Race Preview: US Open of Cyclocross Continues Tradition of UCI Racing at Valmont Park in Boulder

One of the two UCI races being held in the U.S. this weekend is the US Open of Cyclocross at Valmont Park in Boulder. Valmont Park is the dedicated bike park just outside downtown Boulder that hosted the 2014 Cyclocross Nationals.

A Boulder-based event has been part of the UCI schedule for years now. The old Boulder Cup was the predecessor to the event, featuring the UCI Colorado Classic at Boulder Reservoir and the Boulder Cup at various venues.

The Event

The US Open of Cyclocross was started in 2014 by Without Limits, a Boulder-based event production company, after the two Boulder Cup race directors retired.

“Our goal starting in 2014 was a three-year vision of creating a development pipeline for emerging talent in the country,” said race director Lance Panigutti. “This season the vision has finally been realized with two full days of UCI Junior Men, UCI U23 Men and Elite Female and Male races. There’s so much talent in the country, but we need to get them racing each other head-to-head more often to prepare them for overseas competition.”

As Panigutti mentioned, the weekend’s schedule will bring the top young talent to Boulder to square off against one another. Full start lists are provided below.

Every cyclocross race develops its own flavor over time. Cyclocross Magazine asked Panigutti what makes the US Open of Cyclocross unique.

“The Colorado community,” he said. “We have such a strong junior development scene here that really gets to showcase all the hard work by the coaches and club leaders that are so passionate about the sport.  I have no problem making the claim that Colorado has the best junior development scene in the entire country.  It’s not just about the results on the national and international scene, it’s about getting kids on bikes and making them fall in love with cyclocross.”

The Course

The event takes place at the Valmont Bike Park, which has a mix of mountain bike tracks and cyclocross features. There are different course layouts for Saturday and Sunday, but they include a combination of sandpits, the iconic 5280′ Run-Up, Pete (Webber)’s Plunge and the famed Cody Kaiser stairs.

The two layouts are new for 2017. The Saturday course is being called “The Flume,” because it features more climbing and a wind-y descent called “The Corkscrew.”

Sunday’s course is dubbed “The Glade Runner,” because of its increased use of the grassy glades in the southern part of the park. Said Panigutti, “Sunday’s course caters to the rider with better turning skills and punchy power.”

The Racers

The top cyclocross talent in the U.S. is splitting its weekend between Gloucester out east and Boulder out west. Both venues have a C2 designation for both races, so proximity appears to be the primary influence on where riders are racing this weekend.

Based on UCI points, the Women’s field is headed up by Courtenay McFadden (Pivot Cycles p/b DNA Cycling) and Caroline Mani (Van Dessel Factory Racing), who will be making the short trip up from Colorado Springs. Other riders ranked in the top 100 include Sunny Gilbert (Van Dessel Factory Racing), Sofia Gomez-Villafane (Pivot p/b DNA Cycling) and Rebecca Gross (Zero D Racing).

The Men’s field is headed up by Jamey Driscoll (Donnelly Cycling) and Michael van den Ham (Garneau-Easton). Other top 100 riders include Allen Krughoff (Allen Krughoff Racing), Garry Millburn (Speedvagen / MAAP) of Australia and Yannick Eckmann.

All three members of the U23 Men’s podium from Hartford Nationals will be in Boulder. Lance Haidet (Donnelly Cycling), Gage Hecht (Alpha Bicycle Co. – Groove Subaru) and Maxx Chance (EVOL Racing) will be joined by Ross and Grant Ellwood (Boulder Cycle Sport), Denzel Stephenson (EVOL Racing) and Brannan Fix (Alpha Bicycle Co. – Groove Subaru).

Full start lists for the four UCI races are below.

The Schedule

Saturday 

(All times Mountain Time Zone)

Junior Men – 1:10 p.m.
U23 Men – 2:00 p.m.
Elite Women: 3:10 p.m
Elite Men: 4:20 p.m.

Sunday

Junior Men – 1:20 p.m.
U23 Men – 2:00 p.m.
Elite Women – 3:20 p.m.
Elite Men – 4:30 p.m.

