The final race of the 2019 collegiate cycling season would be held in Grand Junction, Colorado, and would see some 200 men and women compete for the illusive title of RMCCC Conference Champion.
Racing began on Saturday morning with a 14.7-mile team time trial tracing I-70 north out of De Beque, a small town north of Grand Junction. In the men’s A’s, Colorado Mesa University proved dominant with a win over CU Boulder by 27 seconds. Fort Lewis College took home the women’s A win over CMU by just four seconds in the 36-minute race. The men’s and women’s category B races saw wins by CU Boulder and the US Air Force Academy, respectively.
Later in the afternoon was the criterium, a 0.7-mile, pan-flat course marked by 25-mph winds and 80 degree temperatures. Racing began with the men’s C’s, where CU Denver marked moves for the entirety of the race to eventually set up their sprinter, Grant Scherber, for a spectacular win. The men’s B’s saw a 1-2 sweep from CU Boulder, as Simon Castagneri soloed for the victory while his teammate, Michael Kouznetsov, took the field sprint from behind. CMU showed their strength in numbers in the women’s B race and took the top three spots on the podium. The trio, which contained Hanna Mork, Hayley Richards and Victory Pras, took advantage of the brutal winds to break away from Boulder and Air Force midway through the race to secure their win.
Category A racing saw action in both the men’s and women’s categories. The women’s A race split a just a few laps in as Boulder’s Margot Clyne and CMU’s Dafne Theroux-Izquierdo drove an early move to the finish line. Clyne proved victorious in a long sprint to the line, mirroring her finish from the weekend before in Durango. In the men’s A’s a seven-rider move rolled 30 minutes into the race containing riders from all major teams. Boulder’s Drew Levitt attacked the group with just a few minutes remaining but was caught by his break-mates on the last lap. CSU’s Chaz Hogenauer took the sprint from the break to secure the conference championship title.
Road racing concluded the weekend with a 4.7-mile loop around De Beque containing a half-mile climb to the finish. The men’s A and B races started the day off, with Michael Kouznetsov of Boulder opening up the action in the B race by heading for an early break with Brian Kennedy of CMU. The duo stayed for five of the nine laps but were eventually brought back by a hard chasing field. In the A’s a large move opened up midway through the race containing many of the same players as in the criterium. Liam Earl and Parker Gara of CMU and Boulder, respectively, took a late bridge to the move. The two took off solo with two laps to go and stuck to the line. Gara, a new rider to the A field, pulled a stunning attack on Earl, the former conference leader and winner of the USAFA road race, to take home the conference champion title. The men’s B’s finished soon behind with CMU’s Trevor McCutcheon and Boulder’s Simon Castagneri attacking late in the race to take first and second, respectively.
The women’s fields began shortly after the men’s fields finished. The men’s C’s began in the same wave. In the women’s B’s, CMU’s power trio out-rode their competition once again to take the top three spots on the hilly course. The A’s saw more action from Boulder and CMU as yesterday’s winner, Margot Clyne, outsprinted CMU’s pro mountain biker, Gwendalyn Gibson, to take the conference title. Fort Lewis’ Kira Payer, the former conference leader, came in behind for third place.
After six action-packed weekends of racing, our 2019 RMCCC road season has come to a close. Congratulations to all of our conference leaders and champions, and to all of our incredible student-athletes who raced with us this season. We wish good luck to all attending the national championships in just a few weeks, and we will you see you all in the fall!
