The first day of racing at the 2016 Trek CXC Cup was a showcase for cyclocross powerhouse continents, with American women swarming the front of the women's race, and European men hoarding the first seven spots in the men's race. Full report and results from Saturday's UCI C2 race below.
Compton Dominant in Cyclocross Season Debut
Katie Compton (USA) of KFC Racing p/b Trek/Panache was on form for her first cyclocross competition of the season, winning the UCI Elite Women’s C2 race at Trek CXC Cup in Waterloo, Wisconsin. She won in a time of 47:41, 36 seconds ahead of Ellen Noble (USA) of Aspire Racing. Amanda Miller (USA) of Boulder Cycle Sport/Yoga Glo was third, 1 minute 17 seconds behind the reigning USA Cycling National Cyclocross Elite women’s champion.
“Today was another hard day. It was definitely a technical course, super fun. Half of it was technical and half was it was power,” said Compton about the Trek CXC Cup course, hosted at the headquarters of Trek in southern Wisconsin that had warm temperatures in the high 70s and some wind following rain the day before. Course conditions changed completely from the pre-ride the day before, when it rained hard on Friday and had created lots of mud. “It’s hot out here. So just trying to control the effort for the heat because on the last two laps I definitely noticed I was a bit dehydrated. I just tried to rest and recover where I could.”
Compton leading Antonneau. 2016 Trek CXC Cup Day 1 Elite Women. © Wil Mathews
The Trek CXC Cup is the second of eight events for USA Cycling’s Professional Cyclocross Calendar (Pro CX) in the country for 2016-17. Equal prize money is offered for men and women in the elite categories both days. The course was redesigned from last year with a flyover, a new Elite racer-only hill climb, and a new Elite downhill in the woods.
“The pace was slow enough (after first lap), so I figured I would just go out and pull. And then I had a gap, and once you have a gap you are kind of committed. I didn’t really want to go that soon, but I was feeling OK and was just trying to stay consistent and smooth. It makes them chase, so it worked out.I’m definitely a little bit rusty and made a couple of mistakes, but I recovered pretty quickly. Every lap, I felt a little bit more in control.”
" I didn’t really want to go that soon, but I was feeling OK and was just trying to stay consistent and smooth. It makes them chase, so it worked out.I’m definitely a little bit rusty and made a couple of mistakes, but I recovered pretty quickly. Every lap, I felt a little bit more in control." -Compton
Noble took a brief lead on the second lap from eight riders. Then it was all Compton.
Ellen Van Loy (Belgium) of Telenet-Fidea finished fourth in today’s race. Wisconsin native Katie Antonneau of Cannondale Cyclocrossworld finished eighth. Noble made big improvements from her C2 race at Rochester Cyclocross last Sunday, finishing 11th today. Last week in Rochester Miller did not finish the C2 race, but did finish second in the C1 event.
Compton returns to a familiar position and salute. 2016 Trek CXC Cup Day 1 Elite Women. © Wil Mathews
“It was definitely hard (today). Fortunately I got the hole shot and kind of took my own lines the first lap. And then Katie put in a pretty good dig. I couldn’t respond,” said Miller, who took the lead in the Hole Shot and set the pace with Van Loy for the first lap. “I felt good. It was a fun course. Maybe I should have ridden different tires or different tire pressure, but what can you do? I kept trading punches with Ellen (Van Loy). She was trying to get in front of me on the technical sections, because I was taking them faster than her. And then I would come around in the power sections. Eventually I was able to distance myself in some technical sections and just kept digging in the head wind and opened up a gap.”
Noble was recognized as the top U23 women’s rider in the field of 32 women. She is the current USA Cycling Cyclocross U23 women’s champion. “Today’s race was really good. I’m extremely happy with this result. This is one of the best races I’ve ever had. I’m extremely pleased. Getting on both podiums is super exciting because usually at these bigger races the U23 podium is like the highlight, since I’m not on the Elite podium. Being on the Elite podium is very exciting, so it’s nice to have both.”
Tomorrow the UCI C1 Elite Women’s race at Trek CXC Cup will be held at Noon (CT), with Elite Men’s race to follow.
“It’s hard not to think about the C1 (race) tomorrow while you are out there today. So I feel like today was a good opener. I feel a lot more confident. I spent a lot of the last several months doing a lot of training and a lot of work while not racing. I don’t really have the confidence to go wtih my newfound fitness. But this race is definitely confidence boosting. And I feel a lot better after today,” added Noble. “It’s the first race of the season with a lot of these big names, several of them were at Rochester, but I haven’t raced with Katie (Compton) yet. Now that I know that Katie is back on top, and just back on monster form, it changes the tactics. I hope that if she goes tomorrow I can go with her.”
