Sunday, November 05, 2006

US Grand Prix of Cyclocross - Round 4



The Grand Prix of Cyclocross moved down the Diagonal Highway overnight to Boulder, but despite the location change the gorgeous weather continued. I had thought I might ride with John "The Punisher" Perry on our road bikes to the Boulder event, but despite his super hero powers on the bike John was nursing a back injury and thought it best if he didn't ride. I gave thought to going solo, but then thought better of it so I wouldn't be riding home in the dark. So I just hopped in with John & Amy and we went to see what would be the most exciting bike race I've ever seen.

We showed up to watch the Elite Women and then the Elite Men's races, both of which would have some heroic performances. The women's race was a two woman show, with the US National cyclocross champ battling it out with the Canadian National cyclocross champ. These two would trade shots, each making moves with the other reacting to each move. The gorgeous sunny day briefly got uncharacteristically windy in the Boulder valley, so catching a draft was a big issue.



Late in the race Katie Compton put the hammer down and snapped Lyne Bessette off her wheel once and for all. Compton (pictured below) had put in a big effort yesterday in winning the previous round, but found something left in the tank today.



Bessette (pictured below) settled into a comfortable second place with Georgia Gould rounding out the podium.

The Elite Men's race was the big event, and it certainly lived up to the hype. Round 3 saw Ryan Trebon ride off the front and destroy the field, but today was a different day. Round 3's course was wide with lots of passing room, but the Boulder course was a much tighter venue. Getting off the line in a good position would be crucial.

The gun goes off, and the big dogs get out front. Trebon, Todd Wells, Jonathan Baker, and Trebon's Kona teammate Barry Wicks all got off quickly and the race was on. Wells and Baker got out front and started putting some distance into Trebon while they could. Wicks was doing team duty and sitting on the wheel until Trebon could bridge the gap, which wouldn't take long.

Todd Wells leads Jonathan Baker through the sand pit



It didn't take Trebon long to get up to the leaders, and the race was on from that point. Despite his solo break yesterday, Trebon looked strong, storming up the hills and making up ground on the flats.

Ryan Trebon leads Todd Wells through the treacherous sand



Wells leads with Trebon chasing



Wells pushed the pace with Trebon and Tim Johnson coming up through the pack to get on as Wicks fell off the big pace on the front after helping Trebon bridge up to the lead pack. The trio pounded out fast laps up front, before the first big development as Trebon hit the pits with a mechanical problem. Even though the bike switch was very fast, Trebon had lost contact with the leaders.

Wells and Johnson attack with Trebon having mechanical problems



This was the break that Wells and Johnson needed and the upped the pace. Wells and Baker hammered as they put time into Trebon. Trebon's teammate, Wicks, took team orders and started hammering to try and mark the lead duo. Wicks made quick work of the gap and in true team ordered fashion sat on the wheel of the two leaders, marking their movements.

Trebon's troubles weren't over yet, as he hit the pits again swapping bikes yet again. After the 2nd bike switch, he was nearly 45 seconds behind the charging trio up front. Trebon looked dejected and at times ragged, a side that he had not shown up to this point. In fact, I had a close encounter with Trebon (as seen in the pic below) as he pushed wide in a corner and nearly made contact with me.

Nice to meet you Mr. Trebon



Inexplicably, after the 2nd bike change and with the laps winding down, Trebon started charging. Being 45 seconds down with just a handful of laps to go, his attempts looked futile but I assumed he was just trying to do damage control. Quickly dropping Geoff Kabush, Trebon charged towards the front noticeably bringing the gap down each lap.

With 1 lap to go, Trebon had cut the gap down to 10 seconds and he was closing fast. Up front, Wells was pacing the group with Johnson struggling to hang on and Wicks just sitting on the wheel. As the group entered the sand pit area for the final time, Wicks charged in front of Wells undoubtedly to try and slow up the group to allow the hard charging Trebon to make up the 5 seconds he now found himself down.

Wicks jumps ahead of Wells, but Wells gets him back



Wells responded back, and pushed to the lead. Johnson, while still in contact, was clearly just hanging on at this point. Trebon frantically hammered, getting out of the saddle but still sitting 3-4 seconds back. As the leader trio hit the final 200m pavement stretch, Wicks jumped out of the saddle with a quick and hard acceleration broke the other two as Trebon realized his all out efforts would fall just a bit short. Wicks sprinted to the win as Wells and Johnson rounded out the podium. Trebon rolled across the line seconds later, his win streak snapped, but still leads the overall series.

1 comment:

debaser said...

Nice pics! I was there for the 3's race to see some buddies out on the course, and all reports say I should have stuck around to watch the big race.