Compton faces doubts over World Championships

By Brecht Decaluwé in Hoogerheide

Last year Katie Compton captured a silver medal at the UCI's Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, and this year she is again a favourite for the podium in Treviso. The American rider was present in Hoogerheide on Sunday for the final World Cup race of the season, but she didn't start the race.

"This is a rest day," she said trying to look positively at a recent setback she has been suffering. "I hoped I could be optimistic, but now I'm realistic. I have some muscle disorder. I don't exactly know what it is."

Wishing she could be out there racing, too, Compton said, sighing, "It's hard to watch a race, it's more fun to actually ride it." To be sidelined only one week before the world championships is poor timing and Compton realizes she will not be 100% in Italy.

"Normally I would be out for three weeks, and now I'm trying to get ready in one week," Compton said she's doing all she can to pull off a decent performance in Treviso. "And if I'm not going to be ready, then you'll find us along the course with a bottle of wine," said Compton, who was determined to have fun in Italy, no matter what her form is like on race day.