Wells claims final race, JHK takes the weekend's GC

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Georgia Gould's USA Cycling Pro XCT title was already in the bag before today's final XCC circuit race, but she went out and won again today by 25 seconds over Katie Compton (Planet Bike).

Willow Koerber (Subaru-Trek) had to ride much of the race in no-man's land but took third place as Pua Sawicki (Okole Stuff.com) finished fourth in one of her best races of the year while Chloe Forsman (Tokyo Joes) capped off a terrific weekend with fifth place.

The format of today's Carmichael Training Systems XCC race was to ride a two-kilometer course for 30 minutes plus five laps. The men rode for 45 minutes plus five laps. The course began with a steep paved uphill, followed by over a kilometer of twisty non-technical singletrack, finishing with a doubletrack run into the finish. Passing was somewhat difficult with the exception of the portion on pavement.

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Mary McConneloug (Kenda-Seven-No Tubes) got the hole shot but it was Koerber who was first into the singletrack. She set a blistering pace that even caught Gould and Compton off guard. Over the next couple laps, Gould and Compton established themselves as the race leaders with Koerber, Sawicki, and Forsman essentially riding their own time trials.

"This race reminded me a lot of the first couple years I did Sea Otter and they had something called super cross country. I think that shorter laps make it more spectator friendly... I'm all for it," said Gould.

When asked about winning USA Cycling's Pro XCT series, she said, "It was a lot of stiff competition throughout the season. I'm really psyched."

Wells wins going away

In an exciting finish, Todd Wells (Specialized) opened a gap on Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski with just two laps to go to take an 18-second victory. Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), who had ridden with the leaders, made a small bobble near the end of the race that relegated him to third place.

Ryan Trebon (Kona), always aggressive in these types of races, finished fourth as Sam Schultz (Subaru-Gary Fisher) rode the first few laps with the leaders but could not hold their pace and eventually took the last spot on the podium.

It was no surprise to anyone that Trebon quickly went to the front of the race and tried to blow it apart. Often sprinting out of the saddle, it quickly became apparent that only JHK, Kabush and Wells could hang with him. During the middle of the race, virtually everyone in this group could be seen leading at one time or another.

With four laps to go, both Trebon and Schultz had slipped off the back and a gap emerged between the two of them. Kabush led JHK and Wells and was not going to give up the lead voluntarily.

With three laps to go, Wells and JHK came through the start-finish area together while Kabush experienced a small problem in the woods that cost him a few seconds. With two to go, Wells had opened about a 50-foot lead over JHK. On the final climb up the pavement, JHK gave it his best shot but was not able to chase down Wells.

When asked about his weekend, Wells said, "The stage race did not start out the way that I thought it would. It's been kind of a struggle. I thought I had the Pro XCT wrapped up but then I flatted the first day and had to start the next race in 37th place while Kabush was second.

"I had a pretty good ride yesterday (in the cross country) and today went well also," he said.

Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski won the Carmichael Training Systems stage race, saying, "I've always liked stage races. I wish we did more of them. I've always tended to do pretty well in them. I recover pretty well between days but today's race was a little long for a circuit race."

Next weekend most of the top American mountain bike racers will compete for national championship titles in Granby, Colorado. On defending his jersey, JHK said, "I'm looking forward to next week but it's going to be super hard.

"Obviously Todd is riding really well, and Sam [Schultz] and Trebon are coming on. It's going to be hard, but it's supposed to be hard."

Full Results - stage 3