November 5/07 10:29 am - Boulder Cup: Report and Full results

Posted by Editoress on 11/5/07
 

Boulder Cup November 4th, Boulder CO
Report courtesy Brook Watts

Compton Makes it a Double

Starting in the blue jersey of UCI points leader Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, CO) of the SPIKE Shooter team was primed to take her second win of the weekend after a convincing win Saturday in The Redline Cup.

27 riders lined up for the start of 40 minutes of racing at Harlow Platts Park in South Boulder in front of a crowd that continued to build throughout the race in anticipation of the men's race.

Perhaps using her skills from a monster mountain bike season, Georgia Gould (Ft Collins, CO) of the Luna Chix got the hole shot with Compton on her wheel and Rachel Lloyd (Fairfax, CA) of the PROMAN/PARADIGM Team a short few meter back

Compton and Gould created a split on the first run up, The TRP Brake Zone with only Lloyd able to keep them at a close gap but the two proceeded to increase the gap with every section

Before the end of lap one Compton had gotten clear of Gould and built a gap of 17 seconds with Lloyd in "no women's land" another 8 seconds back. Wendy Williams (Portland, Ore.) of River City Bicycles sat in 4th with Boulder resident Kerry Barnholt of Tokyo Joes/Van Dessel in 5th well clear of all others.

Compton continued to pile on the time and built a gap of 35 seconds over Gould with Lloyd hanging on at another 10 seconds. Compton's finesse showed as she easily danced up every grassy climb and rode flawlessly through the sandpit.

With 3 laps remaining Compton was unstoppable with a gap that grew to 40 seconds over Gould and another 10 seconds over Lloyd who continued to hang on. Behind it was a repeat of Saturday with Williams and Barnholt riding together in pursuit.

On her way to lapping most of the field, Compton only piled it on increasing her gap to Gould by 56 seconds while a tenacious Lloyd hung on at a constant 10 seconds. Behind them Williams shed Barnholt to take a solid grip on 4th.

At the bell lap things were unchanged with Compton putting on a cross demonstration for the remainder of the field. Compton was clearly using the weekend of UCI cross racing in Boulder as an opportunity to prepare for a month long trip to Europe in a short few days and crossed the line with a strong advantage over Gould. Lloyd hung on for her 3rd place with Williams in 4th and Barnholt in 5th.

Trebon Goes for Two

66 Elite Men lined up for introductions in front of a crowd that swelled to 2,500 by race time on a rare November afternoon with sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures in the mid 70's. The warm temperatures had many riders aching for a feed zone while a crafty Chris Horner started the race with a bottle tucked in his jersey.

At the end of the 300 meter slightly uphill start the charging pack was led by Danish National Champion Joachim Parbo followed by Barry Wicks (Santa Cruz, CA) of Kona-Your Key Mortgage, Todd Wells (Durango, CO) of GT Bicycles, Geoff Kabush (Victoria BC) of Maxxis-Litespeed, Ryan Trebon (Bend, Ore) of Kona-Your Key Mortgage, and Danny Summerhill (Englewood, CO) of the Clif Bar Development Team

Looking in control from the beginning, Trebon moved right to the front after the first trip through the TRP Brake Zone, the run up section in the first part of the course taking his teammate Wicks with him. A short time later, after the sand section Trebon was solo with a group of 3 Wicks, Powers and Tim Johnson at a short 7 seconds back.

Trebon looked untroubled by the physical ailments that plagued him in the last few days as he built his lead over Powers and Johnson with teammate Wicks doing his job of hanging on. Kabush came through in 5th with Chris Horner (Bend Ore) of the Indiana Medical Center Team in a comfortable 6th.

On the second of the 11 laps covered and tired of their passenger, Powers took off with Johnson quickly getting up to his wheel with the result of shedding Wicks from the pair.

At the line with the lap card showing 8 to go Trebon held a gap of 29 seconds over Johnson and Powers who worked jointly to build a short gap over Wicks. Meanwhile, Kabush continued to creep up on the leaders while Horner used his road fitness on the paved finish section to close in on his best cross finish ever.

40 seconds was the split from Trebon to the chasing pair of cyclocrossworld.com riders Johnson and Powers. Kabush looked to be desperate in his attempt to hold off the Tour de France veteran Horner.

Powers and Johnson pulled back a few seconds over the next lap, dropping it to a 35 second gap to Trebon while Horner looked like the fastest rider over the paved section closing in on Kabush.

With 5 laps to go Powers and Johnson lost some steam in the chase as the gap moved to 55 seconds and a charging Horner was bearing down on Kabush, the sand section being the spot where the mountain bike pro held the advantage. Horner made the catch on the paved section heading to the line with 4 to go but Kabush stuck to his wheel briefly before falling back.

Having shed Kabush at the line with 3 to go Horner put Wicks in his sights. Wicks was sitting only 12 seconds ahead of the ever smiling Horner. Meanwhile Trebon was in a world of his own maintaining a lead of over 1:30 over the chasing duo.

Heading out on the final lap Trebon looked to be on a parade lap with Johnson and Powers racing for 2nd over 1:45 back. Johnson moved ahead of his teammate at the line.

Crossing the line for his Boulder Cup victory Trebon grabbed a toy sword from the crowd using the prop to vanquish his imaginary enemies. Rolling in for 2nd was Johnson followed shortly by Powers. Behind the main action, Wicks increased his gap over Horner to preserve his 4th place over the seasoned roadman. Kabush held on for 6th place with a good gap over "Caveman" Erik Tonkin who was 7th. Todd Wells overcame mechanical problems for 8th. Boulder's Brandon Dwight finished 9th with the Danish Champ Parbo popping a wheelie over the line for 10th.

Trebon described today's victory as a next step in his season preparation. He and "Twin Tower" Wicks will compete next week in the Single Speed World Championships in Portland.