Katerina Nash Powers Through the Sand to Win 2017 CrossVegas, Teammate Pendrel Second – Report

With CrossVegas sandwiched between the two U.S. World Cups and only having C1 status this year, the field at the 2017 event was a pared-down version of what fans have seen in previous years. Although Iowa City's Jingle Cross World Cup and World Cup Waterloo have a record number of European racers on start lists, the midweek CrossVegas found itself coming up short on interntional riders, as many remained in the Midwest and opted out of racing for UCI C1 points.

Even Elvis skipped this year's event, perhaps making his slow way to Reno to welcome the 2018 Interbike and CrossVegas next year.

International Stars Top Vegas Odds

European-based racers and sideburned anthem singers or not, two of the top favorites on Wednesday night still were Europeans, albeit ones who have made the States their home. Clif Pro Team's Katerina Nash, a Czech based in California, came in as the favorite after winning the Jingle Cross World Cup on Sunday. "This is a cool event, I wanted to support it," Nash told Cyclocross Magazine. Instead of driving to Wisconsin and staying in a hotel, Nash enjoyed a day and a half at home in Truckee, California to hang out with her dog and briefly recharge her batteries. Nash landed in Vegas just hours before the race.

French star Caroline Mani, riding for Van Dessel and hailing from her adopted home of Colorado, lined up as a likely podium finisher after finishing sixth at the World Cup and third on Friday night at Jingle Cross.

Caroline Mani (Van Dessel / Atom Wheels) leads Ellen Noble and the rest of the field for one final Vegas race for the holeshot. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Also in town for her annual cyclocross season opener (and often closer) was Nash's teammate, former mountain bike world champion, Canadian Catharine Pendrel. Pendrel has never finished worse than seventh since 2013 and would be starting and ending her cyclocross season on Wednesday night. "I'm here because I come here with my team, Clif Bar is behind the event, and it's a really fun event," Pendrel told Cyclocross Magazine. "It's a bonus when you have mountain bike fitness to carry through. This is it, unless I do one at home [in Canada]. The fall is my chance to explore and get in touch with the passion of why I really do it, and that gives me the energy for the race season."

Nash came into the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex as the odds-on favorite, looking for her fifth career CrossVegas victory in just 11 runnings of promoter Brook Watts' event. In a city where luck is everything, would five prove lucky for Nash, or would her teammate Pendrel, Mani, Worlds U23 silver medalist Ellen Noble (Aspire) or another rider be able to beat the odds and defeat Nash on a course that seems to tilt in her favor?

Before call-ups, Laurel Rathbun (Donnelly) put in extra practice time to try to perfect her approach to the sand pit, perhaps in hopes that her ability to ride it could be a decisive advantage.

Laurel Rathbun practices the sand pit before her race. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

No Big Rollers Early On

With the thick grass at Desert Breeze and long laps that pushed over eight minutes, no riders were really keen on attacking early in the race. Cassie Maximenko (Van Dessel Factory Racing) went to the front after the opening sprint, but as often happens on the CrossVegas turf, her early effort was swallowed up. At the end of the first lap, a large group hit the finishing straight together and Chloe Woodruff (Stans-Pivot Pro Team) tried her hand with an attack to mix things up.

Cassie Maximenko started fast and held on to a top ten finish, ending the night in 9th. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Woodruff's effort signaled the first-lap preliminaries were over and it was time for the large group at the front to start racing. Despite efforts from Woodruff and others, the large pack at the front lasted well into the second lap.

The pace finally started to speed up late in the second of five laps and Crystal Anthony (Maxxis-Shimano), Noble and Nash opened up a small gap on the others. Their effort broke things up, and the front of the race began to spread out entering lap three.

Crystal Anthony had a hot start but would fight to end in seventh. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Clif Pro Team Defends Clif CrossVegas Home Turf

Clif Pro Team teammates Nash and Catharine Pendrel (Clif Pro Team) took advantage of the increasing pace. Pendrel put in a big effort, Anthony bobbled and Nash went around.

"I jumped on one of the fastest wheels in the world, so we teamed up, we worked together," Nash recalled of the key attack.

The pair quickly extended the gap to 10 seconds and sent the message to the other riders that third place was that was left to fight for, barring disaster.

Anthony and Woodruff initially tried to close the gap, but soon were reeled back in by Caroline Mani (Van Dessel Factory Racing), Noble and the story of Saturday night's race at Jingle Cross, Clara Honsinger (Team S&M CX).

The two-woman time trial of Katerina Nash and Catharine Pendrel. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Nash and Pendrel put together a two-woman team time trial for a lap. "We don't really have to talk, we've been teammates for a long time," Nash said of her effort with Pendrel. "We traded the pace, it worked out, it was really nice to have a teammate."

Nash enjoyed her time with Pendrel, but not that much.

The next time the pair hit the uphill sand pit, Nash powered through, both pedaling and running, and by the time the two exited the pit, had a seven-second gap on Pendrel.

"I used a little bit of my running skills," Nash admited. "I had a little bit more time to prepare [than Pendrel] for ’cross-specific stuff, so I pinned it through the sand and tried to bring it to the finish."

Katerina Nash (Clif Bar) runs away to a fifth CrossVegas title. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Nash was not challenged the rest of the race. The win was her fifth at CrossVegas.

The second place is yet another impressive CrossVegas result for Pendrel, who typically makes CrossVegas her one U.S. cyclocross race of the year (not counting CykelScramble).

Catharine Pendrel celebrates her second place in her annual cyclocross race. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

A Battle for Third Among Many

The action during the last two laps was in the chase for third. Five riders had a shot for the podium: Noble, Mani, Woodruff, Anthony and Honsinger. Riders traded turns driving the pace, but none of the five could open up a gap heading into the last lap.

The group rode together deep into the last trip around the Desert Breeze circuit. Noble hit the final turn first, and sprinted to grab the third spot on the podium, celebrating with a raised fist.

Ellen Noble (Aspire) celebrates her third-place finish. 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Mani beat Woodruff in a sprint to take fourth, and the young Honsinger completed her successful road trip with a sixth-place finish against the experienced field.

Nash was happy to win in front of her sponsors, but had to rush off to pack up her bike and head to Waterloo. When asked how she would celebrate, there was no time to party. "I'll have some water, and then some more water, and some pizza maybe."

The final Vegas CrossVegas women's podium. L to R: Catharine Pendrel (Clif Bar), Katerina Nash (Clif Bar), Ellen Noble (Aspire) 2017 CrossVegas, Elite Women. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Nash holds the World Cup leader's jersey, and plans to head to Europe for more World Cup competition but won't head over there until November.

See our photo gallery below the results.

Zachary Schuster and Andrew Yee contributed to this report. Photos by Andrew Yee.

Women's Results - 2017 Clif CrossVegas

2017 CrossVegas Elite Women's Race Photo Gallery: