December 4/10 22:32 pm - USGP Portland Cup: Day 1 report and FULL results

Posted by Editoress on 12/4/10
 

The table has been set for a brilliant Series finale with today's winner Jeremy Powers and his teammate Tim Johnson tied for the overall series lead with one race to go in the Greenware® US Gran Prix of Cyclocross.

Powers  (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com) scored a dominant victory after dueling for more than half the race with Ryan Trebon (Kona). But Trebon exited the course with three laps remaining in the race after losing his rear derailleur far from the SRAM Service Pits.  Just as that happened Powers' teammate Tim Johnson began to surging forward after a weak start. Riding with Johnson, was a brilliant Christopher Jones (Rapha/Focus). Jones had surged to the lead with Trebon and Powers on the first lap and never looked back. Chasing the lead group of three rode a resurgent Jesse Anthony (California Giant BerryFarms/Specialized) , Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com), and Todd Wells (Speciaized/California Giant Berry Farms).

While Johnson struggled in the third group. Powers decided to bunny hop the barriers. This not only delighted the crowd but also provided a critical jump onto the pavement with each successive lap. Both Trebon and Powers seemed resolved to duke it out to the finish; Jones faltered and slipped seemingly into the grass of the chase group. On the fifth lap however Johnson found new legs and surged up to the second group. He struck this group as a cue ball strikes a rack set on a billiard table. Just as Johnson pressed forward Trebon suffered his mechanical. Johnson and Anthony pounded up to Jones, leaving Wells and Driscoll in their wake.

Powers kept the intensity up and cruised to victory. Anthony lost the wheel of Jones and Johnson. And then Johnson went on the attack. All expected Jones to cede control of the race. Instead he dug deep. "It was just experience that's all it was experience," said Jones, who credited his good start to the riders beside him on the front row. When I started going back,  "I wanted to quit right there. But you don't, you keep going."  In a dual with America's greatest cyclocross racer of all time Jones hung tough. On the final lap it would be Johnson and not Jones who made a mistake, suffering a small crash.

As Powers rolled to victory his teammate Johnson found himself behind a surging Jones.  "It was like a Lamaze class," joked Jones. "I just told myself to breathe, relax and push hard." Jones not only won second place on the day he also secured honors as the SRAM Most Aggressive Rider. Johnson rolled in for third.

The women's race saw a predictable one-two finish of LUNA superstars - with Katerina Nash narrowly edging Georgia Gould . But that was where the predictability ended. This exciting battle proved to be a showcase for the new comers of the sport as well as a frustrating anvil on which to forge the metal of others. The close of the first lap saw saw local favorite Sue Butler up near the front before the LUNA duo grabbed control. The shock of the day was the impressive rides of newcomers LinneaKoons (Embrocation Cycling Journal) and 18-year-old Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com) of Wisconsin. The lead five rode in front of a who's who of female cyclocross; but they would never be caught. An armada of superstars fumbled and mumbled further back. The worst victim would be Meredith Miller, who dragged a 30 foot long piece of course tape behind her bike from much of the first lap and crashed repeatedly on the greasy mud of Portland. Her lone salvation was just the size of the field in front of her. A review of the top 10 displays a large field of women's new to the top ranks of women's cyclocross. But they earned their positions.

Butler would hold on for third. Koons scored an amazing fourth place and earned honors as the SRAM Most Aggressive Rider and Miller tenaciously clawed her way past Antonneau to finish an impressive fifth.

Full results from Day 1 of the the Portland International, in Portland Oregon