Compton and Trebon Stampede to UCI3 Day One Victories – UPDATED: Full Report, Full Results, Quotes, Photos

Compton was a blur of stars, bars and speed on her way to victory © Jeffrey Jakucyk

by Marion Hambrick & Ken Getchell

Covington, KY — The UCI3 Cyclocross Festival weekend began Friday with the Cyclo-Stampede presented by Darkhorse Racing at Devou Park. The calendar said autumn, but the weather read summer as the Elite Women and Men were treated to sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. The fair weather was in stark contrast to last year’s race, where steady rains turned the course into a muddy slog-fest. This year’s extended drought-like conditions made for a much drier – albeit dustier – and more manageable course, particularly in the off-camber sections.

Promoter Nick Tinsler described the course as a “filling rattler”. Katie Compton said the surface was comparable to the high desert courses in her home state of Colorado. One similarity to last year was that it was still slippery with dry dusty dirt covering all the corners, virtually all of which were off-camber. When not laying on the ground to rob riders of traction, the dust hung in the air, making it difficult to breath.

Adding to the difficulty was the unseasonably warm weather and a strenuous course design on the hillside park overlooking downtown Cincinnati. “There must have been 2,000 feet of climbing in that race,” said Ryan Trebon. “This race and Granogue are the two hardest races for hills we have all year.” Asked before the race where the tactical portions of the course were, Trebon and Wicks laughed and yelled back, “There are none!” Trebon clarified, “It’s like a mountain bike race, you just go.” Jeremy Powers said the course reminded him of the Big Bear mountain bike race.

While the weather proved different, the race results remained exactly the same for the top three Elite Women finishers. Katie Compton (Planet Bike), Sue Butler (Hudz-Subaru) and Deidre Winfield (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes) matched their respective 2009 results with the same one-two-three finish.

For Compton, it was her 43rd UCI race win, and she kept her four-year unbeaten streak in the Cincinnati event intact.

On the Elite Men’s side, Jeremy Powers (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) came to Devou Park after he and teammates Tim Johnson and Jamey Driscoll swept the Gloucester Day Two podium. However, he arrived in Covington without his teammates and faced heavy competition from Kona’s Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks. Trebon soloed to the win with Wicks in second. Powers finished third.

When asked about the apparently incorrect lines that most of the amateur racers were taking on the downhill off-camber turns, C3-Athletes Serving Athletes’ Arley Kemmerer, a former alpine ski racer who has likely negotiated more off-camber downhill turns than every other racer in the field, explained that it was so slippery that it often was faster just to follow the fall line rather try to than apex the corners late and exit the corners higher on the hill.

Katie Compton (Planet Bike-Stevens) had good news before she even lined up with the field of Elite Women for the first of the three races that, combined, have a cash prize list of $10,000 when husband Mark Legg-Compton (Planet Bik-Stevens) won the Elite Masters race. “That was a surprise,” he said as he crossed the line alone. Commenting afterward, he said, “You almost had to take mountain bike lines. And you had to go hard in the rough parts to keep your speed up or you’d sink into the bumps.”

Compton Wins UCI3 Opener

Butler couldn't quite hold Compton's pace, but distanced all other challengers © Jeffrey Jakucyk

29 Elite Women participated in the first of three days of racing in the UCI3 Festival. Compton looked to continue her winning streak after back-to-back victories at the USGP Planet Bike in Madison, while Laura van Gilder (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes) sought to build on her winning ways from Gloucester.

Sue Butler got off to a fast start and took the holeshot. Deidre Winfield then took the lead with Butler, Compton, Maureen Bruno-Roy (Bob’s Red Mill p/b Seven Cycles) and Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) in pursuit.

To the shock of many, Compton didn’t show herself at the front for over a lap. “I don’t really have any top end right now,” she explained later. Once Compton did hit the front, her typical style shined through as she put pedals to the metal and soloed off the front, quickly creating a four-second gap. Undaunted by Compton’s charge, Bruno-Roy and Butler worked to chase down the leader. Winfield and Antonneau gave chase behind them, while Laura van Gilder and Barbara Howe (Ibis and the Danger Twins) formed another chase group.

Compton continued to expand until the end, where she hap approximately one minute in hand. Behind her, Antonneau was the first of the lead group to drop off when she crashed and her rear brake lever slipped on the handlebars causing her rear brakes to drag. Soon afterward, she hit a bump hard enough to cause the handlebars to slip, which locked-up the front brakes, rendering her bike unrideable.

Butler rode in alone for second place, distancing herself from the other chasers with one lap remaining via an attack up one of the punchy paved hills, leaving Winfield and Bruno Roy to battle for the final podium step. Winfield would round out the podium for third, making today’s results an exact replica of last year’s finish.

Trebon and Powers battled for most of the hot, dusty race © Jeffrey Jakucyk

Trebon Flies Solo for the Win

After dominating performances at Gloucester, Jeremy Powers started the UCI3 weekend without teammates Tim Johnson and Jamey Driscoll. Powers took the lead, and Ryan Trebon and Ryan Knapp (BikeReg.com) quickly joined him at the front. Powers was hoping to continue his luck from last year’s UCI3 Festival, where he won all three events, but an on-form Trebon wouldn’t let it happen.

In a battle of heavyweights, Powers and Trebon traded blows for most of the race. Powers created distance on the run-up, while Trebon reeled him back around the rest of the course. With dust flying, Knapp, Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), Barry Wicks, Christopher Jones (Rapha-Focus) and Brian Matter (Gear Grinder) chased the leaders.

Rising out of the amphitheater bowl that served as the primary spectator area was a run-up with railroad ties serving as steps. Even the top Cat. 3 riders rode the section, so it was a surprise when Trebon was the only member of the front group to dismount, costing him time and position to Powers. “The spacing on the steps was tough,” said the lanky rider, “my bike is six inches longer than everybody else’s and I just couldn’t get it to fit right between the steps. I’d come almost to a stop.” The race’s defining moment came when Powers tried to accelerate past Trebon in the bowl section leading to the run-up, and Trebon responded to maintain his lead with some tough side-by-side racing. This time Trebon did the run-up without dismounting, but came nearly to a halt, which threw off Power’s rhythm.

With two laps to go, Trebon applied pressure and soloed off the front. Powers remained on Wicks’ wheel until the Kona rider also began to pull away from Powers and the rest of the field. A series of solo acts ensued with Trebon at the front, followed by Wicks 20 seconds back, and then Powers. Kabush, Matter and Troy Wells (Clif Bar) followed, but could never get close to the Kona men up front. Trebon took the Day One win. Wicks finished second with Powers third. On the podium Trebon shared his top step with Spencer Petrov, the 12 year old, 81 pound winner of the Men’s Category 4 Open division.

Riders commented on the course’s terrain and the heat in their post-race analysis. Winner Trebon tweeted, “Hot hilly bike race today. Summer action in cyclocross.” To stave off dehydration, Powers took water from the pit throughout the race. An untimely request for water with two laps to go, a UCI violation, resulted in him serving a penalty. He later tweeted, “Real hot today, brutally hot. I was leaking oil like Exxon Valdez. Is it October?”

Local weather forecasts project temperatures reaching the high-80s over the weekend. UCI3 racing continues Saturday with the Java Johnny’s race at Sunset Park.

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