November 13/16 21:37 pm - Verge Northampton International Day 2

Posted by Editoress on 11/13/16
 

Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com Sweeps Day 2 of the Verge Northampton International with Curtis White and Emma White

Day 2 of the Verge Northampton International saw a clean sweep from the Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com squad with wins from siblings Curtis White and Emma White. Both the Elite Women and the Elite Men's UCI Category 2 races featured exciting, fast, and tactical racing, with the men's race coming down to a sprint finish.

In the Elite Women's race, Emma White put out a confident early effort leading for the first lap. "It was really, really tactical. I was in the front in the first lap and a half and I realized I was putting out a lot more energy than I probably should have. And I was worried that when Ellen (Noble) attacked that I felt like I had done a little bit more and burned a little bit more matches than she has so it was just about making that final match everything I had. It had to be one big acceleration. Right before we went into the woods that last time she  (Noble) had the lead and had a pretty good gap and I was with Maghalie (Rochette) and we were trying to bring her back and I just realized that I had to do it on my own."

White would finish six seconds ahead of Aspire Racing's Ellen Noble, who recapped how the last half lap played out as she tried to chase down White. "I was drilling it and then I came into the kinda technical sections just before all these straights and she (Emma White) was closer than I anticipated and I could even see her through the 180's. And by the time we got to here I felt like she was closer to me than I thought so I was like literally anything can happen on this sand stuff and if she had to put a foot down I wanted to be right there. And yeah I was a couple seconds off but anything could have happened."

Rochette (Clif Pro Team) would follow in third place, after her win on Day 1 at Look Park in Northampton. "It was super technical and we were just kind of following each other I guess. And Emma (White) was really, really strong. For her it's a good thing she won, she was definitely the strongest out there today. It was cool though, the technical section was super fun. It kind of split up on the last lap I guess, I was catching up to Ellen (Noble) who was second in the woods and then I face planted in the run up."

The Elite Men's race was full of one-on-one battles. Curtis White went back and forth with Jeremy Powers (Aspire Racing) for several laps. "Powers was going hard. There were probably three straight laps where he didn't look back once, he knew what he was doing, he was on a mission. The best I could do was just try to hang on. We kind of went back and forth the last lap and half, two laps or so. There was some sections he was clearly better at, so on the last lap I tried to get in front and take control but every time he came back and was able to hit it hard. He led the last 500 meters probably or so and I thought he almost had me on the second to last straight away but I knew if I could win the corner I could hold it to the finish."

The battle with Powers came down to the very final turn. Powers, who finished five seconds back, noted that "Right in the final, he just got around me. I thought he was going to over cook it in the last turn he was going so hot but I think that was his goal, like either I make this or I don't and I crash or I win and so he won and that's how you have to do it. I backed off a little bit because I thought for sure he was going down but that's how it goes."

Rounding out the podium, it came down to another sprint finish between Jeremy Durrin (Neon Velo Cycling) and Dylan McNicholas (Polartec). McNicholas took third place over Durrin in a head-to-head sprint to the line.

Lauren LeClaire, Report by Vittoria Series Media Coordinator

Results

Day 1: Rochette wins