Holloway Repeats as Amateur Road Champion; Powless and Husted Win Men’s Road Titles in Louisville
The second day of the Amateur Road National Championships presented by Papa John’s featured three amateur and junior road races at Louisville’s historic Cherokee Park. Riders in the Men’s category 1 and Men’s U23 road races completed 23 laps for a total 110 miles/177 kilometers, followed by the Men’s Junior 15-16 event at 10 laps for 48 miles/77 kilometers.
Daniel Holloway (Boulder, Colo./Texas Roadhouse Cycling Team) repeated as the Men’s Cat 1 amateur road champion by taking the line in a 20-man bunch sprint. Thomas Gibbons (Linwood, N.J./Baguet-MIBA-Indulek-Derito CT) finished second and Chris Riekert (San Jose, Calif./Team Mikes Bikes p/b Equator Coffees) was third. The threesome completed the 23 laps of the 7.9-kilometer circuit in 4:13:58.
Neilson Powless (Roseville, Calif./Axeon Hagens Berman), who won the bronze medal in the Men’s U23 individual time trial on Thursday, earned the top prize in the Men’s U23 road race. He outdueled two other riders from the 113-rider field at the line in a time of 4:20:07. Gage Hecht (Parker, Colo./Aevolo Cycling) and Brendan Rhim (Greenville, S.C./Holowesko l Citadel p/b Hincapie Sportswear) rolled in second and third, respectively. Powless’ teammate, Jonathan Brown (Covington, Tenn.) finished in lone fourth, 14 seconds back.
“It’s incredible. It really came down to having a super strong teammate in the break, Johnny Brown, who helped me out for the finish and the last couple of laps. His perserverence really paid off in the end,” said Powless, who also won a national title in short track at mountain bike championships as an 18-year-old. At the Pro Road Race and Time Trial Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. June 24-25, Powless captured the bronze in the time trial and the silver in the road race.
“It feels pretty incredible to finally have the national jersey. It’s not just another second place or third place medal, which is great, but at the same time you are always standing next to the Stars-and-Stripes jersey. It’s really nice to have one.”
Eli Husted (Austin, Texas/Hot Tubes Development Cycling) broke away with Jared Scott (Boulder, Colo./Boulder Junior Cycling) from the 69-rider field with three laps to go. Husted, who won a national title as a 14-year-old last year, attacked with one kilometer to go to win the Men’s Junior 15-16 championship in 2:01:53. Scott took the silver, 12 seconds back, followed by Max Ritzow (Eugene, Ore./Washington State Bicycle Association) who took third place, 51 seconds back. On his wheel for fourth was William Walton (Allentown, Penn./Young Medalists).
Juniors Seize the Day for Seven Titles during Road Amateur Nationals in Louisville
Amateur Road National Championships presented by Papa John’s returned for a second day in the Bluegrass State at Louisville’s historic Cherokee Park. Women’s and men’s juniors took over the 7.9-kilometer course under cloudy skies and brightened the day with dazzling performances in seven categorized races.
The Men’s Junior 17-18 race featured the largest field of the day, 124 riders, and the most circuits in the park, 15 laps for 115 kilometers. Six riders went clear with six laps to go, building a significant gap that grew to to one minute and 30 seconds. From this selection, Cole Davis (Folsom, Calif./NCCF/Team Specialized Juniors) won the national championship and an automatic spot on the world championships team to compete in the Junior 17-18 event in Norway in September. He covered the course in 2:52:53. Kevin Vermaerke (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calf./LUX/Stradling p/b Specialized) finished second in the sprint finish, followed by Charles Velez (El Dorado HIlls, Calif./Data Driven Athlete Racing) in third.
The Women’s Junior 15-16 Stars-and-Stripes jersey was awarded to Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif./Swami’s Junior Development Team), who recovered from a solo crash on the first lap to rejoin the eight-rider breakaway. Jastrab, last year’s Junior 13-14 champion, worked at the front with Katie Clouse (LIttleton, Colo./Visit Dallas DNA Cycling) for most of the seven-lap, 54-kilometer race, then outsprinted the Colorado rider for a narrow victory in a time of 1:36:20. Jane Tullis (Rome, Ga./Frazier Cycling Team) rolled in just one second back for third.
Alijah Beatty (Washington, Iowa/Northstar Development Cycling) moved to the top step of the podium this year in the Women’s Junior 17-18 race. The 2016 silver medalist covered 84 kilometers over 11 laps in 2:45:20 for the victory. Megan Heath (Alpharetta, Ga./Rally Cycling Devo) and Summer Moak (Phoenix, Ariz./Sho-Air TWENTY20 Development) followed in the lead group of 12 riders in second and third, respectively, with the same time.
The top prize in the Men’s Junior 11-12 road race was taken in a sprint by Walter Rozek (Folsom, Calif./Reliable/Taco Bell Racing p/b Kinetic Cycles). He covered the three-lap, 23-kilometer event in 42:46. Wesley Haggstrom (Clemmons, N.C./Hearts Racing Club) finished a wheel back for the silver, and William Cucco (Federal Way, Wash./Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Cycling Team) earned bronze, just one second off the pace.
Luke Feuerhelm (Merrill, Iowa/Central Junior Cycling Devo) soloed to the line to capture the title for the 30-kilometer Men’s Junior 13-14 contest, in a time of 47:59. Will Sharpe (Katy, Texas/Northwest Cycling Club) sprinted to the line 37 seconds later for second place, edging Adin Jose (Milpitas, Calif./ Velo Reno p/b Western Lithium), who earned the third podium spot among the 62 contestants.
In the Women’s Junior 11-12 road race, Lilly McLeod (Brooksville, Fla./Sho-Air TWENTY20 Development) rode a strong three laps and finished a bike length in front of Alexa Stierwalt (Maineville, Ohio/ProChain Junior Development) for the win in 44:06. Divya Verma (Breinigsville, Penn./T Town Elite) rode alone to third place, seven seconds back.
Carmen Davidson (Byron Center, Mich.) made the winning charge in the final 100 meters to win the Women’s Junior 13-14 category. Olivia Cummins (Fort Collins, Colo./Melton Design Build/GS Forza Cycling) finished second with the same time of 56:38. In the following group of three riders, Makayla MacPherson (Corona, Calif./Swami’s Junior Development Team), who was second last year, captured third.
