September 25/06 9:36 am - Vermont Grand Prix of Cyclocross

Posted by Editoress on 09/25/06
 

Johnson, Wallace, score wins in Vermont UCI 'Cross September 24th
Courtesy Alan Coté

The Vermont Grand Prix of Cyclocross opened the East Coast's UCI CX season on September 24. Held on the cross country ski trails of the Catamount Family Center, 10 miles from Burlington, Vermont, the event served up two full days of racing, with day two including UCI points on the line for Elite men and women.

The 1.8 mile no-pavement course wound through the open grassy meadows and hardwood forest of Catamount, and included the expected array of tight off-camber turns and dismounts - all surrounded by the impressive backdrop of the Green Mountains.

Day one's warm-up race saw New England's favorite son Mark McCormack (Cliff Bar), a two-time National 'cross champion, pound out a comfortable 1 minute lead in the opening laps, before dropping back after ripping the rear derailleur from his bike and running half a lap to the pit. McCormack's misfortune opened the door to Quebec's Mathieu Toulouse (Team Maxis) taking the win. In the woman's race, Amy Wallace (RGM/Richard Sachs) soled to victory without a serious challenge.

Sunday's UCI event saw bigger, higher-quality fields on the line, including past national champions Tim Johnson (Cannondale) and Jesse Anthony (Cliff Bar). McCormack and Johnson quickly shot into the lead, as Anthony suffered the same mechanical fate as his teammate McCormack did the day before. Then McCormack was dogged with bad luck once again, as a flat tire put him 30 seconds behind Johnson on lap three.

“I didn't know exactly what happened to Mark - suddenly he just wasn't on my wheel anymore”, Johnson said. But Johnson continued turning the fastest lap times, taking the win by 1:07 over McCormack. “We were going well together until I flatted,” said McCormack. “But I couldn't catch him - Tim was the strongest out there today.” Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly) nearly caught McCormack on final lap to take third.

The UCI women's race also came down to a two-rider duel. Wallace and Maureen Bruno-Roy quickly left the rest of the small field of 15 behind. The paired worked together over the wind-blown course, before Wallace shook-off Bruno-Roy coming out the final technical curves to take the win by nine seconds on the line. “I didn't expect two wins here this weekend,” said Wallace, who's only riding her second season of 'cross.