Powers storms to second US 'cross championship

Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) had spent days pre-riding the course, weeks getting acclimated to Boulder's altitude, and years perfecting his technique and fitness. On Sunday at the US Cyclocross National Championships in Colorado, all Powers had to do was deliver. And deliver he did, sprinting to the holeshot in the first corner and holding the lead for 60 minutes until he had another national title to his name.

"It was an excellent course for me. It dried out perfect," said Powers of the course that was hit with 10 inches of snow just days before. "It had a lot of off-cambers, a lot of tricky, fast, tight turns. It suited me perfect." With a headwind blasting straight down on the field through the opening straight, Powers blasted off the line, head down.

"That was hard!" a gassed but smiling Trebon said at the finish. "Jeremy was going fast from the start. He had a little more bass than I did the whole race. I was just hanging on. I felt good – good enough for second. Jeremy was just on it. He was riding really good, just smooth."
Held at the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, the course was split in two, with sharp elevation gains in the first half and a flatter, serpentine track in the second half. Powers ran up the 24 wooden steps of the tall 5280 staircase, his bike held ‘suitcase' style at his side.

The taller Trebon would throw his bike over his shoulder, galloping up behind. Course organizers built a vicious, off-camber, curving descent off the top of the course after the stairs. Dubbed "Pete's Plunge," the section tore more than a couple tubulars off their rims throughout the week of racing, and caused scores of riders to slip out earlier in the week after 10 inches of snow blanketed the course. On Sunday in dry conditions, Pete's Plunge still claimed a few victims, and even Powers and Trebon would often stick a leg out as they railed around the steep, tufted corner.

'Cross veteran Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocross) had a disastrous start, getting knocked out of his pedal a split second after the gun fired. While his competitors sprinted up the dirt road, Johnson stuttered, pawing at his pedal to get going again. "It was huge. A start like that, it is so important. My foot that was already in the pedal got knocked out by the front wheel of somebody next to me. So there I was, no gas, no power. It took me a full lap to get back up to where I was," Johnson said. "The gap was already there. Obviously those guys were riding so strong, putting time on me every lap, so it's not like I lost the race because of that. Jeremy and Ryan are definitely the worthy top two riders today."

Johnson is a rarity in North America as a professional cyclocross racer; all the other top 'cross names in the US race road or mountainprofessionally. Johnson did hail from road, however, spending time on American and European squads.

Defending national champion Jonathan Page (Fuji-Spy Optics) was in contention early — joining Johnson and Allen Krughoff (Raleigh-Clement) in a second-lap pursuit of Powers and Trebon — but he faded to eventually finish sixth, 2:51 behind Powers. "Tim Johnson slipped out of his pedal, came over on me, so I was behind at the beginning. I never recovered from that really," Page said at the finish. "I tried my best. That's all I could do today."

Krughoff's Raleigh-Clement teammate Jamey Driscoll linked up with him in the closing laps, and the paired team time trialed through the wind, which was gusting up to 35mph/56kph. "It was really about straight-up fitness today," Driscoll said. "I was hoping to be up with (Powers and Trebon), but I don't know how I could have done that based on how I rode and how fast those guys were going."

Krughoff, who was enjoying his best-ever nationals finish, was laughing at the finish about the chaotic start. "There were guys slipping pedals, guys coming into each other. There was a lot of tension in the first straight away, since guys know what happens once gaps are established," Krughoff said. "I felt like I was flying into the Death Star with stuff flying all around me."

For Powers, an East Coast rider, his preparation time invested in coming to Colorado early had paid dividends. "I had come here, and I had ran the stairs 1,000 times. I had hit that off-camber 20 times before we got out here," Powers said. "I know how much I can gain from being at altitude. Being here early was definitely key for me to win today. It was a bit of a sacrifice to be away from home for three weeks, but in the end it paid off." As with his compatriot Katie Compton, Powers will be taking his new stars-and-stripes skinsuit to the Worlds in Netherlands. 

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