Charm City Cross Day 1: Manon Bakker and Tofik Beshir take solo victory in C1 races

Manon Bakker and Tofik Beshir (CXD Trek Bikes) soloed to win the C1 races of Charm City Cross in Baltimore, Maryland, on day 1 of the third round of the 2026 US Cyclocross Series (USCX). Each rider took their fourth victory in five races in the series on Saturday.

In the women’s race, Bakker leaned into the same strategy that has served her well throughout the series, leading from the first lap. Bakker was coming off her first loss of the season on Day 2 at GO Cross.

“Today, I had a lot better focus and made no mistakes in the race,” Bakker said.

Lauren Zoerner led the front group going up the decisive Mansion Hill and across the long off-camber section on lap one. Going into the downhill, Bakker saw an opportunity to create some space ahead of her USCX rival, Sidney McGill.

From that point on, Bakker was untouchable. Behind her, McGill, Zoerner, Mia Aseltine (Competitive Edge Racing), Nico Knoll (PRO.FWD) and Kaya Musgrave (Competitive Edge Racing) formed the early chase, but the demanding course quickly turned the race into a war of attrition. Just past the halfway point of the six-lap race, McGill and Aseltine had emerged together in the battle for the remaining podium spots.

With two laps to go, McGill gapped Aseltine on the climb and rode on to secure second place, crossing the line 34 seconds behind the winner. Aseltine was third, a further 14 seconds down.

“I overtook Lauren right before the corner, going back down, and I knew that, normally, she couldn't hold my wheel,” Bakker added. “Probably Sydney is the only one who can. So, I wanted to have somebody in between me and Sydney to make it a little bit harder for her.”

The elite men’s race marked a homecoming for 19-year-old Beshir, who first lined up at Charm City six years ago during his inaugural cyclo-cross season. Baltimore is also the hometown of Marc Frazer, who mentored Beshir early in his career as team director at Kelly Benefits Strategies Cycling.

“To win in his hometown—that’s special,” Beshir says. “He’s the one that got me into the sport and it really means a lot to me.”

Struggling to return to form since an injury earlier in the year, Pan-American champion Andrew Strohmeyer (Competitive Edge Racing) put in a massive acceleration from the start, building a gap of 15 seconds to his closest pursuers by the third lap.

Beshir, who had been forced to fight his way through traffic after crashing on a corner earlier in the race, chased solo before finally catching Strohmeyer and settling onto his wheel. But a tiring Strohmeyer soon dropped back to the chase group, where he joined teammates Ryan Drummond and Dylan Zakrajsek, along with Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills Cycling Armada) and Miles Mattern (CXD Trek Bikes). Beshir continued alone with three laps to go.

One lap later, Clark attacked the group and crossed the line 18 seconds behind the winner for second place. The battle for third place heated up the final time up Mansion Hill, where Zakrajsek was able to pull away and hold on for third place.

“I knew Strohmeyer wasn’t going to slow down because he’s legit,” Beshir said. “I knew I needed to pull him back slowly. I didn’t want to burn myself out.”

“I wanted to follow him [Strohmeyer] because he is incredible,” he added. “I know he's not having a great season, but, just following him, you can tell he has a lot of experience and I've always admired him. I was definitely excited to follow his lines and learn new things from him.”

The UCI C2 race on day two at Charm will create some different dynamics, as parts of the course will be reversed and overnight rain could create slick conditions. Series champions will be officially crowned, as Sunday’s race will be the finale of the three-event series.

Results

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