Driscoll doubles up at Jingle Cross

Jamey Driscoll's decision to skip round two of the three-round weekend series paid off with a convincing victory at the UCI C1 Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock 3, held at the Johnson Fairgrounds in Iowa City on Sunday. The New England native won the race with nearly 30 seconds to spare ahead of Todd Wells (Specialized) in second and Chris Jones (Rapha-Focus) in third.

"My primary reason for not racing yesterday was to rest but I also got to do some studying," said the Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com rider, who is a mechanical engineering student at the University of Vermont. "Winning this race was less about the C1 points and the money and more about getting in better racing with more rest to prepare better.

"I'm psyched to get two wins this weekend, on Friday and today," he continued. "I think it was also good prep for nationals which is a lot of anxiety and you have a lot more time to think about the race and the course so it was good mental prep for nationals."

Driscoll attacked from the gun and gained a ten-second lead ahead of the previous day's winner Ryan Trebon (Kona-FSA), who was the predominant pace-setter behind.

"I jumped in the first few minutes of the race because I know that racing against Trebon is hard and the kind of tactics you have to play are more with his mind," said Driscoll. "I saw that he bobbled so getting a gap on him, even if I had to go into the red zone to maintain the gap, was going to play to my advantage at the end of the race."

Trebon nearly closed the gap to Driscoll on several occasions during the first three laps. He was caught by Wells mid-race and the pair yo-yoed between 10 and 30 seconds, never fully making contact with Driscoll. Trebon rolled his tyre on the Mt. Krumpit descent during the final lap and half of the race and was caught and passed by Jones.

"I had to worry about Todd Wells because he was coming on really strong and was dealing with some sections better than I was," Driscoll explained. "He would gain time on me in some sections and then I would gain time back on him in other sections."

Driscoll powered through the course's technical corners and off cambre sections, down a steep descent, through the lengthy straightaways and over the Mt. Krumpit flawlessly, something he attributes to his success on the day.

"I made very little mistakes which was a big help," Driscoll said. "I felt like the climb was really hard and I was suffering there toward the end. The climb and the descent were good to have on the course because other than that there was nothing super demanding, it was super flat. There were more long straightaways where I felt fatigued because there was less rest."

Driscoll pushed to the finish line and a commanding victory, ahead of chaser Wells. Jones hung on for his third consecutive third place of the weekend ahead of Trebon, Troy Wells (Clif Bar), Tristan Schouten (Cyclocrossracing.com/Blue/Rolf), Zach McDonald (Rapha-Focus), Brian Matter (Gear Grinder), Barry Wicks (Kona-FSA) and Nick Weighall (Cal Giant-Specialized), who rounded out the top ten.

"I was doing well on the technical stuff but it was hard for me to tell because I wasn't around anyone," Driscoll said. "Todd was probably doing better on the descents because he is a very good technical rider. I had enough of a tank to hold him off for the win."