Johnson wins final day at Jingle Cross Rock

Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) won Sunday’s UCI C1 event at the Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Rock, a Midwestern cyclo-cross institution, held in Iowa City, Iowa. Johnson was hungry for success after failing to make the podium on Saturday, and rode aggressively from the start, to win by nearly a minute.

“It was definitely my kind of course,” said Johnson. “I like when it’s hard even when you are not pedaling. Yesterday was tough to get going, but I felt like I had everything I needed today.”

Despite recovering from a cold, Ryan Trebon (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) took over at the front of the race midway through the first lap. Logan Owen (California Giant-Specialized) and Johnson joined Trebon, and the three riders pushed hard for the next two laps. Trebon was not up to his usual standards and decided to drop out shortly into the race. “I felt fine for the first two laps, and I was able to follow Tim and Logan,” said Trebon. “Tim rode a really hard for half a lap, and it just put me a bit over my limit. I couldn’t recover and it was all downhill from there.”

Johnson and Owen ran a 10 second lead over a chase group that included Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus), Ben Berden (Raleigh-Clement), Allen Krugoff (Raleigh-Clement), Yannick Eckmann (California Giant-Specialized), and Curtis White (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com). Owen and Johnson worked well together, but a tactical error cost Owen a few valuable seconds and enabled Johnson to get a gap. “I just made the mistake of pitting too early when I was up in front with Tim,” said Owen. “I should have waited.”

Powers caught Owen, and almost made contact at the base of Mt. Krumpit when Johnson went on the attack. “Jeremy was just coming up, I knew he had made a big effort, so I knew I had to keep the pressure on, or else Jeremy would have been able to rest on our wheel,” said Johnson. “I just tried to make that two laps as hard as I possibly could. I think that was the gap that stuck.”

Powers chased, but he could not make any progress on Johnson’s 10-second lead. Fatigued from his wins in the preceding days, Powers sat up and waited for the chase group to come buy. Powers latched onto the chase, which now included Berden, Owen, and Jamie Driscoll (Raleigh-Clement.)

As Johnson built up his lead, Powers rested in the chase group before going on the offensive to lock up second place. “I took two laps to recover, and then I put together the last half lap,” said Powers. “That was the best I could do, and salvage second place.”

Ben Berden crossed the line in third, followed by Logan Owen in fourth and Jamie Driscoll in fifth.

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