US Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross round 3 and 4 wrap-up

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Trebon and Compton set an unmatched pace at Xilinx Cup

From the start it was Ryan Trebon (Kona), Barry Wicks (Kona), and Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly) getting away early and setting the pace. Lap after lap, Trebon, decked out in his white USGP leader's jersey, began to slowly pull away before finally dropping the other two and staying ahead for good. For most of the race there was a group of five chasing: Wicks, Powers, Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com), Todd Wells (GT), and Danish Champion Joachim Parbo.

With just over two laps remaining, Wicks broke his seat post and crashed. Just a few minutes later Wells hooked his bars on the tape and went down. Johnson and Powers attacked and were able to get a gap on the chase group until Wells quickly recovered to join them.

With Trebon safely out front, the only race was for second. The sprint came down to these three with Powers just edging Wells in a close finish with Johnson coming in fourth. Wicks recovered nicely to round out the top five. Trebon will be decked out in white again as he retains the series lead.

In her first ever USGP race Katie Compton (Spike) blew away the field, winning with a margin of over a minute. Compton, the current national cyclocross champion, missed the first weekend of the USGP in Gloucester but has been on the top of her game and racing very well including a win in Boulder earlier this week. The race was no contest with Compton jumping out to an early lead and never looking back. Like in the men's race, the only real battle was for second place where current series leader, Georgia Gould (Luna) led out and out-sprinted Katerina Nash (Luna) and defending USGP champ Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com). Melissa Thomas (Maxxis) rounded out the top five.

Boulder Cup

The men's race ended in similar fashion to the previous day's Xilinx Cup, with a Kona rider crossing the line first. But this time it wasn't Ryan Trebon… it was Trebon's teammate Barry Wicks taking home his first USGP win of the year and Katie Compton (Spike) made it two in a row as she swept the weekend series on the women's side. Trebon and Georgia Gould (Luna) both retain their USGP series leads as the 2006 Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross wrapped up its second weekend with the Boulder Cup at Harlow Platts Park in Boulder, Colorado.

In contrast to the previous day's competition, the men's Boulder Cup race was exciting and unpredictable with multiple lead changes throughout the race. After the first lap there was a group of five out in front including Ryan Trebon (Kona), Todd Wells (GT), Barry Wicks (Kona), Jonathan Baker (Harshman Wealth Management / Primus Mootry) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis). On the second lap, at the Cliff Bar run up, Trebon attacked as the crowd of approximately 600 fans went wild. Wells followed and the pair stayed ahead.

Around the halfway mark, Trebon suffered the first of two mechanical problems. First, his bars came loose then a few laps later sustained a flat which dropped him out of contention. Johnson, who had a slow start, had worked his way back through the field to join Wells in the lead. The two of them were in front with Wicks trailing about 10 seconds behind.

With two and a half laps to go, Wicks closed the gap and caught Wells and Johnson. Jeremy Powers was in fourth and Trebon, who was riding hard to get back in contention, was in fifth place.

Wicks, Wells and Johnson stayed together on the last two laps until the last long uphill. It was Wells who jumped first but Wicks came hard from the left and overcame both for the win. Johnson finished second, Wells came in third, and Trebon ended up passing Powers to finish fourth. Despite finishing off the podium, Trebon retains the white jersey as the series leader.

With her convincing victory the previous day, national champion Katie Compton (Spike) became the woman to beat in Boulder. But reining USGP champion, Lyne Bessette (Cyclocrossworld.com) made it known she is not going down without a fight. From the jump it was Compton and Bessette out in front and the pair stayed ahead for the entire race.

With three laps to go Compton attacked on the downhill and got a slight gap. Bessette didn't let her get too far and caught Compton fairly quickly. With two to go, Compton attacked again and stayed away to capture her second USGP win in as many days while Bessette finished second.

Despite the Compton/Bessette battle, it is Georgia Gould (Luna) who keeps the series lead. Gould, who finished in third, was followed by Katerina Nash (Luna) and Wendy Simms (Kona).

See the full results and photos here for the Xilinx Cup, and here for Boulder Cup.