Pan-Am Cyclocross Championships: Lauren Zoerner and Ian Ackert retain U23 titles

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Lauren Zoerner (USA) and Ian Ackert (Canada) powered away from their respective  fields to defend U23 titles on the 2024 Pan-American Cyclocross Championships in Missoula, Montana on Sunday.

Zoerner grabbed the U23 girls’s lead on the primary of the six laps and maintained a gentle tempo with out main errors to attain her fourth medal on the Pan-Ams within the U23 division. The North Carolina rider celebrated her twenty second birthday with a solo victory. 

Jenaya Francis (Canada) earned the silver, 15 seconds again. Kaya Musgrave (USA) tripped on the steps late within the race and bent the derailleur so was one of many few racers to take a motorbike change within the pits and completed robust for the bronze medal, 51 seconds again and 25 seconds in entrance of compatriot Chloe Fraser.

On a cool, overcast day that began with rain and snow showers, the course dried and situations had been quick because the U23 males stormed throughout the flowing turns with brief, steep embankments, which debuted final yr for the Pan-Ams. 

The younger Canadian, who gained the UCI C2 race on Saturday, put within the decisive transfer on the sixth of seven laps and instantly put distance between himself and a pack of six contenders throughout the Rattlesnake run-up characteristic and several other off-camber turns. His last lap was sooner than another rider on the weekend, even the elite males.

Spranger, sporting the stars-and-stripes jersey, rode behind Henry Coote within the chase, dropping the opposite riders. The reigning U23 US champ would be capable of shake Coote on the final lap to earn the silver, eight seconds again of the Canadian champion. Coote, who completed second final yr within the males’s junior race, took the bronze this time, 19 seconds again.

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