Wells wins Colorado Springs US Cup

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Todd Wells (Specialized Factory Racing) won the final round of the USA Cycling US Cup Pro Series presented by Sho-Air Cycling Group in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Saturday afternoon. In the final series standings, Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox) won the series title belt.

After a fast start, it was Colombian Colorado Springs local Hector Fernando Rivero who emerged first out of the tricky climb and bombed the downhill, followed by another local in Russel Finsterwald (SRAM/Troy Lee Design), Keegan Swenson and Max Plaxton (both Cannondale Factory Racing), and Todd Wells (Specialized Factory Racing). These five were quickly joined by another five to form a 10-man lead group that would stay together for most of the first lap.

Swenson, Finsterwald and Raphael Gagne (Rocky Mountain Factory Racing) then got a gap, with Plaxton, series leader Geoff Kabush (Scott 3 Rox Racing), Mitchell Hoke (The Pro’s Closet/Stan’s), and Kabush bringing up the chase group. Plaxton would be first to make contact until Wells took the lead to force the pace on lap two.

The surprise of the early moves was that series leader Kabush had missed out on the lead group in the early laps.

On lap three, Wells and Finsterwald pressed on to gain a lead and were subsequently joined by Plaxton and Gagne, all riders who either live at altitude or were recently at altitude in preparation for the Colorado Springs finale. The next time through, the two again forced a move, with Plaxton finally forced to chase it down. Plaxton had to this point been content to stay just off the third wheel, but when the move went, he was forced to come around fellow Canadian Gagne to pull it back.

Finally, Wells attacked hard on a false flat to go off alone. At the start of last lap, Wells flew through the start/finish in his best aero position with a minute lead. Plaxton and Finsterwald were left to chase in vain, as Wells showed no signs of tiring.

"I got a small separation on the fourth or fifth lap, and I was hoping Finsty would come back but I think it took a bit too much out of him," said Wells. "I knew Kabush needed to finish 11th or worse and he doesn’t finish 11th on even his worst day."

Finsterwald said, "I had high ambitions here as this course is only 30 minutes from my house. The goal was just to be at the front and push it hard to put pressure on everyone. Todd hit it super hard and I just had nothing in the tank to go with him."

With the Specialized riders clearly out front and headed toward the victory, Kabush seemed to have found another gear, steadily working his way up to give the calculators and spreadsheets a rest. The Canadian clawed his way past rider after rider to eventually take second with a sprint to the line with Gagne. Plaxton would finish in fourth, making it a very Canadian podium with riders in second, third and fourth. Filling out the day’s podium was Finsterwald who rode a gutsy race.

The day’s result would be the final standing of the top two overall, with Kabush (121 points) taking the overall win of series, just 12 points in front of Wells (109 points). Plaxton took third (92 points), Zandstra fourth (69 points) and Sho-Air / Cannondale’s Jeremiah Bishop rounded out the podium in fifth (62 points).

Kabush said, "I felt pretty steady but not super so I was being conservative for a few laps but by the middle of the race I felt stronger and stronger. I was surprised the gap got out to over a minute but I knew I could keep those guys in sight and I’d be ok."

"I'm really excited for my Scott 3 Rox Racing Team to take home the belt for this first US Cup. It’s great to see the excitement building for cross country racing here in the US, and I’m also excited to take home this title. It’s definitely great to take home a big check as well, so big thanks to Scott Tedro for putting all of this together."

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