Compton Takes 2014 UCI World Cup Title with Win in Rome: Full Report/Results

Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) at the 2014 GP Sven Nys. © photopress.be

ROME  – Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) took her fifth World Cup win in a row, distancing herself from Marianne Vos (Rabobank Liv Women) in the final lap of the four-lap race to secure the 2014 UCI Cyclocross World Cup.

The race evolved into a two-woman battle on the muddy, converted horse track as Compton and Vos, who were locked onto each other’s wheels, opened up a massive lead of over a minute on the rest of the field.

Going into the final lap the fatigue began to show on Vos as she began to struggle to keep pace with Compton on the twisty section going into the barriers. Within moments Compton had managed the winning gap, that increased as she made her way around the backside of the course, finishing 24 seconds ahead of the World Champion.

Further down the course the battle for third was taking form between Eva Lechner (Centro Sportivo Esercito), Ellen van Loy (Young Telenet-Fidea), Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Rabo Liv Women) and Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team), with Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) making her way from farther down field in the waning minutes of the race.

To the home crowd’s delight, the Italian champion, Lechner was all smiles crossing the line, pulling through in the last lap to finish third, 14 seconds ahead of Ferrand-Prevot. Cant finished fifth.

See the men’s report here.

From USA Cycling, regarding Compton’s overall win of the World Cup race series:

Rome, Italy (January 5, 2014) — Riding to her fifth consecutive UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup victory of the 2013/14 season, Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Trek Cyclocross Collective) clinched the overall title in the elite women’s world cup standings on Sunday with her win in Rome, Italy.

The victory came nearly a year to the day that she secured last year’s overall title, also in Rome. Compton, the reigning national champion, placed second in the first world cup of the 2013/14 season but has won each stop since then. With only one world cup remaining and a win earning a rider 60 points, Compton’s point total of 350 puts her 101 points ahead of her nearest competitor, Nikki Harris of Great Britain.

Compton covered the muddy course in 36 minutes and 45 seconds, crossing the line 24 seconds ahead of Dutch rider and current world champion Marianne Vos (Rabobank-Liv/giant Women’s Cycling Team), who has now finished as runner-up to the American for the third consecutive world cup race. Italy’s Eva Lechner (Centro Sportivo Esercito) claimed bronze after finishing 1:10 behind Compton.

2014 World Cup Rome, Elite Women's Results