Shawnee Mission, Kan. – Steve Tilford (Verge/Shimano) pulled away from
Alan Factory’s Matt Kelly on the second-to-last lap to win the Elite
Men’s race at the inaugural KLM Marketing Solutions UCI Cyclo-Cross
Race Saturday. Photos of the race here.
Kelly and Tilford traded the lead early on in the 60-minute event
through a tree-lined course at Wyandotte County Park. But with four
laps remaining, Kelly spun out and went down on a fast left-hand bend
just before a straightaway that took competitors through a pair of
spectator tents featuring a pair of barriers.
“Steve had 10 seconds or so on me so I thought I would take a risk to
close it down,” Kelly said. “There were plenty of people watching, so I
thought bunny-hopping the barriers would certainly give them something
to see.”
Leading by 14 seconds with a lap to go, Tilford didn’t let up, pushing
his lead over Kelly to a 1:22 advantage by the finish. The 45-year-old,
five-time masters mountain bike world champion consistently averaged
seven minute laps on the 2.7-kilometer course.
“There was a lot of pedaling and not a lot of resting on this course,
especially with the wind,” Tilford said. “Once Matt and I had a gap, he
wasn’t in any rush to lead. But I needed some UCI points for nationals,
so I decided to push the tempo."
A biting north wind, which dropped the wind chill into single digits,
took its toll on the rest of the 15-rider Elite Men’s field.
Third-place finisher Brian Jensen of MaClaren-Bike Source, finished
2:42 behind Tilford. Jay Thomas of LBC/Highgear was fourth at 2:57.
“These two-day weekends when it’s only 30 degrees out really take a
toll on old guys,” Tilford said. “I’ve got to race five races on Friday
Saturday, Sunday, so it’s five cyclo-cross races in eight or nine days.
So I’ve got to conserve my energy when I can.”
Kelly, the 1999 junior world cyclo-cross champion, said the race’s fast start wasn’t exactly to his liking.
“I was praying for snow on the drive down here,” the Madison, Wisc.,
native said. “The course was good. The laps were really long, but I
made the best of it.”
In the 45-minute Elite Women’s race, Catherine Walberg of Team Kenda
Tire breezed to the victory over teammate, Jennnifer Tilley. Walberg,
43, had a 15-second gap after the opening lap and was never challenged.
Other category winners at the KLM UCI Cyclo-Cross race were: Mark
Murawski (Men’s B), Joseph Wasikowski (Men’s C), Ethan Froese (Masters
35+), Masters
45+ (Tom Price) and Bjorn Selander (Juniors U19). Complete Results.
The Wyandotte County Park course will play host to the Kansas and Missouri
State Cyclo-Cross Championship races Sunday.