November 6/06 1:47 am - US 'Cross Grand Prix #3 & #4

Posted by Editor on 11/6/06
 

US 'Cross Grand Prix #3 & #4 - Colorado

Story courtesy Cyclocrossworld.com team

Venturing into the thin air of Colorado Team Cyclocrossworld.com's Lyne Bessette and Ben Jacques-Maynes toed the line for this past weekend's two Crank Brothers US Gran Prix of Cyclocross races in Longmont and Boulder. Lyne entered the weekend sitting second overall in the USGP Series standing and left the weekend in the same position after finishing 4th on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday. Defending U.S. National Champion Katie Compton won both days. Ben finished a strong 7th on Saturday, just off the pace of the lead quartet.

"Saturday I was angry about how I rode," said Lyne of her non-podium finish. "I let Katie ride off the front on the first lap and I spent the rest of the race mad at myself that I'd made such a mistake. I guess that anger paid off on Sunday. I didn't like to come in fourth, when I come to a race I want to win. Katie is so strong right now, she basically pulled me around on Sunday, the altitude made me hurt for sure."

After his 7th place Saturday, Ben looked on pace for a great showing on Sunday. But minutes before the start he learned that his future sister-in-law, Josie Beggs, had crashed heavily in the Elite Women's race and been taken to the hospital with multiple skull fractures. Distracted by the news, Ben raced only the opening lap and dropped out to get to the hospital to check on his brother's fiancé.

"I felt pretty bad about dropping out, but I had to look after my family first," said Ben after pulling the plug on Sunday. "It's too bad because I had good legs, especially considering the altitude."

Lyne defends her Canadian National Champion's jersey November 11th in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Boulder Cup #4

Men
1 Barry Wicks (Kona)
2 Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com)
3 Todd Wells (GT)
4 Ryan Trebon (Kona)
5 Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly)

Women
1 Katie Compton (Spike)
2 Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com)
3 Georgia Gould (Luna)
4 Katerina Nash (Tokyo Joe's/Gary Fisher)
5 Wendy Simms (Velobella Kona)

Xilinx Cup #3- Longmont

Men
1 Ryan Trebon (Kona)
2 Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly)
3 Todd Wells (GT)
4 Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com)
5 Barry Wicks (Kona)

Elite Women
1 Katie Compton (Spike)
2 Georgia Gould (Luna)
3 Katerina Nash (Tokyo Joe's/Gary Fisher)
4 Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com)
5 Melissa Thomas (Maxxis)