Unstoppable Hyde defends Pan-Am ‘cross title

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (VN) — Stephen Hyde continued his streak of victories with a Pan-American Championship Sunday in Louisville. The Cannondale-CyclocrossWorld.com rider soloed to victory like he did Saturday in the US Cup-CX/Derby City. Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz-Donkey Label) was second ahead of Canadian Michael van den Ham (Garneau-Easton Cycling).

“It feels really good after the beginning of the season that I’ve had,” Hyde said. He had suffered gastritis that put him off the bike for nine days before the season started. “Then I got a cold — same cold everybody else got at Iowa [World Cup #1].”

At first, the U.S. champion looked to be on the back foot. Ortenblad and van den Ham took off and rode off the front for the first two laps. Hyde chased behind with Kerry Werner (Kona) and Fernando Riveros (Stan’s NoTubes ).

Soon, Hyde bridged the gap. A group of six coalesced at the front with Hyde, Werner, Riveros, van den Ham, Ortenblad, and Jeremy Powers (Aspire Racing).

Powers was yo-yoing on and off the group in the early laps. However, once Hyde made his winning move four laps in, Powers was the one to set the pace.

The effort proved too great. The former U.S. champion Powers withdrew two laps later and quickly left the pits with his mechanic.

“Jeremy was rolling pretty hard,” said Ortenblad. “The thing with Jeremy is he can be hot and cold, but when he’s hot he just puts on an effort and holds it, so he’s a good wheel to follow in that regard.”

With Riveros dropped earlier, van den Ham and Ortenblad were left to chase Hyde, but soon they resigned themselves to jockey for second place.

“We were keeping Hyde within about five seconds thanks to Jeremy, but then Jeremy blew,” said van den Ham. “Hyde just grew it from there on in. He was in a league of his own today.”

Van den Ham rode with Ortenblad until the course’s only barriers, late in the lap. The Canadian positioned himself on the front because Ortenblad was hopping the planks. However, Ortenblad unleashed one final, decisive acceleration after the dismount. Van den Ham couldn’t respond, his legs cramping.

“My goal here … I was dreaming for a podium at Conti champs,” van den Ham added, “but I can’t help but be ecstatic about this.”

Ortenblad expressed a bit more regret at having to race for a silver medal, not the multicolor champion’s jersey.

“I was definitely hoping to maybe be able to duel a bit with Hyde a bit more, but he just had more today,” the Californian said.

Elite men full results

• 1. Stephen Hyde, (USA) CANNONDALE CYCLOCROSSWORLD.COM,1:05:41
• 2. Tobin Ortenblad, (USA) SANTA CRUZ FACTORY RACING,1:07:02
• 3. Michael Van Den Ham, (CAN) GARNEAU – EASTON CYCLING P/B TRANSITIONS LIFECARE,1:07:12
• 4. Hector Fernando Riveros Paez, (COL) STANS NOTUBES P/B MAXXIS/CZ RACING,1:07:48
• 5. Kerry Werner, (USA) KONA FACTORY CX TEAM,1:08:09
• 6. James Driscoll, (USA) DONNELLY SPORTS,1:08:18
• 7. Travis Livermon, (USA) MAXXIS-SHIMANO,1:09:22
• 8. Andrew Dillman, (USA) THINK GREEN,1:09:35
• 9. Jack Kisseberth, (USA) JAM FUND / NCC,1:09:37
• 10. Tristan Cowie, (USA) TRIPLE OAKS RACING,1:09:40
• 11. Allen Krughoff, (USA) KRUGHOFF RACING,1:10:10
• 12. Eric Thompson, (USA) MSPEEDWAX.COM,1:11:04
• 13. Skyler Mackey, (USA) KCCX ELITE CYCLOCROSS TEAM P/B,1:12:32
• 14. Cody Kaiser, (USA) LANGETWINS / SPECIALIZED
• 15. Andrew Giniat, (USA) PONY SHOP CX TEAM
• 16. Joshua Johnson, (USA) TEAM NEIGHBORLINK
• 17. Michael Larson, (USA) TEAM HANDMADE
• 18. Dylan Postier, (USA) GARNEAU-EASTON P/B TRANSITIONS
• 19. Tyler Cloutier, (USA) TRANSITIONS LIFECARE P/B GARNEAU
• 20. Josh Bauer, (USA) DONKEY LABEL
• 21. Jarret Oldham, (USA) FIRST INTERNET BANK CYCLING TEAM
• 22. Molly Cameron, (USA) POINT S RACING
• 23. Jacob Huizenga, (USA) CHICAGO CUTTIN CREW

