Mourey and Nash Survive Thick Desert Breeze Fields to Win CrossVegas #4 – UPDATED: Full Report, Rider Interviews, Full Results

Francis Mourey outkicks Jamey Driscoll for the 2010 CrossVegas win. © Larry Rosa Photography

CrossVegas returned to the thick, power-sucking grass of the Desert Breeze Soccer Complex for one final, UCI-point-laden party. At the end of the night, two diminutive Europeans – Katerina Nash (Luna) and Francis Mourey (Francaise Des Jeux) – stood atop the stacked fields to take their first victories at the nighttime race. Miss the play-by-play live action?  You can relive it here.

Masterful Moots

Jon Cariveau wins 2010 Wheelers and Dealers race at CrossVegas

In the Wheelers and Dealers race, defending champion Jon Cariveau (Moots) remained near the front of the race as former national champions Mark McCormack (Fuji) and Alan Coates (Specialized) were aggressive with early attacks. But Cariveau remembered what worked so well for him last year – patience. After chasing down a late attack by McCormack, he counter-attacked in nearly the same spot as he attacked last year to take the 2009 race. And just like last year, Cariveau would quickly open a comfortable gap to enter the final stretch with time to celebrate. Behind him, two other Moots employees would round out the top 10. Full Wheelers and Dealers industry race results are here.

Luna Lockdown

McConneloug was aggressive but couldn't shed the Luna train. © Larry Rosa Photography

In the women’s race, top contenders may have had increased hopes of a podium finish or even victory after two-time CrossVegas winner Katie Compton opted last week to skip the event after sustaining knee and elbow injuries at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont Saint Anne, Quebec. Early in the race, it looked like it might be a wide-open race as Mary McConneloug (Kenda-Seven-NoTubes) grabbed the holeshot with Sue Butler (Hudz – Subaru) in tow and the rest of the field not far behind. “I went off the front at the start. Someone at the line said quietly, ‘Mary, it’s all about the start,'” said McConneloug. “I just fired up; I feel strong now from MTB World Championships a couple of weeks ago. If you’re not in position in the first three, then you’re going to be chasing, like I was last year when I was in the back row.”

After the initial “parade” lap, the riders crossed the Start / Finish line five across, content to wait for someone to take the initiative and play the “alpha” female. Instead, an alpha team soon emerged, as Luna’s Katerina Nash, Georgia Gould and Amy Dombroski amassed at the front as McConneloug continued to push the pace and showed she’s got plenty of fitness and speed from her mountain bike season. Gould attacked the first section of double run-ups, and her teammates were content to have someone else chase.

Gould would soon be brought back and McConneloug returned to the front, only to see Nash take a flyer. Butler and Cal Giant’s Meredith Miller tried to break up the Luna juggernaut, but first Miller, and then Butler would be popped over the course of the proceeding two laps as Nash continued to surge. Finally, Nash gained a gap that McConneloug could not close, and it was all over but for the Elvis serenade for the Czech national champion. Head down, accelerating out of every corner, Nash was committed to finally ascending to the elusive top step of the CrossVegas podium after two second places. “It was really windy, and it was turning into a road race. Mary was pretty active, I was pretty active, but I figured that I needed to start attacking for real. So, I went for it and it stuck,” said Nash. “I put in a good effort and got a gap. I was strong enough to stay up there.”

“The grass was thick, you have to convince yourself that you don’t have two flat tires,” Nash said of her effort to remain off the front. “With ’cross and MTBing, it’s awesome because we get the variety – it’s never the same, you just take what comes and deal with it.”

“It’s great to compete in front of some of our teammates and a lot of our sponsors that come out here to Interbike, so it’s a really neat event,” continued Nash. “And I’ve been second the last few years, so it’s good to take it finally.”

With Butler fading, the race for second began to look like a safe bet for the Luna team. Confident in the finishing speed of Dombroski, Gould sat at the front, disrupting the chase of McConneloug and chasing down attack attempts while her teammate sat on. On the final time up the backside run-up, Dombroski slipped by both McConneloug and Gould, and Gould’s line made it hard for McConneloug to get by. It was all that Dombroski needed. Pushing a huge gear around the final corners, the Colorado-based racer sprinted to the line, with a comfortable four-bike margin over McConneloug.

