Jeremy Powers Leads Pole to Pole for Elite Men’s Win at the 2014 National Cyclocross Championships – Report, Photos, Full Results

The start of the Elite Men’s race at cyclocross Nationals. © Mike Albright

Boulder, CO – It was a day for the masters of the elite men, as three former national champions –Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus), Ryan Trebon (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld) and Tim Johnson (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld) – dominated the top three steps of the 2014 National Cyclocross Championships. Only one of them, however, had just a single stars and stripes jersey to his name, and from the gun it was clear that one would not be enough. Powers, who took a slower approach to his season this year after a poor showing at the 2013 championships, showed his pedigree and planning today by leading the race pole to pole, taking the holeshot and never once seeing a rider in front of him.

“I wanted to win so bad,” said Powers. “This was a big goal for me. Today I had amazing legs; it was one of those days I’ll always remember. I felt very confident in the altitude, I was ready for the hard effort for an hour. I came over right after Christmas. My preparation was just about perfect. I couldn’t do anything else to be ready for this. Today was the confirmation I was looking for. I feel I have another month of form in my legs, so now I head to the World Championships.”

Trebon was the only rider able to respond to Power’s opening surge, coming around Shawn Milne (Keogh Cyclocross) and bridging the gap. “At the start, Sean Milne took the front, I passed him on the hill,” Powers explained later. “My dad told me to never look back so I didn’t.”

Trebon held fast to Powers’ wheel for the first two laps, but the Rapha-Focus rider proved too strong, and began carving out a few bike lengths each lap to ultimately finish with 45 seconds to spare. “That’s not what I was thinking the race was going to be,” said Trebon about Power’s taking off from the gun. “I thought it would be a hard final twenty minutes, but Jeremy went from the start, and I had to suffer. He had a bit more of a pace than I did, and a couple of mistakes and he was gone. Hats off to him. I’ve got no complaints, I rode good. Just good enough for second.”

Trebon added, “The course panned out to be rock hard and really fast. It was good, slightly challenging, just a hard course all around. I had a good race. I didn’t feel bad out riding. Sometimes, someone is just a little faster than you!”

Johnson, clearly on commanding form, pulled out of his pedal at the start and fell far into the pack; by the time he fought back to the front, there was too much daylight between him and the top two podium spots to contest the win, but plenty of juice in his legs to make short work of everyone in his wake. “It wasn’t even the pedal that I was reaching for,” said Tim Johnson about his misstart. “It was the foot in the pedal that got knocked out. By the time I looked up I had twenty guys around me. It wouldn’t have mattered, Jeremy was putting time into me, Trebon was also. I didn’t lose the race with that [start], but it didn’t help. Having a perfect start and a perfect race is something you really hope for, but that wasn’t the case today. I was feeling good. Nationals is a race I would absolutely love to be able to win again. But you have to be happy with whatever happens.”

Jamey Driscoll hits the sand. © Mike Albright

Johnson got his final gap over his last rival, 2013 National Champion Jonathan Page (Fuji/SpyOptics), after a tricky 180 that led right into a small popper. With Page glued to Johnson’s wheel, Johnson bobbled slightly over the rise, stopping completely before thrusting over the apex. While Johnson remained in his pedals, Page, further down the hump, had to put a foot down and then work against gravity to get moving again. By the time he was back in his pedals, Johnson was nothing but a set of taillights in the distance.

Powers came in solo for the win, but it wasn’t until the very finish that he was willing to take a second and enjoy it. “I never had the win,” he said. “Not until the last corner.”

Trebon rolled in happy with second, though he made his best efforts to catch back to Powers’ surge. “I started taking more risks, trying to catch up, because I think his finish is a little bit better than mine. But he deserved the win.”

Johnson had no problem coming in for third, and was greeted with a sea of cheers from the crowd.

The battle of the day was for fourth place, as Raleigh-Clement teammates Jamie Driscoll and Allen Krughoff fought and ultimately shed Page, who raced today with a broken rib. This was a breakout race for Krughoff, a Boulder native who took to the course with abandon from the start and shocked the crowd and his fellow racers with his prowess on the course. The two stayed together for the remainder of the race, with Driscoll taking the final meters as Krughoff clapped him in as Page followed shortly behind.

Jamey Driscoll leads teammate Allen Krughoff in their work to hold off Jonathan Page. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

“I wanted top ten, so top five feels like winning,” Kruhoff grinned, “Working with Jamey the whole race was awesome. We worked really well together.”

The hometown hero of the race added, “The crowds were amazing. It couldn’t have been any better.”

His teammate echoed the sentiment, saying, “It was awesome to work as a team like that. It’s just something where you know what to do in that situation. ” He later added, “The way this team operates, everyone does everything as a team and it’s great.”

He wasn’t totally satisfied though, and said, “I was hoping for top three, and everyone wants the jersey, but I didn’t have the legs today.”

Page was less than thrilled with his sixth place, similar to Rachel Lloyd in the Elite Women’s race, and immediately told Cyclocross Magazine, “If it’s not first, it doesn’t matter. That’s how I feel about that. But that’s what I had today. That’s what you get. It’s at altitude and that’s what you see when a guy is suffering really badly.”

That said, he’s optimistic about the situation and added, “I’m not disappointed in myself, I did everything I could to race well. That was a long one hour.”

Storming in to the finishing straight just after were Justin Lindine (Redline) and Danny Summerhill (K-Edge/Felt), who had been neck and neck for most of the second half of the hour, and Summerhill just edged out Lindine for seventh place.

“Eighth, not too shabby,” Lindine later said. “The start was scary! There was almost a crash off the line, then there was almost another crash down at the end of the start stretch, and naturally I found myself behind them.”

“I was a little bit further back than I wanted to be initially but I moved up pretty well. Ended up riding with Danny Summerhill for a while. We got pretty close to Page at one point and I was hoping we would get there, but it’s such a hard course to keep a cohesive pulling system going. I lost the kick for the finish, but that happens.”

Summerhill added his version of events, saying, “To race in front of a hometown crowd is always pretty phenomenal. I just wish I could have pulled a bit more of a result out for all the people cheering for me, but that’s racing.”

And as for the National Champion, he grinned and downplayed his enthusiasm, saying simply, “It was really good. No complaints.”

Jeremy Powers wins his second National Championship. © Matthew Lasala

Full results below the photo galleries. See more on Jeremy Powers’ National Championship-winning Focus Mares cyclocross bike, and don’t miss Compton’s 10-straight National Championship in our 2014 Cyclocross National Championships Women’s Report.

Elite Men Cyclocross Nationals Gallery by Brian Nelson:

Elite Men Cyclocross Nationals Gallery by Mike Albright:

Elite Men Cyclocross Nationals Gallery by Steve Anderson:

Elite Men Full Results 2014 US Cyclocross Nationals

For all the best Cyclocross Nationals 2014 coverage, including bike profiles, race reports, results and video interviews, check out our 2014 Cyclocross National Championship Page here.