Powers makes it five straight in Bend
American also claims second consecutive series
Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) claimed his fifth consecutive Exergy USGP victory at the Deschutes Cup in Bend, Oregon, putting in another flawless performance to best Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld) and Canadian Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain).
Unlike the previous day's head-to-head battle with Tim Johnson where the strongest man won, this time Powers prevailed by capitalizing on the mistakes of his opponents, which on a dry, dusty and rocky course, were plentiful.
It was the second consecutive overall series win for Powers, but the contrast mirrored the day's race, as last year's epic battle with Johnson morphed into a display of consistency that demonstrated a level of maturity in Powers.
"Last year's series was really down to the wire with Tim and it was more dramatic, but it's different. This year I had my second race in the series go really badly. I had bad legs and it was in really nasty mud," Powers said. "Louisville went a lot better for me, and I've been trying to stay as consistent as I can all season. To win back to back to back USGP titles is great. I'm really proud of it.
"I've been working hard at it so long, and if I hadn't won here today I would have still be fine, but today it just felt right. It felt really good to win here. It's something special that I'll look back on."
While conditions were considerably colder than the previous day in Bend and the skies clouded over, the course remained bone dry and rocky, and the dusty surface proved the undoing of a number of top riders.
Ben Berden (Ops Ale-Clement) took the hole shot, but a crash on the second lap knocked him out of the leading group, and Kabush claimed the race lead with a handful of seconds over Johnson, Powers and an impressive Danny Summerhill (Chipotle).
Summerhill bridged across to Kabush, leaving Powers, Driscoll and Rapha-Focus rider Chris Jones chasing as Johnson too suffered a crash on the third lap which jammed his chain and left him half a minute behind.
The chasing group had just made the juncture to the two leaders when Summerhill went down in a sharp bend, holding up Kabush and allowing Driscoll a gap that he tried to capitalize on.
"I was on the front so I had a gap and I had to take advantage of it," Driscoll said. "Jeremy was the only one able to get through the carnage and get up to me."
While Powers sat on in hopes that his teammate Jones would join him at the front, Driscoll was forced to set the pace, using up valuable energy as the cold winds began to stiffen.
Despite having to tow Powers around a bit, Driscoll was happy with his performance on the day. "I was riding well today, but Jeremy's stronger than me in addition to being able to sit on my wheel for a couple laps. I was doing everything I could do to only lose so much time, but I'm still very happy with my race."
Powers made his bid for victory in the penultimate lap, and was able to pull out enough of a gap that Driscoll was forced to focus on fending off the push from Kabush, who was riding away from Jones to take the final podium spot and third overall in the USGP series.
"I ran right into Summerhill, and that's when the gap opened up," Kabush explained. "After the crash I had to deal with Jones. But I'm really happy with the podium, and I guess I'm second overall. I really had a good day."
After being pushed to his limit by Johnson on the previous day, Powers said he didn't have the snap to make an impression on the early laps, but that he knew to stay calm and avoid making the kinds of mistakes that were the undoing of Summerhill, Johnson and Berden.
"I felt the others were going over their heads a little and ended up making mistakes. That's one of the things on a course like this one, and in cyclo-cross in general. If they're over their limit they can slide out or crash, and that's when you have to pounce. I was being conservative, certainly, I was trying to be smart as well and use what I had to my best advantage."
While he admitted to waiting for Jones for a time, Powers knew that with the amount of pressure coming from Driscoll, he would have to become the aggressor, and he timed it perfectly.
"I attacked him with two to go and put a little time into him, then I did one last lap as hard as I could. It felt really good to sew this up with two wins in Bend and two in Louisville, it's just awesome."
