Wells Brothers Run Away from the Field at Jingle Cross Rock Day 1

Podium - Elite Men © Steve Fry

by Marc Hollander

Troy Wells (Clif Bar) and Todd Wells (GT) kicked off the 2008 UCI Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa City in fine style. The brothers took the top two places at Day 1, with Andy Jacques-Maynes (California Giant Strawberries) finishing third in Saturday’s race.

The elite riders shot around the the early flat sections of the course. Soon they found themselves face to face with the infamous run-up of Mt. Krumpit, the Grinch’s Lair sand pit, and the new Whoville whirl that required the competitors to complete a disorienting number of circles before resuming the course.

Todd Wells hit the holeshot. Brother Troy Wells was close on his wheel when a pile-up early in the race displaced a number of followers on a slippery off-camber uphill, shortly after the first climb. The first run-up on Mt. Krumpit saw the Wells brothers followed by Mark Lalonde (Planet Bike), Jacques-Maynes and Brian Matter (Team Geargrinder) chasing hard up the grueling run-up. Hundreds zealot cycloross-crazed Iowan fans cheered as the riders ascended Mt. Krumpit.

The Wells brothers widened their gap quickly and had built a 20-second lead by the 3rd lap. Brian Eppen (ICCC-Specialized), Steve Tilford (Trek-HBBC Masters), Brian Jensen (Successful Living) and Nate Rice (Big -Shark) followed in a second chase group, but made up no ground on the leaders or the first set of chasers.

Josie Jacques-Maynes tackles the infamous Mt. Krumpit. © Steve Fry

The Wells brothers continued to drill an unrelenting pace. In the end, Troy outdueled brother Todd over the logs leading into the straightaway to claim the win. Jacques-Maynes scored the final place on the podium.

In the women’s event, Devon Haskell, Lisa Strong, and Josie Jacques-Maynes fought for positions in a very tight women’s event. In the final laps, Haskell made her move to pull away from the other two, with Strong placing second and Jacques-Maynes claiming third.

The Jingle Cross is now in celebrating it’s 5th year of tremendous cyclocross growth. Rock 2 is set for tomorrow, and the snow has already started to fall. The race conditions will likely change significantly as the day wears on as rain may come in for the later Elite UCI events. All 100% of the race proceeds, donations, rider registration fees, and other contributions are donated to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.

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