North American 'cross battles continue in Boulder

By Mark Zalewski, North American Editor in Boulder, Colorado

This past weekend's North American Cyclo-cross Trophy races in Boulder, Colorado, the third of the four weekend series, further solidified the contenders for the overall series titles - and the $7,000 that is on the line for the top three finishers. On the men's side, Ryan Trebon (Kona) still holds a narrow 10-point lead over Tim Johnson (Cyclocrossworld-Cannondale), while in the women's race Georgia Gould (Luna) closed the distance to series leader Amy Dombrowski (Velo Bella-Kona) with back-to-back wins.

Trebon suffered through the weekend with a nasty cold, limiting Johnson's gains by beating him by one place on Saturday and finishing third to him on Sunday. For Johnson, the overall prize was more of a second thought until he realized recently that there is actual cash money involved. "I would love to get it, especially now that I found out about the overall prize list!" he told Cyclingnews.

Dombrowski still holds a commanding lead, and had to suffer in similar fashion to Trebon while still recovering from an illness. "My goal going in was to stay on Georgia or Rachel because they are riding really fast," she said. "I did that... for about 500 metres and then I was blown! But I was sick a few weeks ago so there are still some residual effects."

The other series in North America, the US Grand Prix of Cyclo-cross, had its first weekend last week in Louisville - with the overall title still close and up for grabs. The second of the three USGP events is two weeks away in New Jersey, followed by the last NACT race in Southampton. While there is a weekend of UCI racing this weekend near Toronto, many racers are taking the weekend off from travel to rest and train - or merely get healthy again