French champ rallies in Redmond

Francis Mourey (Française des Jeux) put American cyclo-cross to the test with an outstanding performance at the nation's season opener StarCrossed p/b Stanley held in Redmond, Washington on Saturday night. The French national champion won a two-man sprint ahead of Ryan Trebon (KONA-FSA) while defending champion Christian Huele (Rendementhypo Cycling Team) rounded out the podium in third.

"Star Crossed was a great event, very wet but a lot of fun with great crowds," said Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) who placed fifth on the day. "I overcame a lot of obstacles today but for the first race it was a very exciting one."

The men started their 60-minute StarCrossed race under the dark evening skies at the King County's Marymoor Park and Velodrome. The event marked the first of eight rounds in the North American Cyclo-cross Trophy (NACT) series.

Among the stellar line up was Mourey, Trebon and Huele, plus Page, Barry Wicks (KONA-FSA), Troy Wells, Derrick St-John (Garneau Club Chaussure Ogilvy), Adam Craig (Giant) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain). Noticeably absent from the field was the Cannondale-Cyclorossworld.com trio who were competing in various other races around the country including the USA Cycling Pro Championships held in Greenville, South Carolina.

Mourey showed his European 'cross pedigree when he opened up a sizable lead in the first 10 minutes of the race. Some 20 seconds back, Page dug deep to reduce the margin to the leader. Trebon found the legs to catch and pass Page for second place, both on the hunt to reel in Mourey. When the trio finally united starved-for-cross fans turned wild under the beer tent at the sight of a tactical start to the first race of the season.

Mid-race, Trebon did much of the work for he and Mourey to establish a slim lead ahead Page. Several laps later, Craig and Huele assumed the third and fourth place spots in the chase for the two leaders. Trebon orbited the final lap with Mourey in tow. The Frenchman made his winning move in the final hundred metres on the Velodrome in a two-up sprint to the line.

Nash opens NACT series with a win

Katerina Nash (Luna) kicked off her cyclo-cross season with a solo victory at Starcrossed p/b Stanley, the world-class 'crosser finishing with nearly a 40-second margin ahead of Wendy Simms (KONA-FSA) in second and Sue Butler (Hudz-Subaru) in third.

The twilight event marked the first of eight rounds in the North American Cyclo-cross Trophy (NACT) series as Nash's win gave her the early series lead.

Fifty of the nation's top cyclo-cross specialists lined up under buckets of rain to start their 45-minute race. Highlighting the call ups was former Canadian national champ Wendy Simms (KONA-FSA) who has returned to competition after taking time season off to welcome her first child into the world.

Defending champion Helen Wyman was not on the start line but last year's runner up Sue Butler (HUDZ-Subaru) was ready for a battle against Nash, defending NACT winner Natasha Elliott (Garneau Club Chaussure Ogilvy), Kari Studley (Redline), Wendy Williams (River City Bicycles) and Barbara Howe (Ibis and the Danger Twins).

Butler is known for her aggressive starts and set the tone of the race early on by forging a path through the slippery mud that only Nash, Studley and Simms could follow. Nash muscled past the small group and gained a solo lead roughly 20 minutes into the race. She had an outstanding season last year, winning the Roubaix World Cup in France and placing fourth at the UCI World Championships in the Czech Republic.

Nash extended her lead to roughly 30 seconds ahead of Simms and several additional seconds to Butler. Behind the three leaders a group of top ten contenders rallied together to Howe, Elliott, Studley, Williams, Devon Haskell (Bike Station Aptos), Mical Dyck (Trek Canada / Terrascape Racing), Linda Sone (Planet Bike) and Alice Pennington (Team S&M).

Results