Powers wins Trek CXC Cup 1

Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) and Jeremy Powers (Aspire Racing) took commanding wins at the Trek CXC Cup 1 on Saturday in Waterloo, Wisconsin.

By the time the elite women and elite men hit the course, rain had given way to dry and fast course conditions.

Compton takes solo victory

Gabby Durrin (Neon Velo) took the hole shot and led the first lap of the elite women’s race. She was joined in the front group by Meredith Miller (Noosa Professional Cyclocross), Caroline Mani (Raleigh-Clement), and Nicole Duke (Marin-Spy).

The second lap saw a reshuffling of the front group with Mani, Miller, and Georgia Gould (Luna) all in attendance with Durrin driving the pace. Compton worked her way through the group and attacked at the start of the third lap.

Her attack forced Miller, Gould, Mani and Durrin to dig hard. It was to no avail as Compton glided through the Trek Off-Camber section and extended her lead.

“I had a bit of a tricky start. I recovered from that and then I spent the first bit trying to get through traffic,” said Compton. “I attacked on the second lap and then got a gap and just tried to put pressure on the run-ups. It was really fast, really windy, and it was getting hot out there on the last lap.”

With two laps to go, Compton had the race well in hand, and the chase group was left to fight for the remaining podium spots. After a bobble by Miller, Gould opened a gap on the run-up that she would hold to the line.

The chase splintered even further on the bell lap. Gould was firmly in second, Mani rode alone in third, while Miller and Durrin chased. Miller opened a small gap going into the barriers and held it to the finish.

Powers dominates men’s race

Wisconsin native Tristan Schouten grabbed the hole shot, but it wasn’t long before Jeremy Powers (Aspire Racing) took the lead that he would carry all the way to the finish line.

Powers entered the hilly section of the course with a six-second gap over the field led by Shawn Milne (Boulder Cycle-Sport/YogaGlo) and Jeremy Durrin (Neon Velo.)

For Powers, this was all part of his plan. “It felt great. This is a good course, really fast. There’s not a lot of places to find a ton of time so for me today I was thinking that it would be great to get out there and get a nice gap early and really establish myself,” said Powers.

“I didn’t want to come out in 13th place, or 20th place and have someone crash in front of me given how technical it was right at the start. I established a good gap and then ran with it. I built it up and then hung onto it. It was pretty turnkey; it was exactly what I expected from myself.”

With six to go, Powers rolled through the start finish comfortably off the front with two chasers, Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) and Milne, charging hard.

With Powers comfortably in the lead at three to go, the sparring for second continued as Milne launched an unsuccessful attack on the pavement through the start finish. Johnson waited for Milne to make a mistake before countering.

“As we were going along I could tell I had pretty good pace on him [Milne] so I’d get a couple seconds on him and he’d close it eventually,” said Johnson. “I was behind him and I was hoping he’d be pushing it, and maybe he’d take a risk that wouldn’t pay off. Sure enough, he ended up going down in one of the slippery corners.”

Powers stayed away for the solo win while Johnson took second, Milne third, Krughoff fourth and Berden fifth.

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