Vos finishes a strong second amongst female cyclo-crossers
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Katie Compton (Planet Bike) is the number one ranked rider in the world.(Image credit: Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net)
Katie Compton (Planet Bike) descending with a 30-second gap.(Image credit: Dave McElwaine/trailwatch.net)
World Cup leader Katie Compton charges up the stairs in Kalmthout(Image credit: www.ispaphoto.com)
For the third straight year Katie Compton finished at the top of the best female cyclo-cross racer category of the Cyclingnews Reader Poll, befitting the American's domination of the 'cross season. Compton closed out the year leading the UCI and World Cup standings, the first time an American has topped either classification.
Compton has been undefeated on American soil, starting in Cross Vegas and culminating with her record-setting sixth consecutive US national championship in Bend, Oregon.
While racing in Europe, Compton won the first two World Cup rounds in Treviso, Italy and Nommay, France and podiumed in the next three.
The 31-year-old American also won Belgium's Superprestige Gavere for the third straight year with a dominating performance in thick mud over reigning world champion Marianne Vos.
Vos, runner up to Compton in the Cyclingnews Reader Poll, started her 'cross season late after needing a break from her road campaign, but the Dutchwoman has proved a formidable opponent to Compton. The two-time world 'cross champion bested Compton in three consecutive World Cups, winning Koksijde and Zolder and finishing second to Daphny Van den Brand at Kalmthout.
Vos, 22, narrowly out-polled Compton in 2006, the year of her previous world championship, but wearing the rainbow jersey this season was not enough to best Compton for our readers. Perhaps a third World Championship in Tabor at the end of January will buoy her chances in the next edition of the Reader Poll, but Katie Compton, too, has her sites set on the rainbow jersey, in what would be a fitting conclusion to her best-ever cyclo-cross season.
Best Female Cyclo-crosser 1. Katie Compton: 5827 2. Marianne Vos: 4138 3. Hanka Kupfernagel: 1125 4. Katerina Nash: 821 5. Georgia Gould: 604 6. Daphny Van Den Brand: 502 7. Helen Wyman: 454 8. Natasha Elliott: 344 9. Pavla Havlikova: 173 10. Maryline Salvetat: 82
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Based in the southeastern United States, Peter produces race coverage for all disciplines, edits news and writes features. The New Jersey native has 30 years of road racing and cyclo-cross experience, starting in the early 1980s as a Junior in the days of toe clips and leather hairnets. Over the years he's had the good fortune to race throughout the United States and has competed in national championships for both road and 'cross in the Junior and Masters categories. The passion for cycling started young, as before he switched to the road Peter's mission in life was catching big air on his BMX bike.
