Powers punches through another for Cannondale

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Jeremy Powers (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) pulled off a solo victory at the Derby City Cup's second day of competition, held at the Eva Bandman Park in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday. Ryan Trebon (Kona-FSA) was forced to settle for another solo second place ahead of Power's teammate and the previous day's winner Tim Johnson in third.

"I didn't feel good at all yesterday and today I felt a lot better," said Powers after the win. "Ryan, Tim and I are all almost on equal level right now. It has been fun racing with them and I'm just happy that there are three guys who are at a little bit of a different level and it seems like it is just a tactical thing. Those are the two guys in this series that I have to worry about."

The event marked round four of the US Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross (USGP) series of which Powers is now leading. The next two rounds will be held at the New Belgium Cup in Fort Collins next month.

"I anticipate to not be as good at altitude but I do plan on going in with fresh legs after taking a bit of a break first," Powers explained. "I'm taking it one day at a time because there are still four races to go, we are only halfway through. It is a goal of mine to win this series and if I can I'll be psyched."

Davide Frattini (Hudz-Subaru) earned the event's Most Aggressive Rider award for crashing twice during the race and still managing to chase his way back into sixth place on the day.

"It was a house of pain, a very hard course and definitely worthy of the World Championships in 2013," Frattini said. "I was riding on my limit to fight for fourth place with Todd [Wells] and Tristan [Schouten]; unfortunately with a few laps to go I had a small gap and then crashed, they passed me and I had to chase. I caught them with two laps to go but took a turn too fast trying to open a gap on the last lap and crashed again."

Luke Keough (Champion System p/b Keough) maintained his overall lead in the Under 23 USGP despite rival Danny Summerhill (Garmin) winning the younger men's category in rounds three and four.

Course changes increase technical challenges

The elite men were treated to a similar course to the previous day, with a slightly higher element of technical aspects including more corners following the sand pit en route to the green monster along with less straightaways. There was also a wider and smoother ride in to the second to last hill before the finish line that was used as a run-up the previous day.

Valentin Scherz (Cyfac-Champion System) opened the race with a fast pace much the same as the previous day. But it was Powers who got a small lead on the second lap that forced Trebon to chase with Chris Jones (Rapha-Focus) and later Johnson on his wheel.

"Today was just as hard as yesterday," Johnson said. "The difference for me today was that I had a bad start, again. I didn't have the legs to make up for it. I tried but it was just one of those things, some day's you're good, some days aren't as good."

The four leaders reunited at the front on the fourth lap where Trebon quickly took over the pace trying to ride at least one of the two Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com competitors from the group. He was successful in shedding both Jones and Johnson by the end of the lap, starting the fifth lap neck-to-neck with Powers.

Johnson continued to ride in a fairly secure third place for the remainder of the race. However, Jones was caught and passed by the next chase group following a crash on lap six, just after the mid-way point of the race. The chase for fourth place was now between Frattini, Todd Wells (Specialized-Cal Giant) and Tristan Schouten (Cyclocrossracing.com).

Back up front, Powers opened a small gap through the twists and turns before the set of barriers. He bunny hopped the 40 cm barriers gaining several additional seconds ahead of Trebon with four laps to go.

"I jumped the barriers and stayed in the front and then through the sand I rode it, powered through," Powers said. "Through the back section he had a moment, I saw it and didn't do anything crazy, I just kept the pressure on."

Trebon struggled to close the gap and eventually began losing roughly three seconds on each lap. He attributed his second place performance to over-heating under the warmer than usual 80 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures.

"I felt really good for the first half the race, rolling really good and when Jeremy had a gap I could see that he was hurting," Trebon said. "One lap I was OK and then next lap I over heated. You can feel it in your head and it just came on all of a sudden.

"I started getting feeds but I was out of it, I had nothing and started falling apart," he added. "I had nothing on the last three laps. I was like, 'please, get to the finish.' I had a bad moment and I should have stayed on top of it. I tried feeding a little bit but it doesn't do much after you've already cracked."

Powers gained roughly 15 seconds before the finish line to take his second USGP win of the season. Trebon rolled in for second place 25 seconds ahead of Johnson in third.

The battle for fourth place continued as the trio Frattini, Wells and Schouten fought for the front position through each corner. Frattini gained the coveted spot right before washing out in a corner taking down Schouten with him. Wells, who was sitting in third wheel, scooted around the pair of riders on the ground and rolled in for fourth place.

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