Nash wins again at the Cincy3 Festival

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Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) won her second consecutive race of Toyota Cincy3 CX Festival, and her first UCI C1 event of the year, at Saturday’s Kings CX Night Race. It was Nash’s last opportunity to race at Cincy3 since she does not qualify for the Pan-American Championship race being held at Devou Park in Covington, KY on Sunday.

“I should take a break a lot more often,” said Nash. “I kind of recovered after mountain bike season and I felt really good again today. It’s a good start to the cross season. I’m excited since I’ve been second here a few times and it’s nice to finally take the win.”

Courtenay McFadden (GE Capital-American Classic) was first through the hole-shot, but it was Katie Compton (Trek Factory Racing) who took control early in the first lap. Unfortunately Compton’s run of bad luck continued when she suffered a mechanical over the first set of barriers.

“It was a tough day at the office,” said Compton. “I got a great start, I was feeling good, and then dropped my chain again and had shifting issues. I was so far back, and I thought about chasing through the group, but getting by some of the back-runners is frustrating, and hard to say the least, and I didn’t want to chase through the group again.”

Compton suffered a mechanical on the start line at Harbin Park on Friday, and chased from last to sixth place over the course of the race. Compton withdrew from the Kings CX race to focus her efforts on Sunday’s Pan-Am Championship.

Nash took advantage of the chaos around Compton’s mishap, and moved to the front of the race with Rachel Lloyd (California Giant/Specialized.) The pair proceeded to put build a gap on the field, but after one lap Lloyd fell of the pace, leaving Nash to forge ahead by herself once again.

Nash rode consistently the remainder of the race and built a sizeable lead over a chase group comprised of Lloyd, Catharine Pendrel (Luna Pro Team), and Meredith Miller (Noosa Professional Cyclocross.)

Lloyd, who underwent eye surgery earlier this year, was having trouble seeing throughout the course and was happy to let Pendrel take the lead.

“Rachel was telling me that she couldn’t see in the dark, but she saw pretty good at the end, so I don’t know about that. Maybe I was getting used a little bit, but it’s all good,” laughed Pendrel. “I felt happy with the way I rode. Technically, and physically I just needed to be able to stay on the gas for a little bit longer to actually snap it, but I’m really happy with third, it was a good strong race.”

Miller, recently back from a cold, joined the two chasers mid-race, but could not maintain steady contact in the closing laps. Nash crossed the line with a comfortable 27-second time gap, and had plenty of time to high five the fans lining the way to the finish.

With half a lap to go Lloyd passed Pendrel in the hilly “Camel Back” section of the course and led the two into the sprint. Lloyd, a veteran of the U.S. cyclocross circuit for the last decade, found the extra gear she needed to take the sprint and finish second.

“I don’t feel like I have a sprint yet, but I just buried myself to the line and managed to hold her off,” said Lloyd. “I think she [Pendrel] did so much more work in the race she was a little more tired.”

Pendrel finished, third followed by Miller in fourth. Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale- Cyclocrossworld.com) recovered in the second half of the race and pushed through the field to finish fifth.

Toyota Cincy3 CX Festival racing continues on Sunday November 2nd with the Pan American Cyclocross Championship at Devou Park in Covington, KY. The Pan American Cyclocross Championship begins at 12:00 EST with the U23 Women’s race, and concludes at 3:00 EST with the Elite Women’s race.

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