Trebon bounces back to win Jingle Cross day 2

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Ryan Trebon (Kona-FSA) took a commanding victory at the UCI C2 Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock 2 held at the Johnson Fairgrounds on Saturday. The former national champion proved strongest on the circuit’s lengthy ascent, winning the race alone by more than 30 seconds ahead of Todd Wells (Specialized) and Chris Jones (Rapha-Focus).

“I’m really happy with this win, it’s always nice to win,” Trebon said. “Plus everyone is riding really well. The events are also putting together really nice courses so it’s good.”

Race organizers held Jingle Cross Rock 2 on a similar but longer version of the previous day’s course. Starting in the parking lot, the field headed under the fly-over and rolled down a descent. A group of four riders emerged early on that include Trebon, Wells, Jones and Barry Wicks (Kona-FSA). Noticeably absent from the race was the previous day’s winner Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) who took the day off to rest up for Sunday’s UCI Category 1 event.

“There weren’t any sections where you could pedal really hard because the course was really twisty,” Trebon said. “There were a lot of gravel turns and the whole race was about the climb. I took that and used it to my advantage.”

The men pushed onward through the Grinch’s Lair, a deep sand pit located between the fairground buildings. The course spread out over the long straightaways located in the fields at the back end of the course where riders contested a set of barriers. Trebon turned up the pace a notch every lap over the circuit’s Mt. Krumpit run-up that was followed by a lengthy but ridable ascent.

“It was a good long run up and that is where the whole race played out, at least for me,” Trebon said. “I think that’s where I could take advantage on everybody. I was getting 10 seconds a lap on that climb. It wasn’t too long, probably about 20 seconds up the run up but then it continued up hill for another minute or so. It was a really hard course but I train a lot for running and felt good.”

Trebon may have gained time each lap on the run up but he took the following descent gingerly to avoid a crash like the previous day. Wells was the last rider able to hang on to Trebon’s uphill tempo but he too fell off the pace with three laps to go and was forced to settle for second place.

“Jones bobbled on an off camber climb with three laps to go,” Trebon said. “I put a little bit of effort in before the climb and Todd was with me but I ran the uphill fast and got about 15 seconds on Todd over the climb. Then I just kept pushing to gain more time and kept rolling until the finish.”

Jones rolled to the finish line with a second consecutive third place. Trebon’s teammate Wicks placed fifth ahead of Tristan Schouten
(Cyclocrossracing.com/Blue/Rolf), Mark LaLonde (Specialized), Troy Wells (Clif Bar), Nick Weighall (Cal Giant) and Brian Matter (Gear Grinder).

“I tried to attack those guys and hit some ice and crashed into a tree,” Jones said. “It was a little bit of a bummer because by the time I got untangled Ryan got a pretty big gap and I couldn’t pull them back.”

The Elite men will conclude the weekend of racing at the UCI C1 Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock 3 on Sunday.