Charm City Cross Day 1: Manon Bakker and Tofik Beshir take solo victory in C1 races

From that point on, Bakker was untouchable. Behind her, McGill, Zoerner, Mia Aseltine (Competitive Edge Racing), Nico Knoll (PRO.FWD) and Kaya Musgrave (Competitive Edge Racing) formed the early chase, but the demanding course quickly turned the race into a war of attrition. Just past the halfway point of the six-lap race, McGill and Aseltine had emerged together in the battle for the remaining podium spots.

You may like

With two laps to go, McGill gapped Aseltine on the climb and rode on to secure second place, crossing the line 34 seconds behind the winner. Aseltine was third, a further 14 seconds down.

“I overtook Lauren right before the corner, going back down, and I knew that, normally, she couldn’t hold my wheel,” Bakker added. “Probably Sydney is the only one who can. So, I wanted to have somebody in between me and Sydney to make it a little bit harder for her.”

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

Sidney McGill finished second in the elite women’s C1 race on day 1 of Charm City Cross 2026 (Image credit: Bruce Buckley / USCX)

The elite men’s race marked a homecoming for 19-year-old Beshir, who first lined up at Charm City six years ago during his inaugural cyclo-cross season. Baltimore is also the hometown of Marc Frazer, who mentored Beshir early in his career as team director at Kelly Benefits Strategies Cycling.

“To win in his hometown—that’s special,” Beshir says. “He’s the one that got me into the sport and it really means a lot to me.”

Struggling to return to form since an injury earlier in the year, Pan-American champion Andrew Strohmeyer (Competitive Edge Racing) put in a massive acceleration from the start, building a gap of 15 seconds to his closest pursuers by the third lap.

What to read next

Beshir, who had been forced to fight his way through traffic after crashing on a corner earlier in the race, chased solo before finally catching Strohmeyer and settling onto his wheel. But a tiring Strohmeyer soon dropped back to the chase group, where he joined teammates Ryan Drummond and Dylan Zakrajsek, along with Tyler Clark (Caledon Hills Cycling Armada) and Miles Mattern (CXD Trek Bikes). Beshir continued alone with three laps to go.

One lap later, Clark attacked the group and crossed the line 18 seconds behind the winner for second place. The battle for third place heated up the final time up Mansion Hill, where Zakrajsek was able to pull away and hold on for third place.

“I knew Strohmeyer wasn’t going to slow down because he’s legit,” Beshir said. “I knew I needed to pull him back slowly. I didn’t want to burn myself out.”

“I wanted to follow him [Strohmeyer] because he is incredible,” he added. “I know he’s not having a great season, but, just following him, you can tell he has a lot of experience and I’ve always admired him. I was definitely excited to follow his lines and learn new things from him.”

Dylan Zakrajsek (Competitive Edge Racing) finished third in the elite men’s C1 race at day 1 of Charm City Cross 2026 (Image credit: Bruce Buckley / USCX)

The UCI C2 race on day two at Charm will create some different dynamics, as parts of the course will be reversed and overnight rain could create slick conditions. Series champions will be officially crowned, as Sunday’s race will be the finale of the three-event series.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Top 10 elite women

Position

Rider (Country) Team

Time Gap

1

Manon Bakker (Ned)

0:50:04

2

Sidney McGill (Can) Materiaal – Lastig

0:00:34

3

Mia Aseltine (USA) Competitive Edge Racing

0:00:48

4

Nico Knoll (Can) PRO.FWD

0:01:13

5

Kaya Musgrave (USA) Competitive Edge Racing

0:01:41

6

Raylyn Nuss (USA) PRO.FWD

0:01:58

7

Lauren Zoerner (USA)

0:02:16

8

Ada Watson (USA) CXD TREK BIKES

0:02:27

9

Aleah Heiland (USA) CXD Trek Bikes

0:03:33

10

Kira Mullins (USA) Bear CX

0:03:58

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Top 10 elite men

Position

Rider (Country) Team

Time Gap

1

Tofik Beshir (USA) Competitive Edge Racing

0:58:07

2

Tyler Clark (Can) Caledon Hills Cycling Armada

0:00:18

3

Dylan Zakrajsek (USA) Competitive Edge Racing

0:00:25

4

Ryan Drummond (USA) Competitive Edge Racing

0:00:40

5

Andrew Strohmeyer (USA) Competitive Edge Racing

0:00:48

6

Miles Mattern (USA) CXD Trek Bikes

0:00:54

7

Ben Frederick (USA) The Small Monsters Project

0:00:58

8

Calvin Conaway (USA) Midwest NXT

0:01:03

9

Aidan Vollmuth (USA) Competitive Edge Racing

0:01:03

10

Ethan Brown (USA) Midwest NXT

0:01:23