2022 Road Worlds TT Thomas
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Team USA

Team USA Recap: Road Worlds Top 5s and 10 Podiums with a BMX World Cup win in Bogotá

By: Anne Stein  September 27, 2022

We recap the latest in American bike racing from the past two weeks.

ROAD
2022 UCI Road World Championships: Wollongong, Australia

(September 18-25) – Pro cyclists from more than 70 nations gathered in Wollongong for a week of competition, vying for world championship titles in time trial and road categories.

Day one kicked off with U.S. Time Trial champion Leah Thomas (Trek-Segafredo) placing 5th and Kristen Faulkner (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) taking 6th in the Elite Women’s Time Trial. On the men’s side, 20-year-old Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers) was 4th-fastest on the second time check but a crash into the barriers wrecked his chances for a top placing. Sheffield finished the race and placed 17th.

Artem Shmidt (Hot Tubes Development Cycling) scored two top-10 placings, taking 6th in the Junior Men’s Individual Time Trial and 5th in the Junior Men’s Road Race. “The longest TT I rode as a junior was 25 minutes, so it’s quite difficult to ride 10 minutes more, but I made the best of it and finished in the top 10, which is good,” said the 18-year-old. Teammate Viggo Moore placed 11th in the road race.

Complete results here

UCI Gran Fondo World Championships: Trento, Italy

(September 15-18) – Amateur cyclists from around the globe took part in four events at the Gran Fondo Worlds: the Grandfondo (143k), Mediofondo (86k), Time Trial (19k) and Team Relay, held in Trento, Italy. Riders previously qualified at UCI Gran Fondo World Series events.

The time trial kicked things off, with Gary Painter taking first in the men’s 65-69 category and multi-time world champion Molly Van Houweling placed 3rd in the F45-49 category. Paul Mowery (70-74) took 5th.

Other top-10 placings by US riders: In the Gran Fondo, Dan Netzer took 8th in M50-54 and Brendan Sullivan placed 6th in the M55-59. On the women’s side, Sarah Bishop took 10th in 40-44; Amy Phillips placed 3rd and Molly Van Houweling placed 6th in 45-49, as well as 3rd in the Individual Time Trial. Stephanie Poole and Sarah Bishop placed 5th and 6th in the women’s 40-44 Time Trial category.

In the Medio Fondo event, Brigitte Sims (60-64) placed 8th. Diane Schleicher (65-69) took 4th in both the Medio Fondo and Individual Time Trial.

Complete Results here

BMX RACING
UCI BMX World Cup Rounds 5 & 6: Bogotá, Colombia

(September 24-25)Cameron Wood (Mongoose) had the most successful weekend of his pro career, taking 2nd on Saturday and 1st on Sunday in rounds 5 and 6 of BMX World Cup racing in Bogotá. Sunday’s win in the Men’s Elite final was the first time atop the pro podium for the 20-year-old. “It is an unbelievable feeling. It was a long, brutal day. I was cramping all day just trying to survive rounds and quarters. I put one together when I needed to do it,” Wood said.

On the Elite Women’s side, two-time World Champion Alise Willoughby (Team Toyota/GW Bicycles) also scored podium spots both days, placing 3rd on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday. In the U23 Women’s final, U23 National Champion Mckenzie Gayheart (Factory Full Tilt) took 2nd both days marking her first podium appearance.

UCI BMX World Cup Rounds 7 & 8: Bogotá, Colombia

(October 1-2)Cameron Wood made his way into two more main events with a podium in Sunday's race. He held on to second in the Elite Men's World Cup overall. Alise Willoughby rode to second place in Round 7, but crashed out the following day unable to start the race. Mckenzie Gayheart came back to land on two more World Cup podiums in BMX's first season of the U23 class. She finished third on both days.

MOUNTAIN BIKE
Fox US Open of Mountain Biking: Killington, Vermont

(September 15-18) — More than 7,000 spectators witnessed a weekend of mountain bike racing in a Pro/Am format, with competitions in Downhill, Dual Slalom, Enduro, and Adaptive Downhill at Killington Bike Park in Vermont.

U.S. National Champion Dakotah Norton (Intense Factory Racing) placed first in the Men’s Open Downhill race, taking home the weekend’s top prize of $15,000. Luca Shaw (Canyon Collective Factory Team) took 2nd, and 15-year-old Asa Vermette took 3rd.

On the women’s side, German racer Nina Hoffman took the win with reigning US Open champion and BMX Olympic bronze medalist Jill Kintner (Red Bull/NORCO) taking 2nd.14-year-old Aletha Ostgaard placed 3rd.

Ostgaard and Vermette became the youngest cyclists ever to podium at the event.

Downhill

Men’s Open: Dakotah Norton (Intense Factory Racing), Luca Shaw (Canyon Collective Factory Team), Asa Vermette (GT bicycles/ENVE/DVO Suspension)

Women’s Open: Nina Hoffmann (Syndicate), Jill Kintner (Red Bull/NORCO/Shimano/Fox), Aletha Ostgaard

Dual Slalom

Men’s Open: Joey Foresta (GT Bicycles), Eddie Reynolds (FoxMTB/Kona/DVO), Parker Nishkian (NORCO/Fox/Industry 9)

Women’s Open: Jill Kintner (Red Bull/NORCO/Shimano/Fox), Jordan Scott (Hyper/Kenda/NF), Mazie Hayden (Defiant Racing)

Enduro

Men’s Open: Marco Osborne (Transition Bikes), Nathan Sterckx (RST Enduro), Will Goody

Women’s Open: Ashley Stearns (Base Camp), Rachel Pageau (Commencal), Hannah Harrington

Complete results here

UCI Marathon MTB World Championships: Haderslev, Denmark

(September 17-18) — Ten Americans took on the grueling marathon MTB World Championships, with the men racing three laps of a 40k circuit course (75 miles) and the women racing two laps plus 7.5 kilometers (54 miles) in the hills and around the lakes of Haderslev. Mountain bike Olympian Lea Davison (Jericho, Vt.; Allied / SRAM) was the top-placing American, taking 14th in the Elite Women’s race.

The US men’s squad was Will Foley (Golden, Colo.; MI3 Petroleum Engineering), Jules Goguely (Ogden, Utah; MDW Sports), Chris Mehlman (Manchester, Mass.), Jake Sitler (Marietta, Penn.), Danny Van Wagoner (Farmington, Utah) and Alex Wild (San Jose, Calif.; MI3 Petroleum Engineering). In addition to Davison, Kelly Catale (Pepperell, Mass.) and Lauren Stephens (Dallas; EF Education-TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank) raced on the women’s side.