Nash victorious on Cycle-Smart International's first day
Van Gilder, Annis round out top three
Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) soloed to victory during the UCI C2 Cycle Smart International held at Look Park in Northampton, Massachusetts. The Czech national champion out-paced Laura Van Gilder (C3-Mellow Mushroom) in second and Sally Annis (Crossresults.com-JRA Cycles) in third.
“It is nice to be back in New England,” Nash said. “The main reason why I came out here was to teach a cyclo-cross clinic for the Boston Luna team and we tied that into the weekend of UCI racing here.”
The event marked round five of the Shimano New England Professional Cyclo-cross Series that is currently led by Van Gilder. “I’m very committed to finishing up this series,” Van Gilder said. “But, it wouldn’t take much to mix things up again because the points fall typical to a UCI event, so if you have one bad day you can lose the lead. I won’t assume anything because I’ve been that person who gets a flat tire or has had a bad day before.”
The Cycle Smart International was once again held at its traditional location in Look Park. The terrain offered a perfect combination of hills, wooded track and open grass sections. Some of the main features of the course included two steep run-ups, dual descents, a set of hurdles and rail road tracks.
“There were a lot of corners on the course and I think that was my biggest struggle today,” Nash said. “I didn’t ride the course very well and I was trying to clean up my lines during the race.”
Van Gilder lined up as the series leader, however, the odds-on favourite to win the race was Nash, who recently won the round two UCI World Cup in Tabor. Her competitors also included Annis along with included Nicole Thiemann and Carolyn Popovic (Team CF), Andrea Smith and Crystal Anthony (LadiesFirst Racing) and Arley Kremmerer (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes).
“These races are all hard, it doesn’t matter who attends but it was nice to race up here against Katerina,” Van Gilder said. “Katerina set the early pace and I was the next rider on her wheel. She gradually increased her gap to 15 seconds and three of us were chasing her.”
Van Gilder led the chase ahead of her companions Annis, Anthony and Smith. The four riders worked together during the following three laps, however, their combined efforts were not enough to close the gap to Nash.
“It seemed like the kind of course where if we worked together we might have been able to close the gap a little bit,” Van Gilder said.
“We traded pulls and tried to take advantage of the course in particular areas.”
Nash secured a solo victory on the day, however, the race for second remained between her chasers. Van Gilder gained a small advantage on one of the steep hills on the last lap. Although she suffered a flat tire on the lower half of the course, she had enough time to exchange bikes in the mechanics pit and solo in for second place ahead of Annis and Anthony.
Full results
1 | Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Pro Team | 0:41:58 |
2 | Laura Van Gilder (USA) C3 p/b Mellow Mushroom | 0:00:28 |
3 | Sally Annis (USA) crossresults.com p/b JRA Cycles | 0:00:31 |
4 | Andrea Smith (USA) LadiesFirst Racing | 0:00:42 |
5 | Crystal Anthony (USA) LadiesFirst Racing | 0:01:04 |
6 | Nicole Thiemann (USA) Team CF | 0:01:20 |
7 | Catherine Sterling (USA) Bikeman.com | 0:02:01 |
8 | Rebecca Wellons (USA) Quad Cycles | 0:02:07 |
9 | Maureen Bruno Roy (USA) Bob's Red Mill p/b Seven Cycles | 0:02:23 |
10 | Arley Kemmerer (USA) C3 - Athletes Serving Athletes | 0:02:30 |
11 | Carolyn Popovic (USA) Team CF | 0:02:34 |
12 | Patricia Buerkle (USA) VA Asset Group p/b Artemis - Trek | 0:02:40 |
13 | Jena Greaser (USA) NorEast Cycling | 0:02:54 |
14 | Cassandra Maximenko (USA) Silverbull Centralwheel | 0:03:08 |
15 | Laura Ralston (GBr) MIT Cycling-FXDD | 0:03:19 |
16 | Emily Thurston (USA) Stevens | 0:03:29 |
17 | Frances Morrison (USA) J.A.M. Fund-NCC | Row 16 - Cell 2 |
18 | Elle Anderson (USA) LadiesFirst Racing | 0:03:43 |
19 | Christina Tamilio (USA) LadiesFirst Racing | Row 18 - Cell 2 |
20 | Stacey Barbossa (USA) Elite Endurance Training Systems | 0:03:44 |
21 | Brittlee Bowman (USA) crossresults.com p/b JRA Cycles | 0:03:46 |
22 | Christina Birch (USA) MIT Cycling p/b FXDD | 0:03:49 |
23 | Jenny Ives (USA) Verge Sport-Test Pilot | 0:03:50 |
24 | Kathleen Lysakowski (USA) Cycle Lodge | 0:03:59 |
25 | Sheila Vibert (USA) Sunapee Racing Team | 0:04:23 |
26 | Kristine Church (USA) Human Zoom | 0:04:29 |
27 | Nancy Labbe-Giguere (Can) LadiesFirst Racing | 0:04:47 |
28 | Lauri Webber (USA) Secret Henrys Team | 0:04:58 |
29 | Lauren Kling (USA) New England Athletic Cyclocross | 0:05:11 |
30 | Marian Jamison (USA) LadiesFirst Racing | 0:05:18 |
31 | Bryna Blanchard (USA) North American Velo | 0:05:19 |
32 | Molly Hurford (USA) Team Rockstar Games-Signature Cycles | 0:05:41 |
33 | Bailey Semian (USA) Team Specialized - Rising Stars p/b Bicycling Magazine | 0:05:56 |
34 | Kathryn Roszko (USA) BikeReg.com-Joe's Garage | 0:06:11 |
35 | Elizabeth Lukowski (USA) NYcross.com | 0:06:43 |
36 | Alice Henriques (USA) Zanconato Racing | 0:06:52 |
37 | Kathleen Wulfkuhle (USA) C3 - Athletes Serving Athletes | 0:06:59 |
38 | Christine Fort (USA) Pedal Power Team-MA | 0:07:54 |
39 | Elizabeth White (USA) Blue Steel Cyclery | 0:08:01 |
40 | Kaitlyn Lawrence (USA) | -1lap |
DNF | Sara Bresnick-Zocchi (USA) Embrocationcycling.com | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
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