OCONNOR	Competitive Edge Racing		6:52
@3Lap	45	Jeremy BLOYD-PESHKIN	The Pony Shop p/b KPMG		7:08
@3Lap	20	Josh BAUER	Angry Catfish - Endura		6:53
@4Lap	55	Owen BRENNEMAN	CXHAIRS DEVO : TREK BIKES		7:06
@6Lap	39	Seamus OCONNOR-WALKER	Donkey Label		6:49
@8Lap	83	Donald MORGAN	Pentabike Racing		8:36
DNF	56	Mark MYLES	Be Real Sports		6:47
DNF	54	Kyle JOHNSON	Giant Bicycles/ HiFi Sound Elit		7:15
DNF	8	Yannick MAYER	SRAM Germany Schweinfurt		7:04
DNF	30	Dakota OLSEN	Move Up Elite		7:19
DNF	49	Michael SANDERS	Wahoo Fitness		7:30
DNF	34	Thomas SAVAGE			7:37
DNS	25	Mathieu BELANGER BARRETTE	BarreTendre
DNS	2	Curtis WHITE	Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.
DNS	3	Michael VAN DEN HAM	Easton Giant CX
DNS	4	Davide TONEATTI	ITALIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
DNS	5	Lance HAIDET	L39ION of Los Angeles
DNS	6	Lorenzo MASCIARELLI	ITALIAN CYCLING FEDERATION
DNS	9	Felipe Timoteo NYSTROM SPENCER	Costa Rica
DNS	16	Ivan GALLEGO	Missoula Bicycle Works - Team S
DNS	19	Nicholas F TABARES	ASU Devo Pro CX
DNS	47	Jacob OLANDER	USA Cycling Olympic Development

Check out the full results for all the 2021 Jingle Cross UCI races here.