Clara Honsinger ends Katie Compton's 15-year winning streak at US cyclo-cross championships

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Clara Honsinger (Team S&M CX Sellwood Cycle Repa) ended Katie Compton’s 15-year winning streak at USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships in Lakewood, Washington on Sunday. Honsigner soloed to her first elite women’s cyclo-cross title ahead of Rebecca Fahringer (Kona Maxxis Shimano) with Compton finishing third.

"It's not a changing of the guard. It's a progression of cyclo-cross. We are all still out here racing together. It's just a little switch-up of what it's been the last years," Honsinger said in a post-race interview.

"Everyone is congratulating me. It's awesome. I don't think I've even come to recognise this win yet. For the entire race, I was just trying to hold it smooth. Even coming down the finishing stretch I was giving high-fives but still trying to be careful. I just had to make it to the finish line."

In an emotional finale, Compton finished the race in third place giving high-fives to the crowds of fans who lined the finishing straightaway and who cheered for her all the way across the line.

How it unfolded

It all started just as we expected. Katie Compton (Trek-KFC Racing) blasted down the off-camber descent and cut a line across Courtney McFadden (Pivot Maxxis p/b Stans NoTube) that must have looked like a blur. 

But as the dust settled through the first lap there were two things that were clear; Compton began to struggle in what looked like an off-day and her rivals were not going to just hand her a 16th consecutive victory.

McFadden caught Compton on the steep run-up featured at the start of the circuit and a group that also included Rebecca Fahringer (Kona Maxxis Shimano), Clara Honsigner (Team S&M CX Sellwood Cycle Repa) and Kaitlin Keough (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld) surrounded the 15-time defending champion as they raced into the second lap.

Fahringer pushed open a small gap at the start of the second lap, but Compton did not immediately respond. Instead it was Honsigner that bridged up to the leader on the flatter sections through the park. 

Honsinger led the pair through the sand and distanced Fahringer slightly, but the latter caught back up on the run-up. Fahringer lost contact with Honsinger again over the top of the run-up and then crashed later in the lap, causing her to lose an additional several seconds. 

Compton pulled away from the chase group and slowly tried to close the 15-second gap to the two front runners heading into the third lap. However, over the subsequent laps she lost time and the gap opened up to some 30 seconds by the end of the third lap.

Honsigner covered the subsequent laps with strength, technical skill and ease to build a lead of more than 30 seconds over runner-up Fahringer and an additional minute to Compton and McFadden, on her way to her first elite women's national cyclo-cross title.

More to follow…