Trebon triumphs on day two of Cincy3 weekend

The nation’s top three cyclo-cross racers put on a show at the Java Johnny’s Lionhearts International, round two of the Cincy3 Cyclo-cross Festival, but in the end it was Ryan Trebon (LTS-Felt) who came up with the victory. The Oregon native soloed to the finish line ahead of Tim Johnson (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) in second and Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) in third.

“I’ve never won this race,” Trebon told Cyclingnews. “There were a lot of turns, it was fast and pretty flat. There were a lot of punchy little corners and it would normally suit guys like Tim or Jeremy better than myself. I felt like I was riding well today, the bikes were good and everything seemed to be working good. I’m happy that I was riding well, that I felt good on the bike and everything was jiving well. I get satisfaction out of that, maybe more than winning. I’m happy to be feeling good and riding well. I want to continue to improve.”

The Cincy3 Cyclo-cross Festival’s Java Johnny’s Lionhearts International was held at the Sunset Park, a relatively flatter course than the previous day’s grind through the Cyclo-Stampede venue held at the Devou Park. “There were a couple of humps built into the perimeter of the park course to keep things interesting,” said festival promoter Mitch Graham. “This track favored faster, tighter racing with lots of tight turns.”

Trebon and Johnson entered into two-man battle for much of the first half of the Elite men’s 60-minute race. The pair opened up a small lead ahead of a series of strong competitors including the previous day’s winner Powers along with Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) and Ben Berden (Stoemper).

Trebon managed to gradually open a small time margin ahead of Johnson and his gap continued to increase as the race progressed into the second half and all the way to the finish line. “I was riding quick and Tim was behind me, about two seconds apart,” Trebon said. “I kept applying pressure on certain sections of the course and kept getting gaps. I never really attacked anywhere. There were so many turns out there, one after another the whole way around. I was able to get into the turns quicker and was quicker accelerating out of them, those things add up eventually.”

With the top two places sewn up by Trebon and Johnson, the chasing duo Powers and Berden continued on in pursuit of third place, scooped up by Powers. Berden finished the race in fourth on the day. “Yesterday’s course was hard, so hilly and the mud was heavy,” Trebon said. “That could have just taken some out of him [Powers] for today.”

The racing will continue at the Cincy3 Cyclo-cross Festival UCI C1 Harbin Park in Ohio. “People are definitely putting more emphasis on it because the points and prize money double,” Trebon said. “I’ve never won on that course, actually I’ve been beat by Jeremy every time I’ve raced there. It has always been a super close race. It is a good course and very challenging and the strongest person always wins out there.”