Compton solos to victory in Kentucky

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Katie Compton (Planet Bike) opened the Cyclo-cross Festival’s three rounds with a convincing victory at the Cyclo-Stampede p/b Darkhorse Racing held in Covington, Kentucky.

Sue Butler (Hudz-Subaru) muscled her way into a solo second place finish followed by Deirdre Winfield (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes) in third.

"This is just a really fun weekend of racing, all the courses are very different and fun to race," said Compton who won the trio of races for four consecutive years. "And it's a beautiful part of the country to spend a weekend in during the Fall. I look forward to coming back every year."

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Butler starts fast and finishes strong

Sue Butler (Hudz-Subaru) is well known for her fast starts straight out of the gates. She took the hole shot onto the grass and led the line a cyclo-cross contenders around the first lap of the highly demanding circuit.

According to Compton, it was Butler’s gutsy first lap that caused a considerable amount of separation amongst the field that included Maureen Bruno Roy (Bob’s Red Mill-Seven Cycle), Deidre Winfield (C3-Athletes Serving Athletes) and the young Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com).

"All of them got off to a good start and set the pace initially," Compton said. "They all rode well and strong 'til Sue attacked and broke up the group. Sue is riding really well right now."

Compton attacked at the start of the first lap and opened up a sizable lead. The course offered a wide variety of terrain from steep inclines to fast and technical descents and loose dirt. Antonneau fell victim to the circuit’s dirt sections when she crashed out of the lead chase group and was forced to ride a broken brake lever for most of the lap.

"It was super good training, lots if suffering, a good run-up and good power sections," Compton said. "There was a lot of climbing for a cross race but they followed it up with fun quick descents too."

"It was all hard, super bumpy and either uphill or downhill and fast," she added. "The dirt was fairly slippery so that made it more technical than it looked so you had to use a lot of finesse to get through the turns quickly. There was a good balance of turns and power, it all suited my strengths fairly well."

Compton’s increased her margin over the chase group all the way into the finish line where she won her 43rd UCI victory. Butler attacked her chase companions up a steep paved hill and rode in for second place ahead of Winfield in third.

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