“I was trying to conserve, I’ve only done a couple of local races in Colorado so far this season, so I had no idea where I’d stack up,” said Dombroski. “Last year I barely cracked the top 10 here; in the past I really haven’t been going well at this time of the season. I was just trying to stay on wheels and not open up gaps, and trying to watch Georgia and Katerina and just learn from them.”

Despite being outnumbered, McConneloug was pleased with her third place, especially since one of her main sponsors, NoTubes.com, had stepped up to provide a prize list that surpassed the men’s. Nash took home the fastest lap prize, while McConneloug took home the second lap sprint check.

“After Katerina went with four to go, she was gone. It was up to me to either close the gap and then get burned by both of [the other Luna women], or take the race into my hands and try to get second,” said McConneloug. “That’s what I tried to do, but you can’t compete against the team tactics.”

“Amy went up the hill, and Georgia was in between us, and I couldn’t follow the attack,” McConneloug continued. “There was a little gap, and I couldn’t close it. I caught back up though, just telling myself, ‘I’m gonna catch her, I’m gonna catch her…’ but it wasn’t quite close enough. I’m stoked to be on the podium, though, and to be here. It’s an incredible event, and I came out to represent my sponsors.”

Once Butler fell off the pace of the leaders, she regrouped, gritted her teeth and dug deep to maintain her position and hold off the chasing trio of Miller, Kelli Emmet (Giant) and Alison Powers (Team Vera Bradley Foundation). “This race is always really hard, because it’s so dry,” said Butler. She joined McConneloug in the hydration strategy: “Coming from a very humid state [Oregon], it’s very hard to breathe. In the past, I’ve always really suffered, but I ran out this time, I didn’t carry enough. Every time I drank a little water, I felt a lot better.”

“I’m right where I need to be,” said Butler. “The last couple of years I got sixth at this race, this year I got fifth – but Katie’s not here, so essentially I’m right in the same place. I feel strong, and have my asthma under control; I can still breathe. I don’t want to be the September hero, I want to make that podium at Nationals!”

Driscoll Dares, Mourey Undefeated

Driscoll took an early gap, extended it to 25 seconds, and almost held it to the end. © Larry Rosa Photography

While the USA Crits Finals has left Las Vegas and no longer coincides with Interbike, you might never have guessed that after watching the Elite men’s race at CrossVegas.  A long, strung-out pack snaked around a third of the CrossVegas course, as the men approached road-like speeds, with drafting and out-of-the-corner acceleration being paramount.

Kona’s Ryan Trebon has often been quoted as saying holeshots are overrated, but this night in Vegas, he showed that he meant business and was all-in. Hands in the drops, swinging his bike dramatically side-to-side, the tall, lanky rider threw everything into making the early laps as difficult as possible for the 120-rider field. Behind, arguably the deepest cyclocross field ever assembled in the States did its best to match the accelerations, as Luca Damiani (Kenda USA), Davide Frattini (Hudz-Subaru), Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) and Dutch star Gerben De Knegt (Rabobank-Giant) slipped into Trebon’s draft. StarCrossed and Rad Racing GP winner Francis Mourey (Française des Jeux) was caught out, barely in the top 20, with US national champion Tim Johnson riding defensively.

On the third full lap, the main players of 2009’s CrossVegas moved to the front, with Chris Jones (Rapha-Focus) showing off the pink of his new team kit with a flyer, followed by last year’s winner, Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale – Cyclocrossworld), after another Trebon acceleration. Would we see a repeat of the two-man, Driscoll-Jones time trial of last year?

Jones’ bid to bridge was short-lived as the pack swallowed him back up, leaving Driscoll to fend for himself.

“Admittedly, I have a bad habit of attacking when it’s easy – everyone just sat up and I had a clear path on the outside to carry my momentum from the back of the group,” said Driscoll. “I was surprised that the guys let me go. I actually thought someone was on my wheel, but it was from the multiple lights and multiple shadows. I just gave it a go.”

“Last year, having someone to swap pulls with and get recovery made a huge difference versus going it alone,” continued Driscoll. “The only recovery tonight was a few seconds in the sharp turns, so there was a lot of suffering out there.”

As the field looked around to find a willing chaser of Driscoll, Todd Wells (Specialized) stumbled at a run-up, and collided with Johnson. It was just the bit of disruption in momentum Driscoll needed, and quickly his small gap ballooned from just a few seconds to 15.

