Wellens shows winning form in StarCrossed

Bart Wellens (Telenet-Fidea) took a convincing victory at the UCI C2 StarCrossed p/b Stanley a Brand of PMI held for the first time at Lake Sammamish Park in Issaquah, Washington. The former two-time world champion opened up a gap in the closing laps of the race and soloed to the finish line ahead of Ryan Trebon (LTS-Felt) in second and Jonathan Page (Planet Bike-Blue) in third.

“When you are that top quality of rider, like Bart, he will always have top form,” Trebon told Cyclingnews. “He is a hard racer to beat. I don’t think he is as fast as he can be, but he is riding very well. He was going good, a former world champion and world cup winner, he definitely has a better race resume than I do.”

StarCrossed p/b Stanley a Brand of PMI was held at a new venue Lake Sammamish Park. The Shimano Elite men’s field was treated to a challenging circuit that included Rapha-Focus barriers, Lazer Beach Helmets double sandpits and a fly-over, that was also used as the entrance to the lively beer garden.

Headliners included US National Champion Todd Wells (Specialized Racing), Rob Peeters (Telenet-Fidea), Ben Berden (Stoemper), Fabio Ursi (CS Esercito), Ryan Trebon (LTS-Felt), Jonathan Page (Planet Bike-Blue), Zac McDonald (Rapha-Focus). Noticeably absent from the start line was Cross After Dark series leader and CrossVegas winner Lars van der Haar (Rabobank Giant Offroad Team) and Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus).

“It was a dry, bumpy course today and fast,” Trebon said. “The most decisive part was the two sand pits and the rest was fast and twisty. We had a good group of 10 of us until four or five laps to go.”

The men started in dryer conditions, however, 60 percent chance of rain threatened to dampen the course. Trebon head out early to lead the men’s race in front of a long line of talented riders including Page, Berden and Wellens.

Berden initiated a strong move through the sand pit with roughly four laps to go followed by Trebon. Wellens and Page bridged across with three laps to go.

However, Wellens put more pressure on the small group through the first sand pit and opened a small lead. Trebon followed, roughly five seconds behind, through the second sand pit.

“He gapped me off and I couldn’t hang or close it on him and that was kind of the end of the race, with three laps to go,” Trebon said. “Wellens, Page and myself were together with three laps to but Bart rode the first sand section so well and he got a gap, and I got a gap on Page through the second sand section. We kind of stayed at the same gap until the end.”

Wellens dominated the closing laps of the race, reaching the finish line first ahead of Trebon and Page. Rounding out the top 10 places were Berden in fourth, Peeters in fifth, Ursi in sixth, Wells in seventh, Chris Sheppard and Evan Guthrie (Rocky Mountain) in eighth and ninth, and Aaron Schooler (Team H&R Block) in tenth.