European Dominance: Retired Pro Chainel Outsprints Jim Aernouts, Five Telenet-Fidea Riders in Top Six
Former pro road cyclist Steve Chainel (France) of Cross Team by G4 started his first Pro CX race with a herculean effort by winning the UCI Elite Men’s C2 event at the Trek CXC Cup on Saturday. He outsprinted Jim Aernouts (Belgium) of Telenet-Fidea for the victory in a time of 1:02:11. Third place was taken by Toon Aerts (Belgium) of Telenet-Fidea, eight seconds back.
The two Belgians were joined at the finish by three other teammates, Corne Van Kessel (Netherlands), Quinten Hermans (Belgium) and Daan Soete (Belgium), who rounded out the top five, respectively. The top American was Tobin Ortenblad of Santa Cruz Factory Racing, a former U23 national champion, finished in eighth position, with Canadian Michael van den Ham (Trek – Red Truck) in ninth.
Telenet-Fidea amassed at the front, but couldn't stop a Steve Chainel win. 2016 Trek CXC Cup Day 1 Elite Men. © Wil Mathews
American Danny Summerhill of Maxxis - Shimano continued to have bad luck this weekend. He flatted in the C1 race in Rochester last weekend to finish at the back of the field. Today, he dropped the chain at the start of the C2 race and battled his way back through the field of 44 riders to finish 17th.
Saturday’s surprise winner sustained attacks from a full team of Telenet-Fidea riders, coming back time after time to regain the lead.
Chainel leading Telenet-Fidea. 2016 Trek CXC Cup Day 1 Elite Men. © Wil Mathews
“I wanted to go on the podium, that was my tactic today. I wait, I wait. The last lap, with 500 meters to the finish, I attacked and directly I get the wheel to sprint. My legs [were] out, but in my head I want to win this race. I am so happy,” said the Frenchman, who competed nine years in road racing, most recently for Cofidis and AG2R La Mondiale.
“So now I want to be a cyclocross man. I start my new season with the best stuff. When I am in Europe I watch all the Belgium races on the internet. They are the best riders in the world. It’s a nice opportunity to come to the U.S. to run with the big guys. Tactically it was so hard. It’s amazing for me,” added the 33-year-old Chainel.
"My legs [were] out, but in my head I want to win this race. I am so happy...so now I want to be a cyclocross man." -Chainel
Chainel is looking for more top results at the upcoming World Cup events in Las Vegas, Nev. and Iowa City, Iowa next week. “Two World Cups in the USA, it is important to have a nice condition. My condition is top, my head is top, so now I go to [Cross]Vegas Wednesday. Why not a top 10 or a top 5?”
"Retired" Steve Chainel outfoxes Telenet-Fidea. 2016 Trek CXC Cup Day 1 Elite Men. © Wil Mathews
Next on the calendar will be Jingle Cross in Iowa City, Iowa, Sept. 24-26. This year Jingle Cross will host the Volkswagen UCI Elite C1 and C2 races on Friday and Sunday, and the Telenet UCI Cyclocross World Cup races for Elite men and women will be on Saturday.
Full results below. Photo gallery below the results. Check back more for video interviews and for Day 2 coverage.
For more details on Trek CXC Cup visit trekcxccup.com. To learn more about USA Cycling, visit usacycling.org, and follow Pro CX all season on Twitter - @USACProCX.
