Frattini dominates Toronto Cross
St-John and Schooler round out podium
Davide Frattini (Hudz-Subaru) captured his third UCI win of the season at the first round of the Toronto Cyclo-cross weekend on Saturday. The Italian opened up a comfortable lead on the first lap of the Elite men’s 60-minute race and crossed the finish line nearly 30 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. A pair of Canadians, Derrick St-John (Garneau Club Chaussures-Ogilvy) and Aaron Schooler (H&R Block) round out the podium in second and third place respectively.
“It’s very nice to have three UCI wins early in the season,” Frattini said. “I won three last year so I hope I can add a few more to my resume before my season is over. I didn’t want to jump as early as I did but I wanted to take the sand pit first. I thought the lines from the previous race were still there but the organizers raked it. When I came out of the sand I had a few bike lengths on the group and decided I should just keep going.”
The Toronto Cyclo-cross C2 double header weekend kicked off on Saturday at the Centennial Park in Etobicoke. The venue offers spacious park grounds and a man-made hill used as a local ski area during the winter months. This year’s course offered the riders an uphill barriers, technical and off camber hillside, wooded trails, kidney shaped berms and a sand pit.
Frattini took the hole shot onto the grass but was quickly passed by Schooler who remained in the lead for nearly the full opening lap. “It’s rare that I go out and set the pace because I usually like to stay with in my bounds for the first half,” Schooler said. “I tried to do my own thing and ended up dying a bit.”
Frattini jumped to the front of the field to lead the long line of crossers the first time through the sand pit. He exited the sand with a several second gap and gained a few more seconds after sprinting across the pavement for the start of the second lap. His lead grew from 15 to 25 seconds as a result of strong efforts over the uphill barriers and through the technical sections on laps three, four and five.
“I noticed that the other riders couldn’t close the gap so I kept going from there,” Frattini said. “The first few laps I wanted to get a good amount of time ahead of the group to control my lead. After that, I tried to just pace my self because I have to race tomorrow too. It was hard because the course was pretty fast and a lot of sections were headwind so it wasn’t that easy to stay solo with three or four guys chasing.”
St-John’s race was marred with mechanicals that began with a crash on the second lap followed by a bike change and getting caught up in the course tape. He was flushed to fourth position chasing second and third place duo Schooler and Evan McNeely (EMD Serono-Specialized), a junior mountain biker.
“I was pushing the limits and that is when I slipped out and panicked a little bit,” St-John said. “I knew Davide was going to be the guy to
watch. When you get two crashes and caught up in the tape you just keep pushing and eventually it worked out for a podium. I’m happy with today considering the luck that I had.”
In the closing laps, Schooler gained time on McNeely and looked to be en route for a second place finish until St-John, known as the pitbull of cyclo-cross, caught and passed both rider with two laps to go. Schooler hung on for third place ahead of Andrew Watson (Norco Factory Team) who caught and passed McNeely for fourth place.
“I was right behind St-John when he had all his mishap today,” Schooler said. “But he has a lot of speed so he can come back pretty fast. It looked like he was hurting after those crashes but he obviously came back in the end.”
1 | Davide Frattini (Ita) Hudz-Subaru | 1:00:06 |
2 | Derrick St John (Can) Garneau Club Chaussure-Ogilvy | 0:00:22 |
3 | Aaron Schooler (Can) Team H&R Block | 0:00:32 |
4 | Andrew Watson (Can) Norco Factory Team | 0:00:52 |
5 | Evan McNeely (Can) EMD Serono / Specialized | 0:01:06 |
6 | Mark Lalonde (USA) Specialized | 0:01:41 |
7 | Jared Stafford (Can) Bikesports Racing | 0:01:53 |
8 | Osmond Bakker (Can) La Bicicletta Elite Team | 0:02:23 |
9 | Derek Hardinge (Can) Lapdogs Cycling Club | 0:02:32 |
10 | Mark Batty (Can) Spidertech Powered By Planet Energy | 0:02:57 |
11 | Kevin Noiles (Can) La Bicicletta Pro Shop | 0:03:13 |
12 | Adam Morka (Can) Trek Canada | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
13 | Nathan Chown (Can) Handlebars Cycle Company | 0:03:15 |
14 | Erik Box (Can) Cycles Devinci | 0:03:34 |
15 | Cameron Jette (Can) 3 Rox Racing | 0:03:53 |
16 | Peter Mogg (Can) The Hub Race Team | 0:04:23 |
17 | Zachary Hughes (Can) The Hub Race Team | 0:04:36 |
18 | Peter Morse (Can) JetFuel Coffee | 0:05:33 |
19 | Nathan Underwood (Can) Ride With Rendall | 0:05:34 |
20 | Thomas Devisscher (Can) Ride With Randell | 0:05:36 |
21 | Peter Mancini (Can) EsteemTraining.com | 0:05:38 |
22 | Greg Reain (Can) Ride With Rendall | 0:05:47 |
23 | Marco Li (Can) Darkhorse Flyers | 0:06:04 |
24 | Conor O'Brien (Can) EMD Serono Specialized | 0:06:16 |
25 | Kevin Black (Can) Wheels of Bloor | 0:06:21 |
26 | Tyson Wagler (Can) 3 Rox Racing | 0:07:27 |
27 | Imad El-Ghazal (Lib) Kunstadt Sports Cycling Club | -2laps |
28 | Preston Wagler (Can) 3 Rox Racing | -3laps |
29 | Graham Shrive (Can) Nine2fivepro.com Cycling Team | Row 28 - Cell 2 |
30 | Andrew De Cal (Can) Shorthills Cycling Club Race Team | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
31 | John Roden (USA) Handlebars Cycle Company | Row 30 - Cell 2 |
32 | Justin Henri (Can) Handlebars Cycling Company | Row 31 - Cell 2 |
33 | Isaac Smith (Can) Darkhorse Flyers | -4laps |
34 | Lance Johnson (USA) Handlebars Cycle Company | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
35 | Glen Rendall (Can) Ride With Rendall | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
36 | Philip Cates (Can) Lapdogs Cycling Club | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
37 | Mark Brusso (Can) Lapdogs Cycling Club | Row 36 - Cell 2 |
38 | Kiernan Orange (Can) Ride with Rendall | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
39 | Jayden Aldrich (Can) Cyclocross World | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
40 | Casey Roth (Can) Ride With Rendall | -5laps |
41 | David Freeman (Can) Independent | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
42 | Daniel Zotter (USA) Team ROG | -6laps |
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
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