Nash Smashes Women’s Race at USGP Fort Collins Day 1 – Report, Photos and Results

Katerina Nash (Luna) won the women’s race today at Fort Collins, proving that no condition — from the warm nighttime race at CrossVegas to the cold, drizzling conditions that she was met with today —  is too challenging for this elite racer. She was followed by a hard-charging Katie Compton, who has been noticeably absent from the cyclocross scene before today, and third was snatched up by Nash’s teammate, Georgia Gould.

by Rick Crawford

Mother Nature must love cyclocross. She decided to cut loose with a steady, cold, hard rain with wind that soaked the Fort Collins course, rendering it a slimy/soupy consistency. The age groupers that went before the pro women were almost universally demoralized and hypothermic by the time their races terminated. The course, designed to challenge on a typically dry Fort Collins fall day with the layout and altitude, was made super technical and put up a supreme resistance to all competitors.

The pro women started with the weather unrelenting. The hole shot prize was claimed by an unknown rider but it was a only a fleeting threat as Katie Compton and Katerina Nash soon made their intentions clear, quickly distancing the field as Georgia Gould crashed on the first lap. Nash was comfy letting the US National Champion lead, while behind the pecking order was slowly sorting itself out with Gould finding herself in no-woman’s land far ahead of a pack of chasers, and far behind the duo up front.

Halfway through the race, Compton was plowing through the slop with Nash looking rather relaxed on her wheel a minute and a half ahead of Gould and another minute to fourth place, with a pack including Katie Antonneau, Sue Butler and two others battling for fifth, and Meredith Miller and Teal Stetson Lee dangling a few seconds behind them.

French CX Champion Caroline Mani looking relaxed at the start. © VeloVivid Cycling Photography

On the third lap, Nash escaped from Comptons orbit after Compton faltered, establishing a insurmountable gap with two to go. By the finish, the diminutive Czech champion had patiently cruised her way to a comfortable 30 second lead. Gould finished a minutes down in third.

Click here to find out what happened in the Men’s race.

Full results and photos coming soon, check back often.

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Results