American cyclocross champion Clara Honsinger will launch a uci cyclocross campaign in Waterloo, Wisconsin this weekend. In a familiar area with the star-spangled banner pattern on her jersey, the 'Cross Star' will debut a throwback look for her 2023-2024 season.

In early May, Team S&M CX announced that Honsinger would rejoin the women's roster for "cross season."10 The Oregon native started his professional cycling career with the S&M Procyclocross team, launched in 2017 by the owner of Selwood Cycle Repair in Portland. She was a freshman in college at the time.

Fast forward 7 years and Honsinger has an "absolute explosion" with Team S&M back to school to finish her bachelor of Nutrition and Health Sciences, and she is looking for a new team when Cyclocross earlier this year announced that her women's World Tour EF Education-TIBCO-SVB would close the door after the road season. It was a great experience. Still, it gave her a reason to "focus on the cyclocross."

"So I'm taking a pretty different approach this year. Instead of going to Europe this fall, I'm going to stay home in the United States. I'm actually trying to finish my bachelor's degree. And I'm doing school during the week and running two races on the weekend. The bike racing season is a pretty busy time," Honsinger told Cyclingnews the day before the Trek CX Cup and World Cup Waterloo weekend.

"Coming back with Team S&M CX is a very common enthusiasm and great energy. This past summer, I was pondering where I wanted to go next, so the move was obvious. Clouded by the uncertainty of the European team and the limited US program, S&M was grounded and driven. The thought of coming back made me feel really happy.

It was Team S&M in 23 that she won silver in the U2017 Women's Race at both the Pan American Championships in Louisville, Kentucky and the U.S. Cyclocross Nationals in Reno, Nevada.

After a local 'cross race near her home on 9 May, she makes her fourth career appearance in Wisconsin. Friday's tune-up will be the C1 Trek CX Cup she won on a perfect autumn day last year. She came in 2nd place to open the World Cup campaign after 7 days and won another 4 top 10 finishes in the series, but the World Cup win is still a homework to complete.

"Winning the World Cup will be a top-level goal. I see it in scope and within workable scope. But honestly, seeing who's on the start list [for Waterloo] and probably the top five, I'd be happy to get it. With some of Europe's top riders making trips to the U.S., recognizing our home event as something worth travelling on made me a little surprised, given that Amelia America has only one World Cup at 1.

Sunday's Elite Women's start list at the World Cup Waterloo includes the top trio of Dutch riders Femme van Empel (Jumbo Bismar), Puck Peters (Alpecin de Tuninck) and Sheelyn van Anrui. (Barose Trek Lions). Former world champion Alpecin del Carmen Alvarado (Alpecin-Deceuninck), former Junior World champion Zoe Buckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) and MTB Olympic champion Yolanda Neff (Trek Factory Racing) will also take part in the race.

Following a pair of weekend contests in Wisconsin, Honsinger will head to the UCI C1/C2 race in Cincinnati, Ohio, before returning to the Western United States in 16-17 and heading to the Pan American Championship in Missoula, Montana, on May 5. Icing on the cake on the calendar is the U.S. Cyclocross National Championship at the Elite Women's Race on Sunday 12-10 at Jo Creason Park in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2018, he was elected to the U-23 National team.

"Yeah, happy memories in Louisville back then. It's funny talking to Fred [Iversen], a mechanic like "I still have nightmares." For me, it was just such a wild race, probably mud to our knees. I think we were probably riding 60 percent of the course and slipping on the other part of the foot," Honsinger said of the massive muddy conditions from Louisville five years ago, but she added, "I love mud."

Honsinger closed her road season and her time with the folding WorldTour team, at the Tour de Romandy. In the three-day race held in Switzerland, she was in the breakaway in the third and final stages, finishing in the top 10 in the points classification. She left the road and told Cyclingnews that she is not actively looking for a road team in 2024. If someone called her with an offer, she would hear, but now it's all about "cross."

"I focus on the cyclocross and enjoy it," admitted Honsinger. "After the national, I will also end my school semester, really open me to travel." I'm going back to Europe and really making a push to the world Championships and then potentially staying a little longer for some races I've never done before, post-world races. It's a completely different atmosphere, the race is a little more fun and easy to go because everyone is pushing that big goal."

and about that mud. It's supposed to rain for two days in Wisconsin, so she's ready with her new team behind the fence on Sunday - "Friend, teammate and boss" Breanna Wrye-Simpson, team owner and co-manager Erik Tonkin and fred the mechanic.

"We've been racing in Waterloo frequently in dry conditions. It's so fast and every off-camber is a kind of full gas. So when it's muddy, no one knows how to ride it. It is so technical and difficult. I love this," she laughed.