Bucks County Classic Preview
Criterium Racing’s Last Dance for 2024
I sat on the start line of my first Bucks County Criterium in a state of anxious denial. I kept repeating to myself, “this race couldn’t be as impossibly hard as it looks”. The rain pelted our backs as the final seconds ticked down before the start. We had all suffered through more than 100 miles of gruelling up and down the day before in the road race that used to accompany the Doylestown crit as part of the Univest Grand Prix. We now faced about 60 more miles, 360 corners, and 4000 feet of climbing on a 1.4-mile course that seemed to bend the definition of the word “criterium.” The gun finally went off, water sprang into the air off a hundred sets of now spinning race wheels, and I threw myself into the fray.
After five laps, I found myself sliding across the pavement with a dozen other riders after someone misjudged a rain-soaked bend. After ten laps, there were only a dozen strongmen left in the front group, the race decimated by technical corners, rain, and relentless elevation changes. I knew then that Bucks County was a special kind of event. It wasn’t a race for the best sprinters but instead one for the best bike racers in America.
Fourteen years later, Bucks County is entering its 20th edition and has earned its title as a Classic on the American circuit. Past winners include North American racing legends and national champions like Eric Marcotte, Joey Rosskopf and Ty Magner on the men’s side. In the Women’s race, sisters Samantha and Skylar Schneider have dominated, winning three of the last seven editions. Paola Munoz of Team Goldman-Sachs ETF joins the Schneider sisters as a past winner taking the start in the women’s field this Sunday. On the men’s side Magner and his Legion of Los Angeles teammate and 2023 champion Robin Carpenter are the only past champions on the start list. No one has managed back-to-back victories in the men’s field in the past six years, while no woman has ever won consecutive editions. Could there be a repeat this year? Or will a new champion be crowned in 2024?
The Men’s Race
For both fields, Bucks County represents a last chance for high-level criterium glory in the 2024 season. Over 100 riders have signed up to take their shot on a dynamic and unpredictable courses. History has shown that pure sprinters rarely triumph, and the field reflects that. Successful sprint teams like Reign Storm are either absent or stacked with all-arounders who can excel over 100 kms rather than 200 meters. Legion’s roster consists of national road race winner Kyle Murphy along with Magner and Carpenter. Project Echelon sends a full team of six riders with big engines like Brandon Rhim, Sam Boardman and Colby Lange. The Miami Blazers will like their chances with powerhouse rider Noah Granigan. Automatic/Abus rider Thomas Gibbons also jumps off the page as a contender after his commanding victory at Athen’s Twilight earlier in the season.
The hills on the Doylestown circuit are tough but not quite steep enough to blow the race apart in one decisive show of force. The winning move usually comes when attrition has taken its toll, and a powerful group finally defeats the pack in a two-hour battle of wills. Count on teams with deep rosters like Project Echelon to animate the race early, hoping to steal a march on the rest, or at least batter small squads like Legion and Miami with repeated attacks.
Criterium racing changes form after the first hour of flat-out, attacking racing. Responses from the peloton weaken, and riders can drag open gaps that would have been snapped closed instantly earlier in the race. I anticipate a large group of favorites going up the road for the win in the second half as the dynamic shifts. From there, look for a team with numbers to make the classic “breakaway from the breakaway” and take the win. Echelon was successful in that tactic with Brandon Rhim in the similarly gruelling Clarendon Cup in June. Still, a duo like Carpenter and Murphy from Legion or Miami’s Granigan and Clarke could easily turn the tables on Sunday.
Prediction
Rhim, Project Echelon
Granigan, Miami Blazers
Gibbons, Automatic Abus
Darkhorse: Lucas Burgoyne, Austin Outlaws
The Women’s Race
The women’s race covers less than half the distance of the men’s and features a much smaller field of 28 riders. These factors should combine to produce a more intense and explosive race over 25 miles. A bunch sprint is unlikely in this scenario, with few teams possessing the firepower to control the race and a long uphill drag to the finish that would challenge any pure sprinter. Add to that the fact that two of America’s powerhouse criterium squads, DNA Pro Cycling and Virginia’s Blue Ridge/Twenty24, are notably absent, and we should see an exciting, wide-open race from the gun.
Skylar and Sam Schneider have proven they have the depth to take on this race, and they will have Blazers teammate Alexi Ramirez for backup. Out of the field or any small group, the Blazers duo will have the odds in their favor for a sprint. It will be up to other teams to dislodge them and put the Blazers on the back foot. Legion has only a single rider in Laurel Rathbun, so it will be up to teams like Automatic/Abus and Goldman-Sachs ETFs to use their six riders each to make an impact. If instead, those teams chase each other's moves and effectively do the work for the Blazers, they will serve the race to the Schneider sisters on a silver platter.
Goldman-Sachs in particular, has the riders to make a difference. Paola Munoz is a past champion and the team showed they are capable of aggressive riding at Nationals earlier this season. Paola’s teammate, Canadian Ivanie Blondin, is by far my favorite dark horse of the weekend. Blondin is a 2022 Olympic champion in short-track speed skating and proved her ability on the bike with a podium finish in last year’s Gastown Grandprix. She has the power to make the moves, and if anyone underestimates her in a sprint, she will add to her impressive trophy collection on Sunday.
Prediction
1)Skylar Schneider, Miami Blazers
2) Ivanie Blondin, Goldman-Sachs ETFs
3) Ariell Verhaaren, Automatic/Abus
