Katie Compton racing to a win in Roubaix. What colors will she wear this season? by Joe Sales
Cyclocross Magazine has confirmed five-time National Champion Katie Compton has landed a title sponsor and a bike sponsor for the coming season. After a long search, the Colorado-based racer has secured the support she was seeking to pursue a full European racing campaign. Compton plans to announce her new title new sponsor for the upcoming 2009/10 season later this week. Check back here at Cyclocross Magazine for the upcoming official announcement.
With sponsorship in hand, Compton is finalizing her early cyclocross schedule, and intends to start her season off as she has done the last two years with her first race at Cross Vegas. This year, however, she’ll continue her domestic racing with the Planet Bike USGP in Madison, Wisconsin before heading to Europe for the World Cup in Treviso, Italy.
Compton is also lining up her equipment for the season – no small task given her impressive equipment needs. While not revealing her bike sponsor, she said said, “I’m excited to join current and past World Champions who are riding this new bike.” When prodded for more details, she simply said “it will be available in the U.S. very shortly.”
Compton also told Cyclocross Magazine that she’s been working with a company on a superlight carbon crank with a low Q-factor and a special chainring for her ride. Stay tuned for more details on her new bike as well as this crankset in the coming days.
The one piece of equipment confirmed is the return of her KMC X10SL-TI Superlight chain for the second consecutive season. Mark Legg-Compton, husband and mechanic of Katie, said that the hollow pin and plate design proved itself in Europe.
“The KMC chain was strong enough to handle the challenging conditions of cyclocross with wins on the sand parcours of Koksijde and the sloppy mud conditions of the two French World Cup races in Nommay and Roubaix,” Legg-Compton said. “I love these chains…I’ve finally found the chain that meets our high performance expectations, and the connecting link makes it really easy for me to swap chains.”
Those are strong words from one of the most picky mechanics, but Legg-Compton has his reasons. He utilizes the KMC’s connecting links to quickly swaps chains after Compton’s pre-ride laps in messy conditions, instead of washing and scrubbing the bike. With a clean chain ready to go, Legg-Compton can send his wife to the start with a clean chain in just a few minutes.
Any guesses on Compton’s title or bike sponsor? Drop a comment below.
