A total of 46 weeks have passed since Eric Brunner won his third US elite men’s cyclo-cross championship, and only once, at the UCI World Cup in Benidorm, has he worn the stars-and-stripes jersey.
The 27-year-old focused on road racing this summer which delayed his return to cyclo-cross, but he made an emphatic arrival with back-to-back wins in UCI C2 races in Massachusetts over the weekend.
Brunner overcame crashes and flat tyres to win both rounds of the 35th Cycle-Smart Northampton Cyclocross, joined on Saturday’s opener by his Competitive Edge Racing teammates on the podium – reigning Pan-Am champion Andrew Strohmeyer in second and Dylan Zakrajsek in third – who both have two months of racing in their legs.
The US champion said both days he used time trial mode – a discipline where he was best in stages at the Tucson Bicycle Classic, Redlands Bicycle Classic, third in Tour of the Gila, and sixth at the US Pro Road Nationals.
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“This is my first race of the season, so I wanted to take it out a little conservatively and just see how I felt. Oftentimes, when I start going this hard for the first time, I get a little bit of an adrenaline rush and just feel a little weird. So, I just got in the group and found my groove, and found I felt pretty good,” Brunner told organisers at the finish.
“It was more about just not making mistakes and capitalising if somebody else did. But, I bobbled one time and went down one time. I was just on my own for the last couple laps, and it was just a time trial to the finish. “
On Sunday, on a dry but technical Look Park course, Brunner recovered from two flat tyres, the second on the final lap, and held off Aidan Vollmuth (Donovan Racing) by 12 seconds for the victory. Luke Walter (CXD Trek Bikes) took third another 31 seconds back. Zakrajsek finished fourth while Strohmeyer had some challenges in a wooded section of the course to finish seventh.
"I got away early, but had a flat. There were a lot of roots and rocks out there, and I think I may have hit something. I hit my rims all day. I had another flat on the last lap, but thankfully by then I had enough of a gap it didn't matter that much," he said after Sunday's race, noting when he hit the front with four laps to go before drilling the pace solo.
In the elite women's races, New England native Lizzy Gunsalus (VIA LLP p/b Van Rysel) carried the Pan American champion's jersey to double victories at Northampton. The 23-year-old, who has been racing NoHo CX since she was 12 years old, won by two minutes on Saturday over Emma Betuel (DRRT) in second and third-placed Bridget Wilson another 24 seconds down.
On Sunday, she led start to finish with clean lines and a clean white Pan Am kit but had to hold off 19-year-old Lidia Cusack (CXD Trek Bikes), who finished 16 seconds back. The rest of the field was more than 2:45 back, with Daniela Bronk third and Ellen Noble fourth.
Like Brunner, Gunsalus filled her summer with road racing, competing for a fourth season with CCB p/b Levine Law Group, and earning a podium at Green Mountain stage race and the gold medal in the team time trial at the US Collegiate Road Nationals. Among her seven 'cross wins last year were championship titles in elite categories at Pan Ams and US nationals.
"Excited to have taken back to back wins at NoHo CX. Everything is dialed in and carrying good momentum into next weekend to try to defend my Pan-Am title," she wrote on Instagram.
The next races on the North American calendar are Pan-American Championships, taking place Saturday in Washington, D.C., for a second consecutive year at the Armed Forces Retirement Home. Gunsalus faces stiff competition with three former elite winners in the field - Lauren Zoerner, Sidney McGill and Raylyn Nuss. And the entire podium from the U23 race are registered for the elite race this year - winner Mia Aseltine, Alyssa Sarkisov and Lidia Cusack.
The elite men's field at Pan Ams will most likely be a back-and-forth engagement between Brunner and Strohmeyer, who now ride for the same Comp Edge team. Brunner won the men's elite title at Pan Ams four consecutive times before being supplanted by Andrew Strohmeyer last year. However, neither was providing tips on how they would work together on Saturday.
"I couldn't ask for a better start to the season here. Usually the first race takes me a little bit to get going, so I'm really looking forward to Pan Ams," Brunner told organisers after his win on Sunday.
"I've just got a little bit of training this week but a lot of rest and I'll give it my best at Pan Ams."