2016 Trek CXC Cup Results - UCI C2 - Elite Women
| Place | Bib | LAST | First | Team | License | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | COMPTON | Katherine | KFC Racing p/b Trek / Panache | USA19781203 | 47:41 | ||
| 2 | 8 | NOBLE | Ellen | Aspire Racing | USA19951203 | 48:17 | 36 | |
| 3 | 6 | MILLER | Amanda | Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo | USA19861213 | 48:58 | 1:17 | |
| 4 | 4 | VAN LOY | Ellen | Telenet-Fidea | BEL19800916 | 49:20 | 1:39 | |
| 5 | 10 | MCFADDEN | Courtenay | American Classic/Zones | USA19850323 | 49:32 | 1:51 | |
| 6 | 7 | ANTHONY | Crystal | Maxxis Shimano | USA19801120 | 49:59 | 2:18 | |
| 7 | 17 | FINCHAMP | Hannah | Luna Pro Team | USA19951218 | 50:15 | 2:34 | |
| 8 | 5 | ANTONNEAU | Kaitlin | Cannondale Cyclocrossworld | USA19920101 | 50:26 | 2:45 | |
| 9 | 9 | ANDERSON | Elle | Elle Anderson Racing | USA19880329 | 50:47 | 3:06 | |
| 10 | 12 | GILBERT | Sunny | Van Dessel | USA19790313 | 51:24 | 3:43 | |
| 11 | 20 | MERTZ | Nicole | NoCoast Racing powered by Intel | USA19870704 | 52:04 | 4:23 | |
| 12 | 19 | BLANDFORD | Jenna | Women's Project Pedal p/b VO2 | USA19841101 | 52:42 | 5:01 | |
| 13 | 18 | GROSS | Rebecca | KHS | USA19800915 | 53:27 | 5:46 | |
| 14 | 21 | MOORE | Catherine | Trek Cyclocross Collective | USA19701201 | 53:33 | 5:52 | |
| 15 | 15 | VESTAL | Caitlyn | Feedback Sports Racing | USA19850618 | 53:51 | 6:10 | |
| 16 | 13 | CHAINEL-LEFEVRE | Lucie | Cross Team by G4 | FRA19830702 | 54:05 | 6:24 | |
| 17 | 14 | KOROL | Meghan | Team Handmade | USA19840222 | 54:07 | 6:26 | |
| 18 | 38 | BARR | Megan | Angry Catfish | USA19871228 | 54:29 | 6:48 | |
| 19 | 35 | WATSON | Abby | The Athletic | USA19840117 | 54:54 | 7:13 | |
| 20 | 42 | GUAGLIARDO | Sydney | PSIMET Racing | USA19810719 | 55:02 | 7:21 | |
| 21 | 32 | WOOD | Heidi | 333fab CX Factory Team | USA19850224 | 55:04 | 7:23 | |
| 22 | 22 | MALARSKI | Anya | Jet Cycling | USA19991021 | 55:56 | 8:15 | |
| 23 | 34 | ADAMS | Kennedy | Women's CX Project | USA19990223 | @2Lap | ||
| 24 | 33 | KNIGHT | Lindsay | Tenspeed Hero | USA19840727 | @3Lap | ||
| 25 | 16 | LARKIN | Maria | Chicago Cuttin Crew | IRL19870916 | @3Lap | ||
| 26 | 36 | CURTIS | Vanessa | University of Iowa Heart and Va | USA19771011 | @3Lap | ||
| 27 | 40 | ISERMANN | Katie | PSIMET Racing | USA19811003 | @3Lap | ||
| 28 | 41 | WHITON | Jessica | xXx Racing | USA19740227 | @3Lap | ||
| 29 | 37 | BEATTY | Alijah | NorthStar Development | USA19990519 | @3Lap | ||
| DNF | 11 | ROCHETTE | Maghalie | LUNA Pro Team | CAN19930420 | |||
| DNF | 39 | PENTA | Mary | Women's Project Pedal p/b VO2 | USA19790621 | |||
| DNS | 2 | MANI | Caroline | FRA19870118 | a |
2016 Trek CXC Cup Results - UCI C2 - Elite Men
| Place | Bib | LAST | First | Team | License | Racing Age | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | CHAINEL | Steve | Cross Team by G4 | FRA19830906 | 34 | 1:02:11 | |
| 2 | 12 | AERNOUTS | Jim | Telenet-Fidea | BEL19890323 | 28 | 1:02:12 | s.t. |
| 3 | 4 | AERTS | Toon | Telenet-Fidea | BEL19931019 | 24 | 1:02:13 | 2 |
| 4 | 8 | VAN KESSEL | Corne | Telenet-Fidea | NED19910807 | 26 | 1:02:19 | 8 |
| 5 | 6 | HERMANS | Quinten | Telenet-Fidea | BEL19950729 | 22 | 1:02:41 | 30 |
| 6 | 14 | SOETE | Daan | Telenet-Fidea | BEL19941219 | 23 | 1:03:27 | 1:16 |
