Brennan Wins Gravel Nationals
After a hard-fought race against America’s fastest and most experienced racers, Brennan Wertz won the 2024 USA Cycling Gravel National Championships. John Borstelmann was second, Colby Simmons third. Defending champion and general favorite Keegan Swenson finished sixth, while Inno Zavyalov was tenth. Brennan and Inno were on Rene Herse tires. Both chose the 700C x 44 mm Snoqualmie Pass all-road tires—Brennan ran Endurance casings, while Inno raced on Extralights. (For those who keep track of these things, that puts 20% of the top-10 on Rene Herse tires.)
For Brennan, the win was especially meaningful. “I’ve been on the podium so many times, even won world championships (in rowing), but a national championship had always eluded me—until now,” he told us after the race. Here is his story:
“From the beginning of the year, I had planned my season toward this race. Last year, I finished on the podium, so I knew the course and the competition. But then I got a bad Covid infection a month ago. It took a while to recover, and my training was severely restricted. I haven’t done a single ride longer than four hours in the last month…
“I had zero confidence going into this race, so I had to be a bit more conservative. I didn’t feel great on the day of the race, and I struggled a bit in the race when the pace heated up. Without expectations, I had a little more freedom to be aggressive with my bike setup choices. In the end, I didn’t change anything over last year—well, almost: Last year, I was on 38 mm Barlow Pass tires; this year, I ran 44 mm Snoqualmies. There was a lot of talk of riders running ultra-wide mountain bike tires, big knobbies, that sort of thing. So I thought about taking my gravel bike… However, the last two kilometers are on pavement, slightly downhill, and superfast. In my mind, that makes it a picture-perfect course for my all-road bike with smooth tires from Rene Herse. I figured that, if I get to the finish, I want the fastest setup possible. I might struggle a bit during the sandy sections and the rough doubletrack, but if I survive that, I can make a move at the end.
“It rained overnight, just a sprinkle, but enough to create a more stable surface on the dusty roads. During the race, there were a few early breaks. I was chasing one with a small group of riders, and as we caught the leaders, the peloton also caught us, so there was a big regrouping. That was in the middle of the race, just as we hit the sandiest climb. I anticipated attacks, but still was caught a bit off-guard, as I was swimming in this sand pit. I got gapped, but chased back on. As more and more attacks unfolded, I played it a bit conservatively, not chasing everything, but also making sure I didn’t get dropped. I always made it back to the front of the race.
“Just like last year, the definite split came 20 to 30 km from the finish, on a steep climb—about 10% for somewhere between 500 m and a kilometer. I got gapped a bit, together with two other strong riders. We saw the leaders slow a bit, and we worked together to catch back on.
“Then Keegan [Swenson] attacked in the same place as last year, 4-5 km from the finish. The course goes through a riverbed there. It’s very dusty, almost feels like moon dust. I was conservative there, and the others opened a little gap. From there, the course goes through a cemetery, then turns onto a paved road for the last two kilometers. It’s a false descent, and there was a tailwind today.
“As I worked to close the gap, I saw the guys ahead looking at each other. I was closing quite fast, but then I saw another guy attack. He was quickly brought back, but I slowed to wait until he got reabsorbed. Then I sprinted by. I had no acceleration today, no confidence in my sprint at all, but I figured that if I got any sort of gap, with my bike setup, I could hold it to the finish. I put my head down, and managed to keep a six second gap all the way to the line.”
Congratulations, Brennan!
Brennan already had qualified for the World Championships when he won the UCI Highlands Gravel race in April—but now he’s heading to Flanders in October wearing his new stars-and-stripes jersey.
Click here for a detailed look at Brennan’s bike.
Photo credits: Jim Merithew
