Katerina Nash and Stephen Hyde Continue C1 Winning Ways in Louisville at Derby City Cup Day 1

The 2016 Derby City Cup in Louisville presented world-class racing on a tough, technical course. Saturday’s races offered up UCI C1 points for the men and women, with most of the nation’s top racers present. Day 1 report below.

Katerina Nash Outsprints Katie Compton

A second week for USA Cycling Pro Cyclo-cross Calendar racing in the Ohio Valley delighted spectators with another duel between top Pro CX Elite women Katerina Nash (Clif Bar) of the Czech Republic and Katie Compton (KFC Racing Trek/Panache) of the U.S.

Racing on the 2013 world championship course at Eva Bandman Park, Nash scored her third Category 1 victory of the year, this time by outsprinting Compton at the the 10th annual Derby City Cup. Compton, who leads the Pro CX individual standings, finished with the same time, making for a 1-2 repeat from last week’s C1 race at Kings CX in Cincinnati.

Katerina Nash leads Katie Compton after the two escaped on lap 2. Derby City Cup Cyclocross Race Day 1. © Wil Matthews

“We were fully matched. It was definitely a good battle,” said Nash, who broke away from the field with Compton on the second lap of the race. “I just wanted to get in front for the last section. Katie got me right here in the straightaway, so I had to work really hard to come around her and maintain it. Up that last hill was super hard. I wanted to be up there first.” Nash’s first C1 win of the year came in Iowa City, Iowa at Jingle Cross in late September.

Emma White (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld) battled with Courtenay McFadden (Zones) for the 50-minute race, taking charge on the bell lap to finish third. White was 1:10 behind Nash and McFadden was 1:20 back, good for fourth. Caroline Mani (Raleigh Clement) created space between her nearest competitor, Amanda Miller (Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo) with two laps to go and finished fifth.

“I always like riding against Katerina. She’s a great competitor and she makes it hard and I need that,” commented Compton after the race, held under bright sunny skies and dry conditions on a course where she won the opening event last year. “We both knew we were suited to it. I attacked a little bit soon, and she was able to get me right before the (final) turn. I made a mistake there. But it was good. It was a hard race.”

White went out early trying to keep pace with the two leaders, faded in the middle, and fought back. She found challenges rolling through the dry sand pit, and many riders dismounted in the switchbacks of the sand each lap. White was the top U23 finisher in the women’s race.

“I think it’s accurate to say that the sand was tough on me. Every lap I had a harder time than everybody else and I lost some space. I think it was just getting out of a rut, I just lost it in a rut a little bit and slowed way down. So that was the initial separation was between Compton, Nash and I,” said White about her ride, where she finished as the top U23 woman in the Elite field. “I faded a little bit and Courtenay caught me. So I lost her a little bit in the sand and I knew that if I didn’t ‘go’, I needed to go hard, so could afford to lose some (time) in the sand on the last lap. But I ended up being OK. I really, really pushed the last lap and a half, harder than I have all season. The end-of-the-race push has been big for me, a good accomplishment. I am happy with it.”

White, who took home a silver medal last week’s U23 Women’s Pan Am Cyclo-cross Championships in Covington, Ky., said she was disappointed not to be racing in the UCI C2 Elite Women’s race in Louisville on Sunday. She has to catch a flight home to New York in order to attend school at Union College early Monday.

Hyde Keeps Winning in Louisville

The race for the holeshot, and Louisville fame. Derby City Cup Cyclocross Race Day 1. © Wil Matthews

Last year Stephen Hyde (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld) was just one of two Americans to every beat National Champion Jeremy Powers (Aspire) all season, and those victories over Powers were in Louisville at both days of the 2015 Derby City Cup (the other American was Ortenblad in Europe).

With the sun fading on the final evening before Daylight Saving Time ends, Stephen Hyde found the light at the front with four laps to go and stayed ahead of two chase groups to repeat as the UCI C1 Elite Men’s winner at the Derby City Cup.

Stephen Hyde wins his third Derby City Cup Cyclocross race in a row. © Wil Matthews

Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz Factory Racing) and Kerry Werner (Kona Endurance Team) battled in the lead group for the entire race, but could not overtake Hyde, who took his fourth C1 win of the 2016-17 Pro CX season. Ortenblad was second, 10 seconds back, and Werner outsprinted Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo) for third.