| 7 | 13 | PEETERS | Rob | Crelan-Vastgoedservice Cycling | BEL19850702 | 32 | 1:04:21 | 2:10 |
| 8 | 17 | ORTENBLAD | Tobin | Santa Cruz Factory Racing | USA19940929 | 23 | 1:04:23 | 2:12 |
| 9 | 22 | VAN DEN HAM | Michael | Trek Red Truck p/b Mosaic Homes | CAN19920802 | 25 | 1:04:27 | 2:16 |
| 10 | 11 | VAN AMERONGEN | Thijs | Telenet-Fidea | NED19860718 | 31 | 1:04:42 | 2:31 |
| 11 | 18 | WERNER | Kerry | UCI CT/WPT: Team Optum p/b Kell | USA19910327 | 26 | 1:04:50 | 2:39 |
| 12 | 24 | ECKMANN | Yannick | Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo | USA19931130 | 24 | 1:04:59 | 2:48 |
| 13 | 20 | DILLMAN | Andrew | Cyclocross Network Racing | USA19940401 | 23 | 1:05:26 | 3:15 |
| 14 | 28 | MARECAILLE | Antonin | avc aix en provence | FRA19920707 | 25 | 1:05:31 | 3:20 |
| 15 | 15 | LIVERMON | Travis | Maxxis Shimano | USA19880402 | 29 | 1:05:35 | 3:24 |
| 16 | 16 | KRUGHOFF | Allen | Boulder Cycle Sport/ YogaGlo | USA19840219 | 33 | 1:05:35 | s.t. |
| 17 | 19 | SUMMERHILL | Daniel | Maxxis - Shimano | USA19890213 | 28 | 1:07:08 | 4:57 |
| 18 | 25 | HAIDET | Lance | UCI CT: Team Illuminate | USA19971223 | 20 | 1:07:20 | 5:09 |
| 19 | 26 | KAISER | Cody | LangeTwins/Specialized Title | USA19920527 | 25 | 1:07:51 | 5:40 |
| 20 | 23 | AITKEN | Christopher | Focus Bikes Australia | AUS19940122 | 23 | 1:07:54 | 5:43 |
| 21 | 21 | WELLS | Troy | TEAM CLIF BAR Cycling | USA19840619 | 33 | 1:08:03 | 5:52 |
| 22 | 29 | LASLEY | Jacob | SPCX p/b R.K. BLACK | USA19770606 | 40 | 1:08:31 | 6:20 |
| 23 | 50 | NEFF | Isaac | Neff Cycle Service | USA19860708 | 31 | 1:08:57 | 6:46 |
| 24 | 33 | DRUMMOND | Chris | SPCX p/b R.K. BLACK | USA19820207 | 35 | 1:09:27 | 7:16 |
| 25 | 30 | HILDEBRANDT | Casey | The Underground Project | USA19940717 | 23 | 1:09:49 | 7:38 |
| 26 | 31 | MACKEY | Skyler | KCCX Elite Cyclocross Team p/b | USA19951124 | 22 | 1:10:08 | 7:57 |
| 27 | 58 | SELANDER | Bjorn | Borah Teamwear | USA19880128 | 29 | @3Laps | |
| 28 | 51 | WIEBE | Jason | Country Cycle | CAN19931215 | 24 | @3Laps | |
| 29 | 32 | SONNTAG | Benjamin | TEAM CLIF BAR Cycling | GER19800730 | 37 | @3Laps | |
| 30 | 56 | RUSS | Kyle | Brazen Dropouts Cycling Team | USA19860215 | 31 | @3Laps | |
| 31 | 53 | REYES | David | Tenspeed Hero | USA19840511 | 33 | @3Laps | |
| 32 | 62 | LEMKE | Nicholas | KONA/HiFi/Cycle-Smart | USA19830216 | 34 | @3Laps | |
| 33 | 55 | STEIN | Tyler | L5 Racing | USA19880830 | 29 | @4Laps | |
| 34 | 61 | TURNER | Andrew | Synergy | USA19870806 | 30 | @4Laps | |
| 35 | 49 | DILGER | Connor | Above and Beyond Cancer p/b Sch | USA19940408 | 23 | @4Laps | |
| 36 | 59 | SUNDQUIST | Christian | The Hub Cycling Team | USA19920912 | 25 | @5Laps | |
| 37 | 52 | THOMAS | Nick | Trek Cyclocross Collective | USA19940831 | 23 | @5Laps | |
| 38 | 48 | PRIOR | Matthew | Birchwood/GIS | USA19760109 | 41 | @7Laps | |
| DNF | 2 | MEEUSEN | Tom | Telenet-Fidea | BEL19881107 | 29 | ||
| DNF | 27 | CHAPMAN | Tom | Focus Bikes Australia | AUS19950702 | 22 | ||
| DNF | 34 | VANDEKINDEREN | jens | BEL19930430 | 24 | |||
| DNF | 54 | TEATERS | Dan | Team Wheel & Sprocket | USA19840218 | 33 | ||
| DNF | 57 | SCHWEIKER | Matthew | Tenspeed Hero | USA19861001 | 31 | ||
| DNS | 9 | DRISCOLL | James | Raleigh/Clement | USA19861111 | 31 |
2016 Trek CXC Cup Photo Gallery by Jeff Corcoran:
2016 Trek CXC Cup Day 1 – © Jeff Corcoran
