Elite Men & Women: 2010 USA Cyclocross N

Elite and U23 Women

In her quest for another Stars-and-Stripes jersey, Compton made victory look easy. After the first lap, Compton and Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna Pro Team) were already pulling away from the field, but an early pit by Compton to change bikes allowed Gould to jump ahead.

Compton would quickly catch up, however, and by the end of second lap was clearly on her way to her seventh consecutive national title.

Gould established herself in the second spot, and by the third lap Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./California Giant-Specialized) was riding alone for third. Hudz-Subaru teammates Katherine Sherwin (Heber City, UT), Susan Butler (Portland, OR) and masters 35-39 champion Nicole Duke (Boulder, Colo.) rode the last few laps together, finishing fourth through sixth, respectively.

“It was a great venue -- a great course. It had everything you'd want: stair run-up, power sections, technical sections, mud,” said Compton. “It was a great field of women today. It's awesome to know that I can race here and really get pushed.”

Competing in the same race were the U23 women. After finishing second in the D1 women’s collegiate race earlier in the day, Kaitlin Antonneau (Racine, Wis./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) earned the Stars-and-Stripes and finished 10th overall. Coryn Rivera (Tustin, Calif./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12), racing in the elite/U23 women’s cyclo-cross race for the first time, took second.

Elite Men

The largest and most boisterous crowd of the event lined the course for the men’s elite race. Hometown favorite Ryan Trebon (Bend, Ore./Kona) launched first from the gun, but it was Jeremy Powers (East Hampton, Mass./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) who used an early attack to start the second lap in the lead. He was followed closely behind by Wells.

A crash toward the end of the first lap slipped Trebon back to fifth, but he clawed his way forward to third during lap two after passing defending champion Tim Johnson (Beverly, Mass./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), who had been battling illness in the days leading up to the race. The fourth time around the course proved troublesome for Powers, who had to stop to adjust his bike. This allowed Wells to take off and Trebon to move into second.

“In the beginning I was maybe around 10th place. There were some crashes I avoided and made it up to maybe the top five,” said Wells. “Then Trebon crashed and that left Powers and I off the front together. And then he crashed a few laps later and I was by myself for the last four or five laps, able to hold off Trebon. One lap he took like five seconds out of me, but luckily I was able to get it together and just hold the gap.”

That would be the final podium, as Wells never let up, riding to his third Stars-and-Stripes jersey. He previously won in 2001 and 2005, when he also finished ahead of Trebon. For 2010, Wells adds cyclo-cross to his national titles in cross country and short track mountain biking.

“It’s pretty big for me. I’d never won the cross country title before, so I got it this year, the short track, and now the cyclo-cross [titles]. It’s the perfect season.”

Elite Men
1. Todd Wells (Durango, Colo./Specialized Factory Racing) 1:00:49
2. Ryan Trebon (Bend, Ore./Kona) 1:01:14
3. Jeremy Powers (East Hampton, Mass./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) 1:02:16
4. Jamey Driscoll (Winooski, Vt./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) 1:02:52
5. Tim Johnson (Beverly, Mass./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) 1:02:52

Elite Women
1. Katherine Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Planet Bike) 0:43:48
2. Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna Pro Team) 0:44:19
3. Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./California Giant-Specialized) 0:47:07
4. Katherine Sherwin (Heber City, UT/Hudz-Subaru) 0:47:25
5. Susan Butler (Portland, OR/Hudz-Subaru) 0:47:26