By Kirsten Robbins US National Champion proves too strong for the elite women's field Katie Compton...
Strong and powerful, (Image credit: FJ Hughes)
By Kirsten Robbins
US National Champion proves too strong for the elite women's field
Katie Compton (Spike Professional/Primus Mootry) powered away from her stiff competition before the end of the first lap. Compton left Lyne Bessette (Cyclocross world.com) and Georgia Gould (Luna Women's MTB Team) to battle for second and the remaining forty riders in shrapnel. "Georgia Gould and Lyne Bessette are really strong riders and I did not know how I was going to fair against them today," said two-time US Cross Champion Katie Compton. "I have not done UCI cross races in the past because my main focus is the pilot for the Para-Olympic tandem and so I normally race local cross races instead."
US national mountain bike champion Georgia Gould led Bessette and Compton through the demanding course on the first lap. "Three of us separated from the field at the very beginning and Georgia Gould was leading us," said Bessette. "But, Katie passed Georgia and I hesitated to go with her right away. Katie is an amazing athlete and you can't let her have even two feet advantage or you have to work way harder to catch her. Once she got her gap I tried to hold it with her but after ten seconds I saw that I could not close it."
Compton repeated her win over Canadian champion Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) in Wissahickon the following day, only this time around the battle was fierce. The womens' race began much like the mens', with the two strongest riders separating themselves from the field. "I wanted to do my own race and get out there and give the whole shot, to start out front and that is what I did," said Lyne Bessette."The first part of the circuit is really tricky and on the first lap I am always more nervous, so it is easy to make mistakes sometimes. I pre-road the course with my husband, Tim, which helped me a lot and I knew exactly what I was going to do today.
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
