Pro CX: Next Stop on Calendar Are Vegas, Colorado

The 2014-15 USA Cycling Professional Cyclo-cross Calendar (Pro CX) is officially underway as the Nittany Lion Cross hosted the opening round in Breiningsville, Pa., this past weekend as the country's premier professional cyclo-cross racers began their pursuit of USA Cycling's $40,000 prize purse awarded to the top 20 men and women in the standings at the end of the calendar.

Stephen Hyde (Easthampton, Mass./JAM Fund-NCC) finished third in Saturday's race and then topped the field on Sunday to collect 61 points and earn the early lead in the Pro CX men's standings. Behind Hyde is a three-way tie between Lukas Winterberg(SUI/MG-Cycling Team), Jeremy Durrin (Easthampton, Mass./Neon Velo Cycling Team) and Curtis White (Delanson, N.Y./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) for second place in the men's standings, each with 46 points. Winterberg placed second on Saturday, Durrin had a fifth-place finish on Saturday and nabbed the bronze medal in Sunday's race, and White took the silver medal on Sunday. Rounding out the men's top five is Dan Timmerman (Clay, N.Y./House Industries - SimpleHuman - Richard Sachs) with 43 points. Timmerman came in second in Saturday's men's race and placed fifth on Sunday.

Only three points separates the top three riders atop the Pro CX women's standings after the opening weekend. Gabby Durrin (Westhampton, Mass./Neon Velo Cycling Team) used her first-place finish on Saturday and her third-place showing on Sunday to take the early lead with 61 points. She is closely followed by Ellen Noble (Kennebunkport, Maine/Jam Fund - NCC) with 60 points and Laura Van Gilder (Cresco, Pa./Van Dessel p/b Mellow Mushroom) with 58. Noble took second place in both races at the Nittany Lion Cross, while Van Gilder benefitted from a fourth place on Saturday and a victory in Sunday's contest. Arley Kemmerer's (Palmerton, Pa./Pb2 Pro Cycling) third- and fourth-place finishes put her in fourth place in the women's standings with 49 points, while Stacey Barbosa (Mountainside, N.J./Mid-Atlantic Colavita Women's Team) rounds out the top five with 40 points following two fifth-place finishes in Pennsylvania.

Check out a photo gallery from the race.

Full results of the Nittany Lion Cross are available online.

For complete standings, visit the Pro CX's official webpage at usacycling.org/cnc. 

The Pro CX continues with a busy week of racing starting with the Clif Bar Cross Vegas in Las Vegas on Sept. 10 as well as two races in Colorado -- the U.S. Open of Cyclocross on Sept. 13 and the Boulder Cup on Sept. 14.