Track Worlds Team USA Recap 1130x600
Road
Track
CX
Team USA

Team USA Recap: Valente and Dygert Medal at Track World Championships

By: Anne Stein  October 28, 2024

We recap the latest in American bike racing from the past two weeks (October 15-29)

TRACK
UCI Track World Championships: Ballerup, Denmark

(October 16-20) – Ten Americans led by reigning World Champions Jennifer Valente (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24) and Chloé Dygert (Canyon/SRAM Racing) represented Team USA at the 2024 Track World Championships in Denmark. The group came home with three medals, one world record, and numerous top-10 placings.

Olympic and World Champion Valente competed for titles in five events (Madison, Points Race, Scratch, Elimination and Omnium) and won a silver in Elite Women’s Scratch race and bronze in the Elimination race.

Reigning Individual Pursuit World Champion Dygert broke her own World Record in the morning qualifying round of the 3km pursuit, then earned silver in the final, coming in 0.317 seconds behind the winner. Emily Ehrlich (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24) placed 10th

In other action over four days of racing, Grant Koontz (Star Track Cycling) placed 4th in the elite men’s Scratch Race, while Megan Jastrab (Team DSM-firmenich PostNL) teamed with Valente to finish 6th in women’s Madison. Valente also placed 9th in the women’s Omnium and Points race.

Anders Johnson (Chaney Windows and Doors) placed 8th in Elite Men’s Individual Pursuit, while Peter Moore (St. Paul, Minn) placed 4th in the Elite Men’s Points race.

Recaps: Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5

Complete results here

CYCLOCROSS
Kings CX: Mason, Ohio

(October 19-20) –Age group and elite cyclists gathered at Kingswood Park for a weekend of C1 and C2 racing at Kings CX in Ohio. It was stop number seven of the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Series.

Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Cycling) and Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) placed 1st and 2nd on day one of elite men’s C1 racing, while Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) and Lauren Zoerner (Competitive Edge Cycling) placed 2nd and 3rd for elite women. 

Aidan Vollmuth (Finkraft Junior Cycling Team) took 3rd in junior men’s racing, while Alyssa Sarkisov (CXD Trek Bikes) took a decisive win in the junior women’s race, coming in 41 seconds ahead of second and 1:45 ahead of the third-placed Canadian juniors. 

Eric Brunner scored his second win of the weekend, winning Sunday’s elite men’s race, while Curtis White podiumed again, placing 3rd. Katie Clouse and Lizzy Gunsalus (Marian University) were 2ndand 3rd on the elite women’s side. Liliana Edwards (Baltimore Youth Cycling) was 3rd at Sunday’s junior women’s race.

Complete results here

Really Rad Festival of CX: Falmouth, MA

(October 26-27) – Stop number eight of the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Series came to the Really Rad Festival at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in Falmouth for a weekend of C1/C2 racing. 

Andrew Strohmeyer (CXD Trek Bikes), Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing) and Henry Coote (Competitive Edge Racing) swept the top three spots in Saturday’s elite men’s C1 race, while Katie Clouse (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) placed 2nd on the elite women’s side. 

Aidan Vollmuth (Finkraft Junior Cycling Team) won Saturday’s junior men’s race, while Alyssa Sarkisov (CXD Trek Bikes) earned 2nd in a two-up sprint for junior women.

Sunday’s racing saw Katie Clouse podium again with a 2nd place finish in the elite women’s race, followed by Lizzy Gunsalus (Marian University) in 3rd. Henry Coote (Competitive Edge Racing), Curtis White (Steve Tilford Foundation Racing) and Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing) went 1-3 in elite men’s racing. 

Aidan Vollmuth earned his second win of the weekend, placing 1st in the junior men’s Sunday race, followed by Jack Bernhard (Finkraft Junior Cycling Team) in 3rd. Alyssa Sarkisov took 1st by 4 seconds in the junior women’s race for her 2nd podium of the weekend.

Complete results here

ROAD
Japan Cup: Utsunomiya

(October 20) –  Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) wrapped up his racing season with a win at the 144 kilometer Japan Cup, a hilly 14-lap circuit race which he also won in 2022. 

“I’m really happy,” said the 28-year-old afterwards. “This is my second win at the Japan Cup. This time, it was a lot more tactical, because there were five of us coming to the finish line.” Powless finished 5th the day before at the Japan Cup Criterium. This was Powless’s second race win in 10 days, after his 1st place in Italy at Gran Piemonte. 

Complete results here

Gree-Tour of Guangxi: China

(October 15-20)Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) placed 10th overall at the six-stage GREE-Tour of Guangxi, which takes place in south China. The Durango, Colorado native also placed 6th in the Youth category. It was the 5th running of the Guangxi tour and the final event on the 2024 UCI World Tour calendar.

Complete results here

GRAVEL
Big Sugar Gravel: Bentonville, Arkansas

(October 19) –  Sofia Gomez Villafane (Specialized) won the elite women’s race and Alexey Vermeulen (ENVE/Factor) won the elite men’s race at Big Sugar Gravel, the final race in this season’s Life Time Grand Prix series.

Men and women had separate starts on a 100-mile course that took them through the Ozark Mountains in northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri. Age-group cyclists could choose from 100-mile, 50-mile, or 25-mile routes. 

In the elite women’s race, Melisa Rollins (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24) came in 15 seconds later (5:32:35) to place 2nd behind Villafane and Cecily Decker (Scuderia Pinarello) was 3rd(5:32:59). 

The elite men’s race was tight as well, with Colby Simmons (Team Visma/Lease-a-Bike) coming in 9 seconds (4:50:31) behind Vermeulen, followed by Norwegian Simen Nordahl Svendsen in 3rd

Sofia Gomez Villafane and Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles/SRAM) ranked 1st in the Final Standings for the seven-race series, which began back in April with the Sea Otter Classic. Villafane also took the top spot in 2023, while this was Swenson’s third year in a row with the top ranking. 

Melisa Rollins was 2nd and Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) 3rd in the overall, while Matthew Beerswas 2nd and Payson McElveen 3rd overall for the men. 

The 2025 series kicks off next April at Sea Otter.

Complete results here

Final overall standings here