Race Report: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Men’s P12 and Cat 2
Intelligentsia cup is a 10 day criterium omnium held in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. It has lots of technical, interesting courses with hardly any 4 corner rectangles to be found. All of the courses are within an hour drive of downtown Chicago and accessible by the metra rail line, making it very easy to get around. The events are very well put on and supported by the communities they occur in.
I attended the last 4 days of the event and was the only AV racer out there. Had some familiar faces in the races via some old Denver teammates and fellow norcal riders Donnald Hersam and Jeff Linder.
Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Northbrook Cat 2
Date: July 27, 2023
AVRT racers: Jon Wells, 12th of 49
Course: 0.75 mi loop through the neighborhoods of Northbrook, IL (Chicago northern suburb). The course is flat with 4 corners, with 2 being very sweeping and the remaining 2 quite sharp and acute.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9533843478
Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race. Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.
Race Recap:
Watch my race highlights here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp-OD3P0To8 Be sure to smash those like and subscribe buttons! Videos for the remaining series races will be coming out in the coming weeks!
Wanted to just sit in and field sprint. Today’s course was fairly not technical by intelli cup standards with really only one tricky corner. That said, the one hard corner did cause an early crash in the first 10 min that I was a part of. After taking a free lap, I got back to sitting in for the finish. Throughout the race, coming into this technical corner (turn 3) proved to be a very good spot to move up.
A break of 2 went with around 20 minutes to go and ended up sticking to the finish. There was only one large team in the field, called Adapt, who dominated the cat 2 races all week and were represented in this move. This left the field fairly disorganized in chasing. I ended up making my way to the front few spots around 4 to go but without a team controlling the pace, it was very challenging to hold my spot. I ended up getting swarmed but was able to make a big move on the last lap and send it up the inside of the technical corners to get back into a reasonable (top 8) spot to sprint but took a poor line in the last corner and dropped back a few spots for 12th on the day.
Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Elgin Cat 2
Date: July 28, 2023
AVRT racers: Jon Wells, 21st of 55
Course: 0.8 mi loop through the neighborhoods of Elgin, IL (Chicago northern suburb). The course is quite technical with a tough hill with 6 corners
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9540004025
Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race. Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.
Race Recap:
I just wanted to survive today's race in the lead group with the large number of factors stacked against me. It was 100 degrees and humid outside and there is a sizable hill on the course. Probably similar to the climb at Santa Cruz classic. Not super steep but drags for a bit. The corner going into the uphill is also super critical to take at speed. The downhill side has 2 real corners and a big chicane in the middle of the back stretch which was a good spot to move up if you’re a bad climber like myself.
Race was a fairly manageable pace for the first 20 min. Took a couple flyers when I came through to the front with momentum but really wasn’t committing to anything. The middle 20 minutes became very hard as breaks continued to try and separate. Every lap I felt worse and worse but just hung in the wheels. Around 8 to go I got fully dropped off the back after a rider in front of me took a bad corner into the hill. I stuck with it on the downhill though and railed the corners to make it back on. Everyone eased a little as a solo rider tried his luck in a break. We sat up enough for him to take the win in the end. As we set up the sprint for 2nd, I knew that I had nooooo legs left. Put myself in a good position coming into one to go but couldn’t keep the power up anymore after a brutal race. Rolled in for 21st after a really hard day out. Only ~30 riders actually finished our race on lead lap.
Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Lake Bluff Cat 2
Date: July 29, 2023
AVRT racers: Jon Wells, DNF
Course: 0.75 mi loop through the neighborhoods of Lake Bluff, IL (Chicago northern suburb). The course is quite technical with 6 corners and tight, narrow roads for the majority of the course.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9546438748
Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race. Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.
Race Recap:
I was really excited for this flat, technical course as I think it matches my skillset quite well. I lined up early enough to get on the front row knowing a break could go at any time on this sort of course. I was super active and in 3 different breaks that established for a lap or two and then would come back in the first 20 min. I don’t think I ever rode outside of the first 15 wheels for the entirety of the race as it helped save so much energy through the corners. Maybe half of the original 60 starters finished, with many getting shelled in the first 15 minutes of attrition.
Around 40 minutes in, with still no established break, a dangerous looking move started to get a gap. I decided it was time to make a big effort to get across and coming into the home straight (the only real place to put down power and move up) I began pedaling out of the corner just a fraction of a second too early and clipped a pedal. I ended up on the ground, thankfully with just road rash and a bruised ego. I think I’d gotten too confident in the corners over the course of the race. I ended up not getting back in the race since I wasn’t feeling so great immediately post crash.
Race: 2023 Intelligentsia Cup - Fulton St Cat 2 and pro men
Date: July 30, 2023
AVRT racers: Jon Wells, 32nd of 49 (cat 2) and 85th of 130 (pro)
Course: 0.85 mi loop around the Goose Island Brewery on Fulton St, actually in Chicago proper for the only day of the series! The course is almost just a 4 corner crit but there is a small chicane on the back straight. Very fast course with fresh pavement for most of the course
Strava (cat 2): https://www.strava.com/activities/9553191281
Strava (pro): https://www.strava.com/activities/9553191637
Nutrition: Pre-race Red Bull chug plus a double scoop (60g carbs) bottle of Flow Formulas during the race. Try it for yourself with code “Jon15” for 15% off here.
Race Recap:
I was not feeling so confident coming in after crashing on my own accords the day before. But decided to line it up anyways since it was the last day. This course looked too easy for a break to stick, although many would try. Everyone would attack with the tailwind on the backside and then get dragged back on the homestretch before we’d come around again. I mostly surfed wheels and followed I think one move off the front just because I was coming around with momentum as it was being launched. In the end it would come down to a field sprint.
Coming into 2 to go, I found myself behind Donald of SJBC and he made a big effort into the top 8 wheels which I happily followed. However, half a lap after getting up there someone made a very sketchy move in the chicane (garnered a lot of yelling from the peloton) and I had to grab a lot of breaks to not end up in the curb. This dropped me back and killed my momentum on the fast part of the course so there was really no recovering from that.
After finishing the cat 2 race, I decided to hop in the pro race with the likes of Legion, Miami Nights, Ausin Aviators, Miami Blazers, and several other big teams from both the US and abroad. My goal was to just finish on the lead lap and happy to report that I was able to! This race was much faster and stayed strung out nearly the whole time as we averaged over 30 mph for a 75 minute crit.