I find it unbelievable that neither Velonews or Cyclingnews has an article, or even just the results, of the US Elite Road Race National Championships that were held yesterday in Madison. Both did a little post on Tanner Putt winning the U23 race, that was held at 7 am yesterday morning, but neither have a thing about the Elite race. Even USA Cycling gave it only one paragraph – In the second and final race of the day, Emerson Oronte (Boulder, Colo./GS Ciao) pulled away to win the 140km men’s cat 1 race by 13 seconds. Erik Stack (Meridian, Idaho/Canyon Bicycles-Shimano) nipped Walton Brush (Portland, Ore./Team Mike’s Bikes p/b Equator Coffees) to claim the silver medal.
I guess the media thinks that no one gives a shit about the results of our Elite National Championships. Velonews arranges to have the US Pro Road Nationals shown live, but don’t even bother to post the results of the Elite race. I finally found the results from the races at USA Cyling. If you interested, click here. Kevin Fish, KCCX cross racer, had a stellar result finishing 6th in the U23 race, along with Nick Torraca, my temporary Boneshaker Team mate from Joe Martin, who finished 13th. I was a little surprised that the Athlete Octane Team didn’t have anyone in the mix for the win. I guess those guys are focusing on the criterium. I will be shocked if they don’t win that race.
In the Elite race, I really don’t know any of the guys that finished near the top. But, that doesn’t necessary mean anything. I don’t know a lot of good riders. You have to remember than Eric Marcotte, our US Professional National Road Champion this year, finished 11th in the Elite National Road race last year, so it shows that on any given day, a race can be won by a large number of riders. That is one of the best aspects of the sport, in my opinion.
Cycling is a participatory sport and there are a lot more readers of the these websites that are interested in the results from the National Road Championships than that of the US Pro Nationals. They are doing a disservice to their readers by not, at least, listing the results.
Anyway, shame on Velonews and Cyclingnews for ignoring our US Elite Nationals. Junior Nationals too, for that matter. The National Championships, that are held in Madison, is the highlight of many riders season. It is too important to be ignored by the cycling media.
Hope all you guys have a great 4th of July!
Where I’m sitting right now doing this post.
My view. The blue is the ocean.
This is Hank and Kaya back from their walk.
The coverage of velonews of US domestic racing is very lame or none existent. Thanks for the post and happy 4th.
I am confused. On May 26 Taylor Phinney broke his leg at US Road Nationals and now there’s more road nationals!!?
My young teammate from RBM was 5th in the under 23 race. Zachary Carlson. He was first riding for Bissell.
I’m not surprised with Velonews, they rarely do coverage that is outside Colorado that isn’t World Tour. Having said that USAC does have places where people can send in race reports, but that rarely happens. Granted I was thrilled to see one of our local riders who won a national crown get some pub, but overall their coverage has been less than stellar. So I guess I could try to submit race reports since I submit race results but that sounds like a lot of work on my end since it’s not my job, ha.
Steve’s talking about elite, amateur nationals – category 1 racers. Taylor was injured in the professional road championship race.
http://www.usacycling.org/2014/amateur-road-para-nationals
Pro Roads in Philly. Elite, U23, Jr, Master and Para Roads, etc. in Madison. Then there’s Crit and TT Natz, etc., etc., et cetera…
Despite worldcupsoccer and Germany just won1:0 against France; good coverage of german nationals last sunday. Greipel won , repeat from 2013, Degenkolb 2nd, Kittel was not in the mix, cramps 30km to go so minutes back.
Mi freundlichen Gruessen Bernd,
Maybe us soccer fever took all 100% of the attention…wait baseball gets some coverage so…..
Steve,
WTF story with the hat? No shirt, no socks but a woolly hat!
Heal well.
Emerson Oronte is a very talented rider from New England originally…nice to see him get a stars/stripes.
Coverage of US cycling is simply miserable.
Velonews, in particular, should be ashamed. The magazine is pushed via USA Cycling after renewing a USAC license. You’d think it would at least have basic coverage of major USA cycling events.
Long ago are the days when Velonews was a magazine covering the sport of bike racing. One look at their website is pretty telling that much like any other site out there today, content is dictated by potential clicks. It’s much harder to try to elevate the stories from amateur nats and garner interest. That takes insight, good reporting and a deeper knowledge of the sport and what it takes to even get to that level. There is no Ring Lardner of cycling, or verbose poetry of Sam Abt. There’s no Maynard Hershon. Just buyer’s guides and ride reports of the new $12k Pinarellos alongside fluff pieces on protour happenings.
@Bill V.
While I agree with your assessment I myself care little about the pros. I look at velonews or cycling news may once every 2 months. Watching a little video on TV/Internet is ok but that to is rare. I care much more about local results, people I know and courses I ride/race. I don’t think I am alone, so I think they are missing out on a lot of eyeballs and clicks. Hopefully someone will figure out how to capitalize on this.
AFAICT, the USAC’s motives are to keep Continental level racers basically starving and anonymous.
To make my point, they schedule Pro Championships outside the UCI’s official championship window to cater to the few America pros racing the WT. This penalizes continental pros like Marcotte because he didn’t earn any UCI Americas points. Steve can probably validate the idea that there was much more money and attendance at domestic races 20 years ago.
Guys like Marcotte beating WT riders struggle on non-existent budgets/wages, and little visibility. That’s a nice way to soften a racer’s resolve not to dope among a host of other abuses of power. It’s pretty obvious to a regular observer. Inga Thompson’s interview says basically the same thing and she was directly involved and **winning** at the elite level. http://www.theouterline.com/perspectives-on-doping-in-pro-cycling-2-inga-thompson-5/
Mike G.
Road Pro is not in Philly. Has not been there for awhile.
Coverage of MOST amateur races is substandard, yet nobody seems to care. Even in a major city such as Chicago, the pre-race hype is maxed. You’ve GOT to do this race! This is THE race of the year! Come spectate at this race! Now the race is over, and uh … who won? What happened? Who was there? Cycling, in general is going nowhere with this attitude.
If anyone is interested, the Horizon team has a good write up of the race from Emerson himself. The Horizon team was heavily damaged this year by the crash at Gila. It’s good to see them getting results and pressing on, despite the adversity. They’re a good bunch of guys.
http://news.horizonpanachecycling.com/?p=204
Couldn’t agree more with you Steve! I was up in Madison last week for the JRs 15-16 National races and was astonished by how little social media coverage the races were receiving. Brad Huff said it best – if USAC doesn’t have their communication team at Nationals, where DO they have it?