“The first couple of laps, I definitely held back quite a bit,” said Hyde. “(Before) my attack, yeah, I got a stick or something jammed in my rear derailleur just before the pavement. I was able to regroup, get a new bike, and everything was working great again.”

Taking the holeshot, 19-year-old Grant Ellwood ( Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo) led the 41-rider field for a full lap, with Hyde, Ortenblad, Werner in tow, and a long procession of riders strung out on the course at Eva Bandman Park. There were as many as 16 riders at the front in single file.

“It’s one of those courses that rewards punchy efforts between the technical sections,” added Hyde about the course. “I think if you can hold back a little bit on the pedaling sections, and be able to get a couple of pedal strokes between each small section, then you can get a bigger gap without having to use as much effort.”

Ortenblad, riding his first year in the Elite category after winning the 2015 U23 title, took over at the front during the early laps, as a group of 12 formed that included other U23 riders Curtis White (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld), Gage Hecht (Alpha Bicycle Co.-Vista Subaru), Spencer Petrov (Cyclocross Alliance), Lance Haidet (Raleigh Clement) and Ellwood.

“This is my best result ever, so far. It feels great,” Ortenblad said about his second place in the C1 Pro CX race. “It was brutal. Hyde went once, we were all trying to catch him, and he had a little mechanical. So we all got back together and almost got a second shot at catching him. Then he got away again, and it was a crazy battle for second place between Kerry, Allen and I.”

Hyde leads Ortenblad, Krughoff and Werner. Derby City Cup Cyclocross Race Day 1. © Wil Matthews

The big names from 2015 Derby City Cup, Hyde and Powers, were sitting near the back for the first three laps. With six laps to go, Ortenblad and White were driving the pace at the front with Hyde beginning to make his way through the field, and others chasing.

The reshuffling continued, as the two lead groups came together with four laps to go. It was all out for Hyde, Ortenblad, White, Werner, Yannick Eckmann (Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo) and Allen Krughoff (Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo). Hyde moved to front with four to go and never relinquished his lead spot for the win.

“For most of the race it was a battle for the top five. Hyde got away. It was Tobin, Allen (Krughoff) and I for the last two or three laps,” said Werner about the tough fight for the podium. “Hyde is riding so well right now. This technical stuff, when we come in to it, we are pinned. It’s really hard to handle that kind of thing. Then he comes in to it and he is going so much faster, and just a little bit more fresh because he is riding so well. That makes a big difference.

“The layout this year for the Louisville courses are more technical. A lot of the corners are a lot looser because it has been so dry here. It was tough. You had to stay on your toes out there. Coming into that last corner, [I was] right on Tobin’s wheel, if you rode that run-up clean you pretty much had it. And he had second. I was good to stay on his wheel and take it to the line for third,” added Werner about his second third-place finish in a C1 race this Pro CX season. He finished third at KMC Crossfest in early October. “This is my second third this year, and now I just want second.”

With five laps to go, 2015 Derby City Cup C1 runner-up Powers had moved to the third chase group. But he was not able to close the gap any further, and finished eighth, riding with Hecht and Eckmann to the line.

Ortenblad, Hyde and Werner. Derby City Cup Cyclocross Race Day 1. © Wil Matthews

Hecht, White and Petrov. Derby City Cup Cyclocross Race Day 1. © Wil Matthews

White, who won the 2016 Pan Am U23 Men’s Cyclocross championship last week in Covington, Ky., had a flat during the race that ended his chance to trade punches in the lead group, and he finished fifth overall.

Lane Maher Shows Off Euro Form

Maher leads Stephenson. Derby City Cup Cyclocross Race Day 1. © Wil Matthews

Lane Maher (Hands On Racing p/b Giant) and Ben Gomez Villafane (Cycle Sport Specialized), on their last leg of a long trip to race in Europe and Cincinnati, showed off their European strength and experience, racing to podium places. Denzel Stephenson (Boulder Junior Cycling) split the pair, finishing in second.

Maher’s win over Stephenson was a repeat from Day 2 in Cincinnati.

Racing continues at Eva Bandman Park in Louisville on Sunday for C2 races at Derby City Cup. Follow the Elite races via Twitter @USACProCX.

2016 Derby City Cup Cyclocross Results, Day1: Junior Men

2016 Derby City Cup Cyclocross Results, Day1: Elite Women

2016 Derby City Cup Cyclocross Results, Day1: Elite Men