Team USA Recap 10 28 1130x600
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Team USA

Team USA Recap: Jennifer Valente Wins World Title; Eric Brunner Has Best Men’s Elite CX World Cup Finish

By: Anne Stein  October 25, 2022

We recap the latest in American bike racing from the past two weeks. (October 12-25)

TRACK

UCI Cycling Track World Championships: Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France

(October 12-16)Jennifer Valente scored three medals at the Track World Championships, including an historic gold medal in the Women’s Omnium a year after she won Olympic gold in the same event. She also earned bronze in the Women’s Points and Elimination races, taking her World Championship career medal to 17. “I achieved the Olympic dream before this one, but this really had been on the forefront of my mind for a long time,” Valente said after her omnium win.

Other top-10 results included Lily Williams, who placed 4th in the Women’s Scratch race and Gavin Hoover, who placed 8th in Men’s Scratch. Grant Koontz placed 6th in the Men’s Points Race, and Megan Jastrab, Colleen Gulick, Shayna Powless and Lily Williams placed 8th in the Women’s Team Pursuit. Williams and Jastrab also took 9th in the Madison.

Complete results here.

CYCLOCROSS

UCI Cyclocross World Cup: Fayetteville, Arkansas

(October 16) – Elite Men’s National Champion, Eric Brunner (Blue Competition Cycles p/b Build), made history when he took 4th in the Elite Men’s race in Fayetteville, the best placing for an American man on the World Cup CX circuit.

On the Elite Women’s side, the U.S. captured two top-10 spots, with National Champion Clara Honsinger (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) placing 8th and Austin Killips (Nice Bikes) taking 10th. Honsinger placed 7th the previous week in Waterloo, Wisconsin.

Complete results here.

UCI Cyclocross World Cup: Tábor, CZE

(October 23) – On the first European stop of the CX World Cup circuit, Andrew Strohmeyer(CXHairs/Devo/Trek) took 6th in the U23 Men’s race, marking one of the best performances Team USA has ever had in the category. Andrew (AJ) August took 10th in the Junior Men’s race in Tábor. August was 5th at this year’s UCI Cyclocross World Championships.

Complete results here.

ROAD

Japan Cup: Utsunomiya, Japan

(October 16)Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) won the 144-kilometer Japan Cup road race, his final event of the 2022 season. This was the second win of his pro career for Powless, who was the top-placing American at this year’s Tour de France (12th).

“As a bike rider, you really just want to win a bike race,” Powless said afterwards. “So I'm just so happy that I could do it in Japan, at the last race of the year.”

Chrono des Nations Women’s Race: Les Herbiers, France

(October 16) – Two-time World Champion time trialist Amber Neben (Cogeas-Mettler Pro Cycling Team) placed 3rd at the Chrono des Nations time trial in France. The 47-year-old averaged 27.2 mph over the 17 mile course. She also placed 2nd at this year’s US National TT Championships.

MOUNTAIN BIKE

USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals: Durango, Colorado

(October 13-16) – Top collegiate mountain bikers from across the U.S. competed in nine events in the varsity and club categories at Purgatory Resort in Durango. Colorado Mesa University took the Varsity omnium title, while University of Colorado, Boulder won the Club omnium title.

Race Recap here. Complete results here.

USA Cycling Marathon Mountain Bike Nationals: Frederick, Maryland

(October 23) – Hundreds of cyclists vying for 26 national championship titles tackled the marathon mountain bike course at Maryland’s Gambrill State Park.

Luke Vrouwenvelder (Charlottesville, Va.; Giant Factory Off-Road) took the Elite Men’s title, while Tokyo 2020 Mountain Bike Olympian Erin Huck (Boulder, Colo.; Scott-Shimano-Arnicare) took gold on the Elite Women’s side. Huck took a step back from racing after the Olympics to

Race Recap here. Complete results here.