Nash wins duel with Gould for US Cup win in Colorado Springs

Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) 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 as well as the overal series title.

The elite women started off for seven laps of the high altitude course around Pulpit Rock on CCSU land, with Pike’s Peak as a backdrop. The start was a predictable sight, with Luna Pro Team’s Catharine Pendrel and Katerina Nash leading the large field up the first climb. However, it would be Mexico’s Daniel Campuzano first down the hill after the mid-course tight climb and its subsequent tricky descent. Campuzano had crashed while training earlier in the week and sported some nice road rash, but rode a tough, gutsy race throughout the day.

After stringing a lead group of 15 women into the back section on city land, where Nash and Gould forced a selection that only Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing) could close down. Gould slalomed into the lead just outside of the start/finish area, while a chasing Pendrel fought back to rejoin near the hairpin turn towards the first passage of the finish line. Erin Huck (Tokyo Joe’s) briefly chased onto this elite group only to drop off the pace on the second descent. She would spend the rest of the race in no-woman’s-land, fighting the wind, heat and altitude alone.

Gould attacked hard on lap two, only to pay for the effort by dropping back on lap four. By the fifth lap, a regrouping took place to give Luna a three-to-one advantage over Batty. At this point, Gould pushed hard again to gain a sizeable lead.

On the next lap, Nash attacked hard, possibly sensing Gould slowing, but certainly knowing that Batty couldn’t follow her. Her attack was so fierce that she clipped a fence, momentarily bobbling before regaining speed in pursuit of teammate Gould. Nash then caught and cleared past her teammate to take the win ahead of Gould, Batty and Pendrel.

"We obviously have the numbers and were riding super strong and you have to be respectful of your teammates," said Nash. "It was pretty clear that Emily wasn’t going to be able to chase so at one point I felt I had enough in the tank to get away from Emily and Kathy."

Gould said, "The course was really hard - it was a tactical race. People would go hard at the start and it would come back together on the flatter faster parts. I’ve had an on and off year don’t have the confidence I was hoping for. I just wanted to make it a good hard race and prepare for the national championships that are coming up."

Behind, Huck pushed hard to hold off a late challenge for the final podium spot from Campuzano, while Backcountry.com teammates Evelyn Dong and Chloe Woodruff joined forces to pace home in seventh and eighth place, respectively.

The women’s overall standings for the USA Cycling US Cup didn’t change at all in the final round other than point totals, with Nash (137 points) staying in the lead ahead of teammate Pendrel (117 points), with Batty (107 points) spoiling the Luna Pro Team’s party ahead of Georgia Gould (97 points). Backcountry.com’s Evelyn Dong (80 points) confirmed her breakout performance with a fine fifth overall.

"Georgia did a great job and I barely got to her in the end, so a great day for the team. The overall win is kind of emotional for me. I’ve raced for a really, really long time and it’s the very first time I’ve won an overall cross country series," said Nash. "I’m excited that the series came back the way it used to look. After all these years, it’s kind of humbling to come back and have and awesome series with a great payout and to hopefully do my job to inspire young racers."

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