Hudz-Subaru secures first and second in Jingle Cross Rock 2

Amanda Miller (Hudz-Subaru) captured a convincing victory at the UCI Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock 2 held at the Johnson Fairgrounds in Iowa City on Saturday. She attacked over Mt. Krumpit on the first lap and soloed to the finish line more than 30 seconds ahead of her teammate Nicole Duke who placed second and Devon Haskell (Bike Station Aptos) in third.

"I was really happy for Amanda because this is her hometown thing and she had an amazing race," Duke said of her teammate's victory. "She crushed it with a really solid race. She actually hurt her knee yesterday and wasn't sure how she would feel but obviously she felt great."

The Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross weekend hosted Rock 2 on a similar but longer version of the previous day's course. Organizers and course designers threw in a few new sections to challenge the Elite women's field during their 40-minute race.

Starting in the parking lot, the field headed under the fly-over and barreled down a descent. The women looped back around to run over the fly-over and into the Grinch's Lair 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. ‘Crossers headed up and over Mt. Krumpit where Amanda Miller made her winning attack late into the first lap.

"She and I started out together and then she just pulled away from me on the climb," Duke said. "She just started getting gaps and was so strong today."

Miller maintained a 30-second lead ahead of her nearest chaser Meredith Miller, who won the previous day's race, followed by teammate Duke. Haskell was next in line some 20 seconds back.

Miller secured her victory with a large advantage in front of a hometown crowd. Duke rode in for her second consecutive second place after Meredith Miller rolled a tire with two laps to go and fell behind.

"I rolled the tire on a small descent with a tight left-hand turn that went back up the hill," Miller said. "I had never rolled a tire before and when I came around the turn I couldn't pedal. The spectators were yelling out to me that I had a rolled tire. I was able to put it back on but I had to go down a fast descent to get to the pit and it freaked me out that I didn't have a tire glued on."

Miller restarted with a spare bike and caught up to Haskell. The pair were racing for third place and close, but not close enough, to reeling in Duke towards the end of the final lap. An unfortunate crash on the last lap took Miller out of contention for third place and Haskell secured the final spot on the podium.

"I had too much speed and went down and Devon got third," Miller said. "I was really tired by that point and that really set me back."

The Elite women's racing will continue at the UCI C1 Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock 3 held at the Johnson Fairgrounds on Sunday.