American Lizzy Gunsalus outsprinted Canadian Maghalie Rochette to capture the elite women’s title at the Pan-American Cyclocross Championships on Saturday in Washington, DC.
The pair battled closely through the seventh and final lap, with Gunsalus ultimately securing her first elite crown in a two-up sprint, following her U23 national championship victory in 2023.
Defending champion Sidney McGill of Canada finished 14 seconds back to take the bronze medal.
A front group of nine riders, consisting of McGill, Rochette, Gunsalus, Lauren Zoerner, Anna Megale, Katja Verkerk, Cassidy Hickey, Ellen Noble, and Raylyn Nuss, had established a 10-second lead to Audrey Drummond by the start of the second lap.
The lead group continued to re-shuffle, though McGill, Gunsalus and Rochette were always present as riders joined and fell back until the bell lap, where Gunsalus and Rochette were locked in a duel for the title.
“I was really looking forward to seeing how this weekend was going to go,” Gunsalus told CXTV.
“You never really know how you're going to feel coming into the season. And my preparation was a little bit different than it had been in previous years. And spent a lot of time on the road with CCB girls, putting in the work.
“I knew what I was capable of, but you never really know until you get out on the course. So I just had a lot of really good momentum. I felt really good.
“Each weekend, I feel like I was kind of leveling up my game and gaining my confidence. Like going into Kings [CX], I surprised myself, got both the wins, went into Major Taylor [Cross Cup], got both the wins, and then was able to race Sydney at Northampton last weekend, and the four-race weekend block, you never know how it's going to go.
"And I'm gonna put all my cards on the table for Pan Ams. I'm gonna do everything that I can do. Hadn't raced Maghalie. I knew that it was going to be a tough, tough race between Maghalie, Sidney and I, and I just played my cards, right? And was happy with my preparation coming in.”
Coming into the continental championships, Rochette had dominated the Trek US Cyclocross Series, winning seven of the eight races so far, while Gunsalus had five UCI wins in the United States to her name in the non-series races.
Results
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