Compton wins Roubaix 'cross World Cup with final lap surge

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Despite several crashes, American champion Katie Compton (Trek Cyclo-cross Collective) managed to overtake rival Sanne van Paassen (Rabobank-Giant Offroad Team) in the last lap and captured her third consecutive World Cup win in Roubaix, France.

"I'm still leader despite this debacle," Compton said after her hard-fought win on the legendary velodrome in Roubaix during the fourth round in the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup.

Thanks to 60 more points for her win on Sunday afternon, Compton comfortably leads the World Cup standings with a massive 50-point lead over Van Paassen.

On the first lap, several riders crashed on the fast course in Roubaix. First it was British champion Helen Wyman (Kona) who flipped sideways in the short sand section, taking several riders down with her. The British champion also broke her derailleur. Wyman, who had shared second place in the World Cup standings, ended up chasing from outside of the top-30.

A little later, Belgian champion Sanne Cant (Veldritacademie Enertherm-BKCP) and Compton crashed on one of the two steep descents.

"I thought she would ride it, and at the last moment she dismounted," Compton said. The duo tangled and went down together. Cant didn't land well and couldn't continue the race. She was carried away by the emergency team.

By the end of the hectic first lap, Van Paassen was leading the race solo with a small gap over Jasmin Achermann (Rapha-Focus) and Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team). Harris, who also had shared second in the World Cup standings, seemed to gain ground on Van Paassen, but technical setbacks halted her. By that time, Compton was moving up from fifth place, and she joined the first chasers during the third lap, trailing Van Paassen by 15 seconds.

During the following laps, Compton seemed to have the strength to get back to Van Paassen but several crashes postponed that moment. Meanwhile, Harris lost ground while Achermann managed to keep Compton in sight.

To make things even more exciting, the three first riders hit the final lap within 10 seconds of each other. Compton finally bridged up and overtook Van Paassen early on in the final lap with Achermann at short distance. Van Paassen wasn't intimiated by Compton and moved back into the lead when going into the technical sections with the steep drops. This time Compton took those well while Van Paassen opted to run one of them.

"Maybe I should have risked it, but my legs were full at that time. I had no more acceleration in me after that," Van Paassen said.

While Van Paassen was on her limit, Compton punched away on the final climbing section, and she powered onward to a prestigious World Cup win. Van Paassen was second eight seconds afterward, but Achermann was the surprise of the day in third place, just 28 seconds after Compton.

"This is fantastic. I rode my own race, but having Compton ahead of me was good. Riding faster wasn't possible because I would've blown up. I work three days in a week in a bakery. Before the season I hoped to finish in the top-10 and now I'm on the podium, the first Swiss girl. I'm living my dream," Achermann said.

Harris held off local rider Christel Ferrier-Bruneau (Hitec Products - Mistral Home) for fourth place and now ranks third in the World Cup standings. Wyman concluded her chase in the background with a 13th place, which dropped her to fourth place in the World Cup standings.

The next World Cup round will be held in Namur, Belgium on December 23.

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