Colorado Cross Classic

By Eddie Clark

(October 28, 2011) Boulder, Colo.—While La Nina is bringing the goods to Colorado in the form of winter moisture, in turn, cyclocross racers are getting near perfect conditions for racing.  Cool temperatures helped snowfall from Wednesday's winter storm stick around to create wet muddy conditions on portions of the new and different Colorado Cross Classic course which was designed with racer preparations for the World Championship in Koksijde, Belgium.

Race Director Aaron Bouplon hit the nail on the head with a fast course that featured sand sections, barriers, technical features that could be ridden or run over and also plenty of slick off-camber turns.  "We came out for Wednesday Worlds (a local cross training ride that's attended by a who's who of fast cyclocross racers) a couple weeks ago, and got a lot of feedback about what would make the course as good as possible", said Bouplon

Overcast skies and cool brisk winds from across the Boulder Res made for decidedly wintery conditions for the men's and women's cat 4 racers in the early morning.  However, once the Men's 35+ race got under way, the sun came out while the masters men battled for the front.  Instead of the regular front runner's such as Peter Webber (Boulder Cycle Sport), Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sport), and Michael Robson (Moots Cycles), it was Cris Case of Feedback Sports who went to the front on the second lap and started opening a gap which he held for the win.

The Elite Women's race, which carried UCI C2 points, was led out by French National Champion Caroline Mani (SRAM).  Boulder local Nicole Duke (Cannondale / CyclocrossWorld.com) was right there in the mix taking Mani's wheel to get through the first tight turns and barrier section in second with US National Champion Katie Compton (Rabobank / Giant) in third and Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale / CyclocrossWorld.com) following in fourth. 

Soon as the women hit the long straight stretch towards the snowy/muddy section of the course, Compton dropped the field and rode a smooth clean race to take a win resembling the caliber of a World Cup points leaders that she is.  Mani also kept her pace high and rode alone to finish in second while behind her Duke and Georgia Gould (Luna Pro Team) battled for third place.  Gould eventually got the upper hand and finished 29 second clear of Duke to finish in third.

For the big finale, the Elite Men took off with a roaring start at 4:10pm.  Ben Berden (Ops Ale / Clement) of Belgium wasn't waiting around for someone else to set the pace, and came out of the first barrier section with all of the leaders hot on his heels  Just like Compton did in the race before, Ryan Trebon (LTS / Felt) powered to the front of the pack to have the first crack at the slick muddy turns which followed the long and slightly uphill straight stretch.

Although, the Elite Men's field was loaded with fast capable racers, and so Trebon was constantly battling for several laps with Todd Wells (Specialized), Berden, Danny Summerhill (Chipotle Devlopment) and Yannick Eckmann (Pearl Izumi / Shimano / Focus).  Showing some amazing speed for his 18 years of age, Eckmann held onto the lead group for the first few laps before sliding backwards and finishing in 11th place.  With more age, experience and training, Eckmann will be one to watch for the pace setting in the latter stages of the racing in years to come.

Towards the middle of the race, Wells and Trebon got a gap over the chasers to build a slight lead.  Unfortunately, bad luck struck US Cyclocross National Champion Todd Wells in the form of high winds which blew some course tape into his bike rendering it into a virtual singlespeed.  By the time Well's took a bike swap in the pits, Trebon established a gap which he held to win the race.  Wells joined Summerhill briefly but struck out on his own to ride in solo for second place.

Further back, U.S. Short Track Mtn Bike Champion Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski worked his way through a fair bit of the field to take sixth place.  The duo of Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale / CyclocrossWorld.com) and Berden fought past Summerhill to take third and fourth respectively with fifth place going to Summerhill.  

Full results here.