It wasn’t the most exciting course, and it was difficult for the chase to catch the break, but collegiate cyclists with Durango ties made the most of any opportunity.
The USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals Division I Men’s Road Race ripped through the streets of Marshall, North Carolina. Friday’s afternoon’s event saw a lead group of four riders establish a gap of more than 2 minutes on the field relatively early after one of three laps on the 115.1-kilometer course. The chase tried to bridge the gap on the final lap, but a final flat sprint of 15 kilometers made it difficult for anyone to catch up.
Stefan Rothe of Midwestern State out of Wichita Falls, Texas, took first place in 2 hours, 46 minutes, 26 seconds. Sean Gardner of Virginia Polytechnic University took second in 2:47:28, and Willem Kaiser of the university of Georgia took the bronze in the same time as Gardner.
Durangoan and University of Colorado-Boulder junior Sepp Kuss took third place in 2:47:36 in a group of 15 riders that finished in the same time behind him. There were 146 riders in the field, and 36 did not finish.
“Going into it, I knew the course probably wouldn’t allow me to have my best race,” Kuss said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “The first half was pretty hilly, but it was kind of a long, flat drag after that. I knew early it probably wasn’t possible for me to get into the break and end up winning.”
Kuss said he did his best to bridge the gap on the third lap but didn’t have enough teammates close enough to help.
“Our guys did a good job trying to keep the pace high and initiate a few moves, but a course like this made it easy for the break to get a lot of time and maintain the gap,” he said.
Fort Lewis College’s team was led by Cormac McGeough’s 10th-place finish in the same time as Kuss. Teammate Ian McPherson was 18th in the same time.
FLC senior Payson McElveen finished 22nd in 2:47:38, Emmanuel Gagne took 26th in 2:51:43, Thomas Gauthier crossed in 40th in 2:51:46 and Ryan Standish claimed 47th in 2:54:18.
All of those top-50 results gave the Skyhawks a nice boost in the team omnium standings. Marian University is in first with 100 points after the road races. Fort Lewis is second with 89 points, and Midwestern State sits in third with 79. Kuss’ CU-Boulder squad is fourth with 70.
Criterium races will be held Saturday, with individual and team time trials scheduled for Sunday.
“The criterium isn’t a tradition criterium,” Kuss said. “It’s a little bit hilly, so I’ll be aggressive the first half and force others to chase.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
