2012 Smartwool USGP of Cyclocross Day 2

(October 14, 2012) Fort Collins, Colo-Day two of the USGP brought sunshine and warmer temperatures, making for a blazing fast course, tight racing, and great spectating. With some changes in the course and the less technical riding conditions, there were some great battles waged throughout the day. In the Elite races, a repeat of the first day’s winners made the racing no less exciting, as there were plenty of lead changes with solid racing at the front.

In the Women’s Elite race, Georgia Gould (Luna) took the lead early in the first lap, forming a lead group consisting of Gould, Julie Krasniak (Rapha-Focus), Katie Compton (Trek), and local favorite Nicole Duke (Raleigh-Clement). A few laps into the race, Compton had moved off the front on her own, leaving the other three to chase. “At the beginning I was not liking that big group at the front. So I thought if I made the pace a little higher it would break up a little bit. Of course, I ended up just being the lead-out for Katie’s attack,” said Gould.

With Compton off the front, Gould and Krasniak proceeded to battle back and forth, swapping places as they tried in vain to catch Compton about 30 seconds ahead. Just behind the two chasers, Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) threw it all down in an attempt to join Gould and Krasniak, but could not quite get there. With Compton taking the win, Gould and Krasniak fought until the end, with Gould taking second, Krasniak third, and Antonneau fourth.

In the Men’s Elite race, Danny Summerhill (Chipotle Development) took to the front on the first lap, charging hard out of each corner and attacking the short climbs. Ben Berden (Raliegh-Clement) was the only one who stuck to Summerhill’s wheel, with the chasers a few seconds behind. Summerhill and Berden were still going hard on the front after the second lap, but Ryan Trebon (Cannondale-Cyclocross.com) was chasing hard and Geoff Kabush (Scott), Chris Jones (United Healthcare), Tim Johnson (Volkswagen-Cannondale), and Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus), were coming along for the ride.

Around lap four, Trebon caught Summerhill and Berden, and moved into the lead. Powers, Kabush, Johnson, Jones, and Yannick Eckmann (California Giant-Specialized), the young rider from Boulder, turned the front of the race into a party of eight. Soon Powers had had enough and jumped off the front, splintering the lead group. Kabush gave chase a few second behind. Powers held everyone off to take the win by 12 seconds, with Jones in second and Kabush taking third. Summerhill, who suffered a mechanical that put him behind the top ten, put in an impressive show of power by racing back up to the group of Berden, Trebon, and Eckmann, and beating them all in the sprint for fourth.

For full results see USGP of Cyclocross.