Nash repeats in CrossVegas

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Katarina Nash (Luna Pro Team) claimed her second consecutive CrossVegas victory, opening her 2011-2012 cyclo-cross season with another dominating performance on an uncharacteristically soggy Las Vegas course.

Nash claimed the top spot by riding away from the field from the second lap, coming in a dozen seconds ahead of Amy Dombroski (Crankbrothers) and Kelli Emmett (Giant)

Heavy overnight rains turned the normally fast, dry grass into a spongy, power-sucking shag carpet that favoured the powerful Czech champion.

"The conditions out there today really felt like a cross race," said Nash "It was interesting to add the wet element. CrossVegas has really become the classic of cyclocross. It's great to win in front of so many enthusiastic people."

While Nash's Luna teammate Georgia Gould lit up the first lap, helping to separate the pair from a star-studded field by the start of the second lap, the American would fade from the front after a few ill-timed mistakes, leaving Nash to solo away to glory.

Gould was swept up by a hard-charging chase group led by Dombroski on the final lap and didn't have enough left in the tank for the four-rider sprint. She claimed fifth behind Meredith Miller (California Giant Berry/Specialized).

"Georgia and I were working together keeping the gap," Nash said. "Perhaps I was keeping a faster pace than Georgia could maintain today. Georgia and I didn't talk before the race. We have raced together enough times to know what to expect from each other. We did talk during the race though. We talked about working together to maintain a gap."

Dombroski said she was in a bad position when the Luna pair's winning move went away, but had good cooperation from her chase group companions.

"I realized that the two blueberries were riding away so I tried to bridge it myself and then everyone started working together. It was me, Kelli, I think Meredith was there. I thought we might catch them because they were right there but Katerina is fast."

Dombroski wasn't able to shake them in the final lap, but was able to take second in the sprint over Emmett after a concerted effort.

"I didn't know how close she was, I was just going as hard as I could."

"I was just watching everyone and seeing what their weakness were out there," commented Emmett. "I was really feeling good. I knew my fitness was good, It was just a matter of finding the right opportunity."