Trebon repeatedly led the race, and then the chase of Driscoll. © Larry Rosa Photography

Trebon returned to the front to take control of the chase, but a beer-throwing spectator and team tactics by Johnson would disorganize the group’s efforts and frustrate Trebon. ““Nobody else seemed to want to bring it back,” said Trebon, but when the suds doused his visage as he approached the barriers, he slowed to shed his glasses and look back at the offensive fan.”I was really disappointed. It’s OK to come out here and have fun and cheer or even heckle, but that’s really disrespectful, this is our job. It was in the dark, and as we came into a barrier.”

Still, Trebon would  return again and again to the front despite Johnson’s attempts to disrupt the chase and the unwillingness of other riders to face the wind. Driscoll’s 15-second gap would grow to 20, then 25 seconds as the chase pack surged and stalled. It looked like Driscoll was well on his way to a repeat win.

Europe’s stars were content to watch the Americans battle, but remained near the front. De Knegt never slipped below fifth place as the laps ticked by, with Christian Heule (Champion Systems) close behind. De Knegt’s young teammate Lars Van der Haar and Mourey moved up from slower starts to sit comfortably in the top ten. At the back of the lead pack sat top mountain bikers Wells, Adam Craig (Rabobank-Giant), and Canadian Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain-Maxxis).

When asked about the Europeans absence at the head of the chase pack, Trebon replied, “The guys that come over are not feeling 100 percent, they’re jet-lagged like we are when we fly over there. And Mourey – that’s the way he is, he sits in and he’s got a really good kick. I tried to stretch things out, but obviously it didn’t quite work out.”

For a brief moment, after a full lap of chasing, it looked like the group would be able to close on Driscoll, as the 25-second gap shrank to 15 seconds. But more tactical racing gave Driscoll new life, and the Vermont graduate student stretched the lead back up to 25 seconds with just two laps to go.

Mourey enjoyed both a final-stretch sprint to victory and a winning solo ride last weekend in Seattle in the weekend’s two events, but years on the World Cup circuit, plus racing on the road on a ProTour team, have given the small Frenchman the experience and patience to know how to win in any situation. Confident in his finishing sprint, Mourey was content to see others chase a tiring Driscoll on the final two laps. And all of a sudden, on the last lap, under what was mostly a Trebon-led chase, what once looked like an insurmountable lead had evaporated to just five seconds at the final double run-up.

Still, through the entire backfield, up the final run-up and into upper-level field, Driscoll kept his gap. Through the last final corners, Driscoll dared not look back at the fast-closing pack. It was clear he’d be caught – but would it be after he crossed the line?

Mourey hit the final corner at the front of the chase group and kicked into his sprint while Driscoll heaved his heavy legs towards the line with one final effort that would require every last bit of his energy. Just feet past the line, Driscoll would collapse. Was it enough?

It wasn’t. Mourey nipped Driscoll with a bike throw, taking his third win in as many tries on his first American campaign. Just behind was De Knegt to round out the podium. The top seven would be separated by just a handful of bike lengths in the most dramatic finish in CrossVegas history.

“At 2 laps to go, I thought I could do it when the gap went back up to 17 seconds. But you can’t underestimate a field like that playing cat and mouse, especially when the majority of them are rested,” said Driscoll. “I had a pretty good sense of where everyone was, since the course doubled back on itself so much. Mourey came blitzing by me, but he only caught me at the line by half a wheel. It’s a bummer to be out there and try so hard and get nipped at the line, but his reputation precedes him, he’s a darned good bike rider.”

Trebon claimed fourth, and was upbeat about his night’s ride. “The grass is slow, and some sections were pretty fast and drafting was a factor. I definitely did too much work; I knew that about halfway through the race when I was getting tired,” he said. “I rode a pretty good race though, I rode an aggressive race. I almost had De Knegt for third, but my legs were pretty spent. Nobody else seemed to want to put the chase effort in, and I wanted to keep it manageable and have the chance for the win, and I felt pretty good. It was a few meters too short to the line to get to the podium.”

Please check back shortly for a full photo gallery and bike profiles. Full results below the photos. Miss the play-by-play live action?  You can relive it here.

Full Results:

Elite Women:

Elite Men: