Fiordifrutta 2006 Cyclocross Season Review

The Fiordifrutta team is one of the few squads that puts in a full cyclocross season after the road racing finishes up for the year, and 2006 was our best cross year to date. The team posted 15 wins (5 in UCI races) and 33 top-3 finishes which gave our sponsors a tremendous amount of exposure.

Matt White and Jamey Driscoll were our superstars with Driscoll winning the collegiate national championships, the Crank Brothers US Grand Prix Series for under 23’s, and taking 4th spot at the under 23 National Championships. Matt White showed tremendous improvement from 2005, winning 3 UCI races and finishing as the top amateur in 8th place at the elite National Championships. White and Cody finished 3rd and 9th in the National Calendar Series for cross racing, and were the only two amateur riders in the top 10.

Michael Cody and Dan Timmerman also scored UCI wins, new team member Cory Burns took the NY state title, Josh Dillon overcame some early season endo problems to score some wins, and even the old guard of Johs Huseby, Chris Peck, and Curt Davis managed to use their wobbly knees to scale the podium steps a half dozen times between them.

Highlights from the fall months are below along with a complete list of results.

August/September
The cross season started early this year for Matt White and Michael Cody as they rolled down to the NJ State Fair on August 11th for a 1st and 3rd place under the lights at the evening event. White would wait another month until September 10th for his next cross race, which was also a win in Northfield, MA. The first UCI races of the year were in Vermont in late September and Dan Timmerman, who had suffered through sickness for the end of the road season, put it all behind him to finish 2nd the 1st day. The second day’s race saw Fiordifrutta riders gobble up UCI points for 5th (White), 6th (Driscoll), and 7th (Timmerman) places.

October
The month of October started right away with two wins on the 1st of the month, as Peck and Cody teamed up to win the Pittsfield, MA race while Timmerman won a local event in Ithaca, NY. Timmerman would score a win just two weeks later in the second race of the NY state series in Syracuse, and Cody took the squad’s first UCI win of the year in Ohio on October 15th at the Bio Wheels Cross.

The New England Verge Series also started up in October and Matt White posted strong results in the first two races in Maine with a 3rd and 4th, and the points helped began his quest to take the series leader jersey. Dillon and Peck also cleaned up in the local races with Dillon taking a win and a 2nd at Catamount in VT, and Peck just missing out with three second place results in Southington, Ashford, and Manfield, CT.

Jamey Driscoll took 1st and 2nd for the under-23 men in the first Crank Bothers US Grand Prix series races of the year in Gloucester, MA, and committed to traveling to Colorado and Portland in November to try to retain the series leader’s jersey.

November
November began with two UCI races in New England that were part of the Verge series. Farmington, CT saw White and Cody take 3rd and 5th. White put in a spectacular solo win the next day in Northampton, MA and Johs Huseby sprinted around Mark McCormack for 3rd place! The win put White in the series leader’s jersey. Dan Timmerman also gained some UCI points from placing 2nd in Canada’s only UCI race in Aurora, Ontario on November 5th.

This was the second year that Cody and White traveled to North Carolina for some UCI cross races, and once again the duo won both races down south with Cody winning on Saturday and White on Sunday. White also won another UCI race at NJ’s Highland Park with Driscoll putting in a fine ride for 3rd.

With four more strong results in Colorado, Oregan, and Washington, Driscoll won the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross which ranks him as the top under-23 rider in the country and he garnered an automatic invitation to represent the US at the World Championships.

Dan Timmerman and new Fiordifrutta rider Cory Burns capped off November with a 1-2 finish at the NY State Cyclocross Championships with Burns taking the win.

December
The week before nationals saw Matt White wrap up second place to Mark McCormack in the Verge New England Cyclocross Series after a season long battle that was not decided until the final yards of the last race of the series in Rhode Island.

At Nationals, Fiordifrutta delivered with Driscoll taking the collegiate jersey along with 4th place in the under 23 race. Cody and White both had great starts in the elite race, with White going on to 8th place. In the old guy’s races Davis and Peck struggled through for 5th and 10th place in the 35-39 race.

2006 Cyclocross Results

1st Crank Brothers US GP of Cyclocross, Overall, Under 23
1st Collegiate National Cyclocross Championships, RI
1st, 3rd Cycle-Smart International Cyclocross, UCI, MA
1st Bio Wheels/United Dairy Farmers Cyclocross, UCI, OH
1st, 3rd Highland Park Cyclocross, UCI, NJ
1st North Carolina Grand Prix #1, UCI, NC
1st North Carolina Grand Prix #2, UCI, NC
1st Grand Prix of Gloucester #2, Under-23, USGP, MA
1st NJ State Fair Cyclocross, NJ
1st Northfield Cyclocross, MA
1st, 2nd BCA Cyclocross, MA
1st, 2nd NY State Cyclcross Championships, NY
1st Swandrome Cyclocross, NY
1st Syracuse Grand Prix, NY
1st Catamount Cyclocross Day 1, VT

2nd Aurora Cyclocross, UCI, Canada
2nd Thread City Cyclocross, CT
2nd Southington Cyclocross, CT
2nd Hardwick Vineyard Cyclocross, CT
2nd Catamount Cyclocross Day 2, VT
2nd Vermont Grand Prix of Cyclocross, Day1, VT
2nd Grand Prix of Gloucester #1, Under 23, USGP, MA
2nd Xilynx Cup, Under 23, USGP, CO
2nd Scion Stumptown Cup, Under 23, USGP, OR
2nd Java Johnny’s Cyclocross, OH

3rd, 6th Downeast Cyclocross Day 1, UCI, ME
3rd, 5th Canton Cup Cyclocross, MA
3rd, 5th Chainbiter Cyclocross, UCI, CT
3rd Lower Akken Cyclocross, UCI, PA

4th US National Cyclocross Championships, Under 23, RI
4th Downeast Cyclocross Day 2, UCI, ME
4th Boulder Cup, Under 23, USGP, CO

5th Rad Cup, Under 23, USGP, WA
5th US National Cyclocross Championships, 35-39 Men, RI
5th, 6th, 7th Vermont Grand Prix of Cyclocross Day2, UCI, VT
6th Wissahickon Cyclocross, UCI, DE
7th Whitmore Landscaping Super Cross #1, UCI, NY
8th US National Cyclocross Championships, Elite, RI

Driscoll Travels to Europe for Pre-World’s Cyclocross Racing

Jamey Driscoll will make two separate trips to Europe in the next few weeks to prepare and then race at the Cyclocross World Championships for under-23’s. He left on his first trip just a few days ago and will be staying Belgium with some of the other top cyclocross racers from the US.

You can read about the trip on cyclingnews.com and Driscoll also got a nice mention of his “Def Leppard-style mullet” on velonews.com.

Race program
December 23: Wachtebeke
December 26: Hofstade - World Cup #9
December 27: Sylvester Cyclo-cross, Torhout
December 28: Loenhout - GvA trophy #5
December 29: Middlekerke
December 31: Diegem - SuperPrestige #5
January 1: GP Sven Nys, Baal - GvA trophy #6
January 2: GP De Ster, St Niklaas
January 3: Centrumcross Surhuisterveen

White and Cody Finish Top-10 in US Cyclocross Rankings

USA Cycling has just released the final overall standings in the National Ranking Calendar’s cyclocross rankings, and Matt White finished in 3rd place behind powerhouse professionals Tim Johnson (Cyclocrossworld.com/Cannondale) and Ryan Trebon (Kona). Michael Cody finished up in 9th place and both riders are the only two amateurs in the standings! Scroll down to the bottom of this post on cyclingnews.com to see the list.

White Bunny Hopping Video

If you missed seeing Matt White hopping the barriers at cyclocross nationals, check out this video at youtube.com and hear the roar of the crowd!

Cyclocross National Championships, December 15-17
Driscoll Wins Collegiate Race and Podiums in the Under 23’s

With cross nationals heading to New England for the second year in a row, the Fiordifrutta squad looked forward to battling the nation’s finest with a home turf advantage. Youngster Jamey Driscoll took top honors for Fiordifrutta with a win in the collegiate race and a 4th place podium finish in the under 23 race. Driscoll stayed with under-23 race winner Jesse Anthony (Clif) for much of the race trying to contend for the win, before fading slightly in the closing laps to finish fourth. But the next day, nothing could stop Driscoll as he put in a solo win in the collegiate race, beating former under-23 national champion Troy Wells (Fort Lewis).

In the Elite race, Matt White and Mike Cody had fast rides for Fiordifrutta with both of them making the front group for the first few laps. White was the crowd favorite as he consistently bunny hopped the barriers, while unfortunately Cody had a crash that took him out of contention. White continued to a strong 8th place overall, moving up 10 spots from his 2005 result. His 2006 season has been his best yet, and he looks forward to another year of improvement.

In the old men’s races, Curt Davis and Chris Peck overcame bad starts and crashes to finish 5th and 10th in the 35-39’s, while Johs Huseby saw his dreams of besting his 2nd place result from 2005 disappear with a flat tire that dropped him to 12th.

You can read the official reports and see full results here

Jamey Driscoll made the Velonews preview article here

Cory Burns won the NY State Cross Championships and sends a race report, while Josh Dillon writes in with some amuzing notes on his race experiences in Belgium. Attached is a photo of Dillon’s 50 lb bike!

Burns and Timmerman Go 1-2 at NY State Cyclocross Championships, November 19

It was a pretty wet and sloppy day with part of the course on a fitness trail that was covered from start to finish with wood chips. The chips were about 6 or so inches deep in the wet sections and the sections you had to run through were deeper than that. From the start it was Timmerman, Ted Kind (Priority Health) and Matt Dickinson (my one training partner in Watertown) leading. I was hanging out around 10th or so and pickin guys off in the wet boggy sections that we hit after the start.

I saw there was a group with Dan, Ted and Matt forming at the front of the race going into the first out of two hellish run-ups (one was about 75 meters and the first muddy one was around 50) per lap we had to do that day. I made my way through the traffic and got to those guys at the bottom of the run-up and from there...well...it was time to race. I am always one for a slower start and then ramp it up throughout the first lap.

I sprinted up the run-up as hard as I could and was in the lead from that point on with King in second for a lap while Dan seemed to be dealing with the bike ninjas that were trying to take him out. I had about ten seconds after the first run up and around thirty by the end of the first lap.

I ran certain sections in the back half of the course and the gap kept opening until the final lap when I ended up with about a minute and a half over Dan. It was a great day from start to finish and technically I felt great and mentally was back in the game.

Dillon’s European Vacation (GP Stad Hasselt Cyclocross, Belgium), November 18

It was pretty cool to race with the best in the world. Seriously, there were more rainbow jerseys than a gay pride parade in Provincetown. I thought they were handing them out at registration, so I went back to the official to get mine and he told me to go pound sand (so that's what I did after I tried to ride over that Unibet rider in the sand pit).

There were thousands of spectators at the race, and get this, they actually paid money to get into the race. Can you believe that? I got a sweet parking spot (the elite only lot) right next to Sven Nys's personal bus. The little rental car (yes Dan it was a diesel) looked pretty funny squeezed in between that and the Fidea team bus.

Some spectator guy asked me if I had any pictures to sign for him and I told him I was fresh out (Curt, when you get a chance please).

Oh yeah, about the race. I got a call up (3rd from last) from the race I did the weekend before (that is a whole other story). So I lined it up behind Sven and Vervecken on the left hand side...albeit 4 rows back. and man, everybody went really fast from the start. They were really racing.

But the goal was to not get lapped and I came really close (1 lap to go on a 10 lap race) so that was ok. The next day I saw Sven Nys in the airport so I went up to him to congratulate him on the win the day before at the Superprestige and ask him if he remembered me when he rode by. Surprisingly he didn't, but he was pretty nice about it and spoke English very well.

I also made some friends there, as there was this one corner on the course that yelled "allez joshua" every time I went by. So that was nice.