This Saturday, February 1st, two Blue racers will line up against the best cyclocross racers in the world at the UCI 2020 Cyclocross World Championships in Dübendorf, Switzerland. Three Blue riders were chosen for the Team USA: Tea Wright and Lauren Zoerner of the BLUE Factory Road Team and Eric Brunner of the Blue Stages Racing Team. Eric will be racing in the Men’s Under 23 category, and Tea will be racing in the Women’s Under 19 category. In a sad twist of fate, Lauren broke her wrist while racing in Europe and will not be competing – this year.
At 22, Eric is the old man of this group. He has three National Championship titles to his name - one Under 23 and two Collegiate - as well as two Colorado State Championship titles. This will be his third trip to the Cyclocross World Championships, where he has raced in both the Under 23 and Under 19 categories. This season Eric has been in Europe since December 22 and has competed in seven races, including four World Cup races (Namur, Zolder, Nommay, Hoogerheide) and the Telenet Superprestige Diegem. With experience comes wisdom, and I believe Eric must be wise in cross beyond his years.
Tea has been racing cyclocross since she was eight years old. Just 18, she has already won two National Championship races, the first at age 11, then at age 14. She was also crowned the Colorado State Champion in 2013. This will be her first time on the start line of the World Championships.
Lauren, a junior of 17, is also a two-time National Champion and three-time Colorado State Champion. She traveled to Europe to test the waters ahead of the world championships, and raced two World Cup races (Namur and Zolder), and the Telenet Superprestige Diegem before being sidelined by a broken wrist.
Women Who Rule the Road
BLUE Factory Team: Olivia Cummins, Lauren Zoerner, Tea Wright, Taylor Johnson, Ashley Zoerner, and Carly Wegren (former member)
Race times (Central European Standard Time)
Under 19 Women – Saturday, February 1st, 11:00 a.m.
Under 23 Men – Saturday, February 1st, 1:00 p.m.
There are a number of options for viewing the event. I will be glued to YouTube watching coverage on whichever channel I can access - Red Bull with Helen Wyman, GCN with Jeremy Powers, or the UCI channel are all good bets. You may have to jump over a barrier or two to access the live stream, so I recommend you warm your computer up early so you don’t miss one minute of the action.
Please join us in congratulating these amazing athletes on their selection to Team USA, and wishing them the best of luck on Saturday!
Blue Stages Racing Team- Denzel Stephenson, Ashley Zoerner, Maxx Chance, and Eric Brunner