McCabe reclaims US Pro Criterium title
Young, Bryon round out men's podium
Travis McCabe (Floyd's Pro Cycling) reclaimed the title of US Pro Criterium champion, taking out a high-speed, hotly contested sprint over Eric Young (Elevate-KHS) and Miguel Bryon (Arapahoe-Hincapie).
Rally UHC had control of the front coming into the critical third-to-last turn, but McCabe dove into the turn and shot to the front then held off the chase from behind in the fast, downhill finish.
It's McCabe's second title, having won the race in 2017, he finished well down behind Ty Magner (Rally UHC) last year. This time, the roles were reversed, and despite Rally's hard work to control the race, Colin Joyce was their best finisher in fifth behind Young's lead-out man Sam Bassetti, while defending champion Magner finished a distant 21st.
"It feels awesome," McCabe said to Cyclingnews. "This really is a proud moment, it feels great. All the highs and lows of racing kind of all comes down to winning a national championship and being able to represent the USA. Being able to wear the jersey for another year is pretty fantastic."
As in the women's race, and similar to last year's championship, the race came down to positioning ahead of three back-to-back corners ahead of the downhill sprint.
"It was a sprint into that third corner, we knew that from last year," McCabe said. "I won it and had pole position coming into the last two corners. It was a really long sprint to the end, but because we started sprinting so early on, everyone was already at their limit. It was just go to your limit and hold it for as long as you can. Fortunately I was able to do that and come away with my second national title."
Without the heavy rain of 2018, the downtown Knoxville course was a touch less technical, and the speeds so high that no attack could stick for very long. Aevolo rode a particularly aggressive race, but with Rally, Floyd's and Elevate-KHS banking on a field sprint, nothing stayed away for very long.
"It was a hard race. We have some incredible talent - Eric Young, Ty Magner, Miguel Bryon - I think the four of us have been battling it out for the last three or four years. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It was a strong field and you saw that in the way the racing was, it really aggressive the entire time until about 10 laps to go when Rally took control. It calmed down a little bit until the last lap then it was back to chaos."
Young was coming on strong ahead of the line, but was just shy of the win.
"The Elevate-KHS guys all raced really well tonight," Young said. "We gave it our best, and had good position for the final sprint with Sam Bassetti and and me. Travis McCabe made the right and gutsy decision to go from a long way out, and with the number of corners so close to the finish it was the right call. Hats off to him, two crit national championships in three years is very impressive and he’s shown that he’s one of the best bike racers America has. It’s an honor to race our National Championship every year, and it’s been super cool to be in the fight every year."
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Travis McCabe (USA) Floyds Pro Cycling | 1:17:53 |
2 | Eric Young (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Miguel Bryon (USA) Arapahoe | Hincapie p/b BMC | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
4 | Samuel Bassetti (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling | 0:00:01 |
5 | Colin Joyce (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
6 | Scott McGill (USA) Gateway Harley-Davidson | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
7 | Stephen Bassett (USA) First Internet Bank Cycling | 0:00:02 |
8 | Michael Hernandez (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | 0:00:03 |
9 | Brandon Feehery (USA) Project Echelon Racing | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
10 | Hugo Scala Jr (USA) Gateway Harley-Davidson | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
11 | Andrew Giniat (USA) CS Velo Racing p/b Cannondale | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
12 | Sean Burger (USA) CS Velo Racing p/b Cannondale | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
13 | Quinten Kirby (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | Row 12 - Cell 2 |
14 | Riley Sheehan (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | 0:00:04 |
15 | Kent Ross (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
16 | Ryan Jastrab (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | 0:00:05 |
17 | Tim Weigelt (USA) CS Velo Racing p/b Cannondale | 0:00:06 |
