Crossed Up! for Oct. 6, aka Sandgate
By Ian Landau
It’s been an exciting week of cross racing, so let’s get right to it.
Great Brewers Gran Prix of Gloucester, Oct. 3–4, Gloucester, Ma.
Gloucester. The very name is uttered with awe among crossers up and down the East Coast.
As one who has never made it to the race (it always seems to fall on the weekend of my daughter’s birthday party; somehow, 7-year-olds just don’t understand how important Gloucester is to their dads—funny that), its mythic status has only bloomed (or is it metastasized?) in my mind.
I’d argue that just as the Euro one-day road-racing calendar has its monuments, so too does North American cyclocross—and Gloucester is one of them.
After all, they don’t call it the New England Worlds for nothing.
This year, adding to the drama, both the men’s and women’s elite races were part of the National Cyclocross Trophy series. Of course, the series also remains the crown jewel of the long-running Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series too.
So some desperate battles for one-day honors, and series points, were expected to unfold. Gloucester, as always, did not disappoint.
Saturday brought rain to the Boston area, turning what is traditionally a fast course into a mudbath. With Katie Compton off in Europe to start her World Cup campaign in Treviso, Italy (see below), and many of the West Coast–based women not making the trip east, the women’s race looked to be a toss-up.
A welcome face back on the starting line was Lyne Bessette (October Factory Racing), semiunretired after sitting out the last two seasons following a long career of near-scary domination.
Saturday Bessette established an early lead along with two others: fellow Canuck Natasha Elliott (Club Chaussure Ogilvy) and a relative unknown in the guise of Idahoan Amanda Carey (Kenda).
The three stayed close together till the dying moments of the race, when Bessette dropped off the other two. In the last half-lap, Carey attacked, but Elliott fought back, countering through a technical section, getting a gap and hanging on for the win.
In the men’s race Saturday, all eyes were on local boy Tim Johnson. A well-known “mudder,” Johnson it seemed would be licking his lips at the mucky conditions. His shoulder no doubt still sore from his crash the previous weekend at Starcrossed, Johnson is never one to give anything but his best at Gloucester.
But another almost-local boy, Jonathan Page of nearby New Hampshire, is also an expert at handling the worst of conditions, and it looked like fans would be treated to a good old-fashioned duel of the hard-bitten New England cross vets.
As the gun went off, Johnson and Page stayed true to the script, distancing the field in the first few moments of the race. But by the end of the first lap, Page was had dropped Johnson and was building an insurmountable lead.
Behind Page, Johnson was caught by his teammate Jamey Driscoll. The two worked together for a bit to try to chase down Page, but then Johnson dropped off Driscoll’s wheel, leaving the Vermonter to chase the New Hampshire man alone.
Page won the race by almost two minutes over Driscoll. Behind Johnson fought a pitched battle for the final podium spot with Chris Jones (Champion System) and Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling).
Jones would go on to take third, Johnson rolled in for fourth, and Jacques-Maynes took fifth.
Sunday the sun came out in coastal Mass., and the women’s field looked to see who could unseat Natasha Elliott. The answer: nobody.
A leading group of five established itself early on featuring: Elliott, Maureen Bruno-Roy (MM Racing p/b Seven Cycles), Laura Van Gilder (C3 Sollay), Amy Dombroski (Richard Sachs/RGM Watches/Radix), and Sally Annis (Hub Racing).
As the race wore on it was a battle of attrition, as mechanicals and mistakes took their toll on the front group, which was reduced to just Bruno-Roy, Elliott and Van Gilder. Then Bruno-Roy slid out in a turn and lost touch with her two companions. Elliott pushed the pace but Van Gilder held steady, knowing that if she could take Elliott to the line in a sprint, she was sure to win.
But luck is riding with Elliott these days, and Van Gilder flatted with 1K to go, giving Elliott a comfortable win. Van Gilder held on for second and Bruno-Roy took third.
In Sunday’s men’s race, all eyes again were on Johnson. Was his shoulder okay enough to battle for the win? Was Page just too strong for everyone?
Johnson denied he deliberately took Page down, and chalked up Page’s crash to just the normal slings and arrows that go along with racing.
In the early going Sunday, it was Johnson’s teammate Jeremy Powers who took the lead, followed by Page. Soon though, Johnson made contact with the pair, and a third of the way through the race the final Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com rider, Jamey Driscoll, also had made his way to the front.
Page was outnumbered three to one against the powerful trio, but it took a bit of drama to decide the destiny of this contest.
Entering the course’s sandpit with three laps to go, Johnson and Page bumped into each other. Page tumbled to the ground and Johnson was able to continue and open a gap. That was enough for Johnson to ride away and take his first win of the season.
Page recovered enough to hold on to second, with Powers in third and Driscoll fourth.
But after the race, a clearly unhappy Page alleged Johnson cut his front wheel on the way into the sandpit, then dishonorably attacked when Page crashed. Johnson denied he deliberately took Page down and chalked up Page’s crash to just the normal slings and arrows that come with racing.
Whatever the truth, Day Two at Gloucester marked the end of Page’s Stateside foray. He returns to Europe to contest the World Cup circuit from his base in Belgium. He won’t return to the U.S. until nationals in December, when Sandgate should be long forgotten.
Compton on her way to a solo win, in grand style, in round one of the cross World Cup in Italy. Photo: cyclephotos.co.uk
UCI Cyclocross World Cup Round 1, Treviso, Italy
No more warm-ups in Euroland—this is the real stuff.
The first World Cup race marks the true start of the Euro cross season, and pretty much all the big guns lined up in Italy to see who’s on form and who needs to do some more homework.
In the men’s race, World Champ Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) dominated his peers, beating second-placed Zdenek Stybar (Telenet-Fidea) by 42 seconds, while Belgian Klaas Vantornout (Sunweb Pro Job) came in third.
The men’s race was perhaps most notable by the terrible performance of Belgian national champion Sven Nys, the world’s most dominant cyclocrosser the past several years.
Nys pulled out halfway through the race, later telling the press: “Don’t ask me what is wrong because I don’t know.”
Don’t count the 34-year-old out yet. There’s plenty of time for Nys to get things on the right track. But no doubt his slow start is worrisome to his followers.
In the women’s race in Italy, American Katie Compton showed why she has many cycling wags saying she’s the favorite to win the World Championships this January in Tabor, Czech Republic.
Compton rode away from her elite competition, besting Dutchwoman Daphny Van Den Brand and France’s Christel Ferrier-Bruneau by a comfortable margin. Consistency will be the challenge for Compton, as she’s struggled in the past with a mysterious leg cramping problem that’s totally derailed her racing and training at points over the last few seasons.
Hopefully, the Yank has it all figured out and will continue to march toward her first Worlds title.
Other news
Oregon’s famed Cross Crusade series kicked off this past Sunday in Portland with 1,400 racers taking part in the opening day’s racing.
That’s right, 1,400 mad cyclocross fanatics. The Cross Crusade is prestigious enough too that none other than national champ Ryan Trebon (Kona) toed the start line. Actually Trebon did two races Sunday, winning the single-speed race first, then going on to take the men’s A race later.
On the women’s side, local pro Wendy Williams (Hudz-Subaru) took the W.
Finally, a big congrats to local NYC boy Andrew Crooks for his 31st place at Gloucester on Day One. The proprietor of NYC Velo, Crooks took 31st in a more than respectable midpack finish against some of the nation’s toughest racers.
Way to go, Andrew!
Ian Landau is a contributing editor to CyclingReporter.com. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is a familiar face at road and cyclocross races up and down the East Coast.