More info: withoutlimits.co

Elite Women Start List - 2017 US Open of Cyclocross

First	Last	Home City	State	Age
Danielle	Arman	Boulder	CO	27
Amy	Beisel	Colorado Springs	CO	33
Caitlin	Bernstein	Oakland	CA	28
Katie	Clouse	Park City	UT	16
Marsa	Daniel	Seattle	WA	38
Anna	Dorovskikh	Boulder	CO	26
Jenna	Downey	Atlanta	GA	32
Anna Katrina	Engelsted	Boulder	CO	29
Leslie	Ethridge	Boulder	CO	27
Heidi	Franz	Seattle	WA	22
Christa	Ghent	Lyons	CO	27
Sunny	Gilbert	Ellisville	MO	38
Sofia	Gomez Villafane	Heber City	UT	23
Georgia	Gould	Fort Collins	CO	37
Rebecca	Gross	Golder	CO	37
Jolene	Holland	Austin	TX	27
erin	huck	Boulder	CO	36
Laura	Jeddeloh	Seattle	WA	26
Nicole	Jorgenson	Boise	ID	25
Dana	Kuper	San Francisco	CA	32
Maria	Larkin	Chicago	IL	30
Kristen	Legan	Boulder	CO	31
Ava	Lilley	Bend	OR	15
Suzie	Livingston	Fort Collins	CO	31
Shannon	Mallory	Seattle	WA	19
Caroline	Mani	Colorado Springs	CO	30
Courtenay	McFadden	Bellinghamw	WA	32
Meredith	Miller	Boulder	CO	43
Fiona	Morris	Lane Cove	Aust	32
Meghan	Newlin	Bouder	CO	38
Turner	Ramsay	Rutland	VT	17
Laurel	Rathbun	Monument	CO	21
Petra	Schmidtmann	Nederland	CO	16
Ashley	Zoerner	Highlands Ranch	CO	18

Elite Men Start List - 2017 US Open of Cyclocross

First	Last	Home City	State	Age
William	Allen	Golden	CO	37
Chris	Baddick	Lyons	CO	29
Kevin	Bradford-Parish	spokane	WA	35
James	Coats	Bend	OR	53
Cody	Cupp	Durango	CO	23
Kevin	Day	Farmington	UT	38
Josh	Direen	Denver	CO	25
Zachary	Dolzani	Lakewood	CO	31
Samuel	Dolzani	Boulder	CO	28
Spencer	Downing	Boulder	CO	22
James	Driscoll	Park City	UT	30
Yannick	Eckmann	Boulder	CO	23
Mark	Flis	Park City	UT	34
Eric	Fossell	Colorado Springs	CO	35
Chris	Ganter	Boise	ID	38
Matt	Hemstreet	Denver	CO	41
Steve	Hindman	Los Altos	CA	50
Jacob	Huizenga	chicago	IL	31
Jayson	Jacobs	Boulder	CO	32
Kyle	Johnson	Denver	CO	28
Cody	Kaiser	El Dorado Hills	CA	26
Braden	Kappius	Boulder	CO	30
Allen	Krughoff	Boulder	CO	33
Skyler	Mackey	tulsa	OK	21
Ian	McPherson	Boulder	CO	21
Garry	Millburn	Lane Cove	Aust	30
Jeremy	Ostrowski	Conifer	CO	37
Terol	Pursell	Golden	CO	29
Ryan	Rinn	San Francisco	CA	35
Fernando	Riveros	Austin	TX	29
Allan	Schroeder	Boise	ID	25
Keegan	Swenson	Heber City	UT	23
Nick	Thomas	Phoenix	AZ	23
Michael	van den Ham	Abbotsford	BC	25
Aaron	Vaughn	Boulder	CO	33
Timber	Weiss	Reno	NV	28
Josh	Whitney	Salt Lake City	UT	36
Alex	Wild	Los Gatos	CA	25

U23 Men Start List - 2017 US Open of Cyclocross

First	Last	Home City	State	Age
Jonathan	Anderson	Durango	CO	21
Harrison	Buckley	Durango	CO	19
Maxx	Chance	Boulder	CO	21
Ross	Ellwod	Boulder	CO	18
Grant	Ellwood	Boulder	CO	21
Brannan	Fix	Fort Collins	CO	20
Brent	Franze	Fullerton	CA	18
Garrett	Gerchar	Boulder	CO	21
Lance	Haidet	San Luis Obispo	CA	19
Gage	Hecht	Parker	CO	19
Wiley	Melton	Boulder	CO	18
Drew	Sotebeer	Parker	CO	17
Denzel	Stephenson	Boulder	CO	18
Jack	Tanner	Boulder	CO	19
Nevin	Whittemore	Boulder	CO	21

Junior Men Start List - 2017 US Open of Cyclocross

First	Last	Home City	State	Age
Torin	Bickmore	Longmont	CO	16
Sam	Brown	Eagle	CO	17
Tyler	Clark	King City	ON	17
Scott	Funston	Maple Valley	WA	17
Benjamin	Gomez Villafane	Scotts Valley	CA	17
Benjamin	Johnson	Fort Collins	CO	17
Henry	Jones	Bend	OR	17
Cole	Limpach	Omaha	NE	16
Conor	Martin	Kelowna	BC	16
Nathan	Pawlak	Boulder	CO	16
Tyler	Reynolds	Pella	IA	15
Max	Ritzow	Eugene	OR	16
Campbell	Watson	Louisville	CO	17
Calder	Wood	Anacortes	WA	17