18 | Jarret Oldham (USA) First Internet Bank Cycling | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
19 | Conor Schunk (USA) Gateway Harley-Davidson | 0:00:07 |
20 | Alex Hoehn (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
21 | Tyler Magner (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | 0:00:08 |
22 | Andrew Shimizu (USA) Team Mikes Bikes p/b Equator Co | Row 21 - Cell 2 |
23 | Eric Brunner (USA) 303 Project | 0:00:09 |
24 | Ben Schmutte (USA) First Internet Bank Cycling | Row 23 - Cell 2 |
25 | Evan Bausbacher (USA) Gateway Harley-Davidson | 0:00:10 |
26 | Brenden Hardy (USA) Above and Beyond Cancer p/b Sch | 0:00:11 |
27 | Evan Hartig (USA) Project Echelon Racing | Row 26 - Cell 2 |
28 | Justin Oien (USA) Arapahoe | Hincapie p/b BMC | 0:00:12 |
29 | Taylor Warren (USA) CS Velo Racing p/b Cannondale | Row 28 - Cell 2 |
30 | Lance Haidet (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | 0:00:13 |
31 | Macen Vanallen (USA) Above and Beyond Cancer p/b Sch | 0:00:14 |
32 | David Greif (USA) Project Echelon Racing | 0:00:16 |
33 | Christopher Craig (USA) Team Mikes Bikes p/b Equator Co | 0:00:17 |
34 | Seth Jones (USA) Arapahoe | Hincapie p/b BMC | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
35 | Patrick Collins (USA) CS Velo Racing p/b Cannondale | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
36 | Andrew Vollmer (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
37 | Gage Hecht (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | Row 36 - Cell 2 |
38 | Justin Mcquerry (USA) Team Skyline | 0:00:18 |
39 | Timothy Savre (USA) Project Echelon Racing | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
40 | William Gleason (USA) CS Velo Racing p/b Cannondale | 0:00:20 |
41 | Noah Granigan (USA) Floyds Pro Cycling | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
42 | Richard Arnopol (USA) Project Echelon Racing | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
43 | Cooper Shanks (USA) Team Mikes Bikes p/b Equator Co | Row 42 - Cell 2 |
44 | Marco Wajda (USA) Project Echelon Racing | 0:00:21 |
45 | Tj Eisenhart (USA) Arapahoe | Hincapie p/b BMC | 0:00:24 |
46 | George Simpson (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling | 0:00:30 |
47 | Ryan Knapp (USA) First Internet Bank Cycling | 0:00:40 |
48 | Benjamin Wolfe (USA) Arapahoe | Hincapie p/b BMC | 0:00:42 |
49 | Dennis Ramirez (USA) Gateway Harley-Davidson | Row 48 - Cell 2 |
50 | Ryan Kingsolver (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | 0:00:44 |
51 | Finn Gullickson (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | 0:00:48 |
52 | Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | 0:00:51 |
53 | Maxx Chance (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | 0:00:59 |
54 | Andrew Dahlheim (USA) Arapahoe | Hincapie p/b BMC | 0:01:00 |
55 | Christopher Uberti (USA) First Internet Bank Cycling | 0:01:04 |
56 | Eric Hill (USA) Project Echelon Racing | 0:01:06 |
57 | John Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | 0:01:07 |
58 | Isaac Bryant (USA) Gateway Harley-Davidson | 0:01:08 |
59 | Ethan Overson (USA) Gateway Harley-Davidson | Row 58 - Cell 2 |
60 | Samuel Boardman (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | 0:01:18 |
61 | Kyle Swanson (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling | 0:01:19 |
62 | Brandon Mcnulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | 0:01:38 |
63 | John Mccann (USA) First Internet Bank Cycling | 0:01:39 |
64 | Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | 0:01:56 |
65 | Brendan Rhim (USA) Arapahoe | Hincapie p/b BMC | 0:02:58 |
DNF | Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Gavin Hoover (USA) Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Cade Bickmore (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Tyler Stites (USA) Aevolo Cycling Inc. | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Colby Lange (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Camden Vodicka (USA) Wildlife Generation p/b Maxxis | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Chris Riekert (USA) Team Mikes Bikes p/b Equator Co | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
@1Lap | Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | Row 72 - Cell 2 |
@1Lap | John Becker (USA) First Internet Bank Cycling | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
@1Lap | Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling | Row 74 - Cell 2 |
@1Lap | William Cooper (USA) CS Velo | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
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