Under-23 men full results

• 1. Gage Hecht, (USA) ALPHA BICYCLE CO.- GROOVE SUBARU, 50:49
• 2. Eric Brunner, (USA) EVOL DEVO ELITE RACING,0:51:02
• 3. Cooper Willsey, (USA) CANNONDALE P/B CYCLOCROSSWORLD., 51:17
• 4. Lance Haidet, (USA) DONNELLY SPORTS, 51:35
• 5. Grant Ellwood, (USA) BOULDER CYCLE SPORT, 51:51
• 6. Denzel Stephenson, (USA) EVOL DEVOELITE RACING, 52:13
• 7. Maxx Chance, (USA) EVOL DEVOELITE RACING, 52:28
• 8. Trevor O’donnell, (CAN) LAKESIDE STORAGE CYCLOCROSS, 53:02
• 9. Caleb Swartz, (USA) TREK CYCLOCROSS COLLECTIVE, 53:21
• 10. Spencer Petrov, (USA) ASPIRE RACING, 53:39
• 11. Garrett Gerchar, (USA) CLIF BAR DEVELOPMENT MOUNTAIN B, 53:52
• 12. Brannan Fix, (USA) ALPHA BICYCLE CO.- GROOVE SUBARU, 53:59
• 13. Ross Ellwood, (USA) BOULDER JUNIOR CYCLING, 54:15
• 14. Cameron Beard, (USA) CANNONDALE P/B CYCLOCROSSWORLD.COM, 54:26
• 15. Nicholas Diniz, (CAN) NCCH ELITE P/B MGCC, 54:41
• 16. Brody Sanderson, (CAN) CENTURION NEXTWAVE, 55:22
• 17. Michael Owens, (USA) HANDS-ON CYCLING P/B GUERCIOTTI, 56:18
• 18. Byron Rice, (USA) STORM RACING TEAM, 56:26
• 19. Anders Nystrom, (USA) CLIF BAR DEVELOPMENT MOUNTAIN B, 56:27
• 20. Gunnar Holmgren, (CAN) TEAM ONTARIO / CENTURION NEXT WAVE, 57:25
• 21. Jack Tanner, (USA) CLIF BAR DEVELOPMENT CROSS TEAM, 57:57
• 22. Tyler Curtis, (USA) SPIN RACING, 58:28
• 23. Christian Ricci, (CAN) LAKESIDE STORAGE CYCLOCROSS, 58:58
• 24. Keith Mullaly, (USA) BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGA
• 25. Cade Bickmore, (USA) GROOVE SUBARU EXCEL SPORTS
• 26. Jonathan Anderson, (USA) FORT LEWIS COLLEGE
• 27. Eli House, (USA) MARIAN UNIVERSITY CYCLING
• 28. Hugo Scala Jr., (USA) MARIAN UNIVERSITY CYCLING
• 29. Derek Cote, (USA) TEAM ERRACE
• 30. Jacob Ingram, (USA) MATRIX/RBM

Junior 17-18 men full results

• 1. Benjamin Gomez Villafane, (USA) TOP CLUB, 44:45
• 2. Lane Maher, (USA) HOT TUBES DEVELOPMENT CYCLING TEAM, 44:52
• 3. Alex Morton, (USA) CANNONDALE CYCLOCROSSWORLD.COM, 45:04
• 4. Tyler Clark, (CAN) CENTURION NEXT WAVE, 45:22
• 5. Calder Wood, (USA) RAD RACING NW,0:45:40
• 6. Conor Martin, (CAN) GARNEAU – EASTON P/B TRANSITION, 46:09
• 7. Scott Funston, (USA) RAD RACING NW, 46:43
• 8. Dillon Mcneill, (USA) TREK CYCLOCROSS COLLECTIVE, 46:45
• 9. Dylan Kerr, (CAN) ANGRY JOHNNYS EVOLUTION P/B NO, 46:50
• 10. Sam Noel, (USA) CANNONDALE CYCLOCROSSWORLD, 46:51
• 11. Colton Woods, (CAN) TREK STORE CC, 47:28
• 12. Thomas Francisco, (USA) PAPA JOHNS RACING TEAM, 48:02
• 13. Nathan Knowles, (USA) ASU DEVO, 48:59
• 14. Anthony Bailey, (USA) CYCLEWORKS, 49:20
• 15. Tyler Reynolds, (USA) TREK CYCLOCROSS COLLECTIVE, 49:27
• 16. Tyler Smith, (USA) VAN DESSEL FACTORY TEAM, 50:04
• 17. Campbell Watson, (USA) BOULDER JUNIOR CYCLING, 50:25
• 18. Torin Bickmore, (USA) BOULDER JUNIOR CYCLING, 51:38
• 19. Alex Mccormack, (USA) HOT TUBES DEVELOPMENT CYCLING TEAM, 51:43
• 20. Camden Brooks, (USA) AP JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT, 52:15
• 21. Luke Skov, (USA) CENTRAL JUNIOR CYCLING DEVO, 52:43
• 22. William Seitz, (USA) TEAM MISSION SOURCE / NGCA, 54:08
• 23. Amai Rawls, (USA) TEAM LOUISVILLE
• 24. Jack Zakrajsek, (USA) LAKE GENEVA YOUTH CAMP CYCLING
• 25. Paul Mysko, (CAN) CENTURION NEXT WAVE CYCLING TEAM
• 26. Leo Kirkpatrick Baird, (USA) KMS CYCLING-KILLINGTON MOUNTAIN
• 27. Gregory Gunsalus, (USA) AP JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT
• 28. Gentry Jefferson, (USA) MONTICELLO VELO CLUB
• 29. Gaelen Kilburn, (USA)