Guy Leshem, a junior at Fort Lewis College, will race in the 2022 Walmart UCI Cyclocross world championships on Sunday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Leshem, who is 24, will race in the elite-men’s cyclocross championship, representing his home country, Israel. Leshem will be just the second cyclist from Israel to compete in a cyclocross world championship.
“It’s pretty special,” he said about representing Israel. “I’m just stoked to be here. But if I can inspire others from Israel to try (cyclocross), that would be sweet as well.”
He said cyclocross isn’t that common in Israel, with most cyclists preferring mountain biking, road biking or track riding, so a lot of riders don’t have the right gear and don’t try to compete in the really big races. Cyclocross essentially combines mountain biking and road cycling. It’s run on a closed course through obstacles and natural elements like mud and sand that makes it spectator-friendly.
Leshem first tried cyclocross when he moved to Durango and joined the Fort Lewis cycling team. He said he borrowed a “really old bike” from the team at first, but still enjoyed it.
“I was stoked because it’s so much fun, especially in muddy conditions,” Leshem said.
The mud, he said, adds some unexpected conditions to races. “You don’t have to be the strongest, you just have to be smooth and you have to be creative to find the right lines,” he said.
“The cool thing about Guy is he never would have had the opportunity to race cross if he hadn’t come to Fort Lewis,” said FLC cycling director Dave Hagen.
This year, Leshem got his own cyclocross bike, which he called “pretty fun,” and has been doing some more races. At the 2021 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in DuPage County, Illinois, this fall, Leshem placed 10th in the collegiate varsity men’s race. Leshem also led FLC in the collegiate varsity cross-country race at Purgatory in October with a fourth-place finish.
Sam Brown led the FLC men with a sixth-place finish at the CX nationals, finishing 58 seconds ahead of Leshem in 56:14, and could possibly compete at the world championships as well. Brown is the first alternate for the USA in the men’s U23 race.
“He’s been preparing like he has a chance of going,” Hagen said.
Leshem was able to preride the 3.1K course on Thursday in Fayetteville. There was some mud, but the conditions were mostly dry.
“It felt pretty good,” Leshem said. “There’s some tight switchbacks that were pretty muddy, but not too bad. There are also some steep off-camber turns that were tricky.”
“The venue is amazing,” said USA Cycling CEO Brendan Quirk. “There are incredible features like the near-40 step run-up, steep descents, difficult climbs, and dramatic bermed turns that will test the endurance and bike-handling skills of every rider involved.”
Leshem said laps take about 5 to 5½ minutes, and one of his goals was to complete the full distance in Sunday’s championship. “That’s going to be really hard,” he said, noting that cyclists who fall 80% behind the leaders will be cut.
About 25 Durangoans will be there to cheer him on, said Hagen, who bought about 50 Israel flags for Leshem’s race.
“I’m excited to get people from Durango hyped,” Leshem said.
The championships are being staged in the United States for only the second time in the event’s 72-year history. The only other time the world championships have been held in the USA was in 2013, when they were held in Louisville.
“It’s great for the U.S. to be able to hold a big race like this,” Hagen said. “Hopefully it increases the visibility of cyclocross and lets people know how fun it is.”
Team USA will attend Fayetteville with a strong group of contenders, including Clara Honsinger (Portland, Oregon; Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), who is the top- ranked American in the world rankings, currently ranked sixth in the Elite Women's category.
Newly crowned 2021 Pan American Champions also will take the course. They include Eric Brunner of Boulder and Blue-Stages Racing; Raylyn Nuss of Lawrence, Kansas, and Steve Tilford Foundation Racing; Scott Funston of Maple Valley, Washington and Blue-Stages Racing; Madigan Munro of Boulder and Trek Factory Racing; and Jack Spranger of Sammamish, Washington, and Bear National Team.
Several of Fort Lewis’ competitors also will race in Arkansas. Funston, Katie Clouse and Munro of Colorado Mesa will compete in the U23 races. Tyler Orschel of Brevard College, who won a collegiate mountain bike title at Purgatory and the college cyclocross title this year, will represent Canada in the elite men’s race.
“Having a world championships in the USA is always a major honor, and we are proud to be fielding a full team of dedicated, skilled athletes who will compete at Fayetteville 2022,” said USA Cycling Cyclocross Director Jesse Anthony.
The world championships kicked off with a test event, the team relay, on Friday afternoon. Team USA A, represented by Brunner, Clouse, Clara Honsinger and Funston, finished second, seven seconds behind Italy in 31:07. Belgium finished third in 31:46.
On Saturday, the U23 men, junior women and elite women will race.
On Sunday, the junior men and U23 women will race. Then Leshem and the elite men will compete for the final rainbow jersey of the championships at 1:30 p.m. Mountain time.
“The venue has been pretty quiet without a lot of spectators, but I’m assuming it will get busier today,” Leshem said Friday morning. “But there are some good vibes over there, for sure.”