Full results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Jeremy Powers (USA) Rapha/Focus | 1:00:41 |
2 | James Driscoll (USA) Cannondale Pb Cyclocrossworld.Com | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis / Rocky Mountain | 0:00:23 |
4 | Christopher Jones (USA) Rapha/Focus | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
5 | Christian Heule (Sui) Cannondale Pb Cyclocrossworld.Com | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
6 | Timothy Johnson (USA) Cannondale Pb Cyclocrossworld.Com | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
7 | Troy Wells (USA) Team Clif Bar | 0:01:08 |
8 | Tristan Schouten (USA) Cyclocrossracing.Com P/B Blue Bicycles | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
9 | Chris Sheppard (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Shimano | 0:01:12 |
10 | Zach McDonald (USA) Rapha/Focus | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
11 | Yannick Eckmann (Ger) Pearlizumi/Shimano | 0:01:57 |
12 | Brian Matter (USA) Gear Grinder / Clif Bar | 0:02:04 |
13 | Aaron Bradford (USA) Bay101/Hrs/Rocklobster | 0:02:16 |
14 | Daniel Summerhill (USA) Chipotle Development Team | 0:02:33 |
15 | Kevin Noiles (Can) Sportique | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
16 | Allen Krughoff (USA) Boulder Cycle Sport | 0:02:51 |
17 | Sean Babcock (USA) Kona | 0:02:56 |
18 | Justin Robinson (USA) California Giant Cycling | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
19 | Jerome Townsend (USA) Smartstop / Mockorangebikes Pb Ridley | 0:03:09 |
20 | Barry Wicks (USA) Kona | 0:03:34 |
21 | Mark Mcconnell (Can) Synergy Racing | 0:03:39 |
22 | Braden Kappius (USA) Team Clif Bar | Row 21 - Cell 2 |
23 | Chris Jackson (USA) Rambuski Law | 0:03:43 |
24 | Erik Tonkin (USA) Kona/Team S&M | 0:03:48 |
25 | Cody Kaiser (USA) California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized Mtb | Row 24 - Cell 2 |
26 | Chris Mackay (USA) Realcyclist.Com | Row 25 - Cell 2 |
27 | Josh Whitney (USA) Rocky Mounts~Izze | 0:05:33 |
28 | Jake Wells (USA) Stan'S Notubes Elite Cyclocross Team | 0:05:34 |
29 | Scott Tietzel (USA) Plains To Peaks Racing | 0:05:38 |
30 | Damian Schmitt (USA) Silverado Gallery/Sunnyside Sports | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
31 | Matt Lyons (USA) University Of Denver | 0:06:18 |
32 | Brent Gorman (USA) Speedway Cycles | 0:06:20 |
33 | Cody Peterson (USA) | Row 32 - Cell 2 |
34 | Drew Mackenzie (Can) Condo Group/Shimano/Marin | -2 laps |
35 | John-Christian Flack (USA) Olympia Orthopaedic Associates | -2 laps |
36 | John Behrens (USA) Bailey Bikes | -3 laps |
37 | Jason Holbrook (USA) Boulder Cycle Sport | -3 laps |
38 | Nathan Bannerman (USA) Cyclocrossracing.Com P/B Blue Competitive Cycles | -3 laps |
39 | Kolben Preble (USA) Clif Bar Development Cross Team | -4 laps |
40 | Scott Chapin (USA) Bay 101/Hrs/Rocklobster | -4 laps |
41 | Evan Renwick (USA) Cycle U-Pop Cap | -4 laps |
42 | Chris Ellis (USA) Cycling North West | -5 laps |
43 | Matthew Fox (USA) Silverado Gallery/Sunnyside | -6 laps |
44 | James Gentes (USA) | -7 laps |
DNF | Ben Berden (Bel) Ops Ale - Stoemper | Row 44 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Justin Lindine (USA) Bikereg.Com / Joe'S Garage | Row 45 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Gian Dalle Angelini (USA) Rio Blanco | Row 46 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Carl Decker (USA) Giant | Row 47 - Cell 2 |
DNF | Donald Reeb (USA) Cyclocrossracing.Com P/B Blue | Row 48 - Cell 2 |
DNF | John Bailey (USA) Bailey Bikes | Row 49 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Mitchell Hoke (USA) Team Clif Bar | Row 50 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Molly Cameron (USA) | Row 51 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Jacob Lasley (USA) Team Soundpony | Row 52 - Cell 2 |
DNS | John Mundelius (USA) Cal Giant/Specialized | Row 53 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Aaron Tuckerman (NZl) Corsa Concepts Cyclocross Team | Row 54 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Nicholas Weighall (USA) California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized Mtb | Row 55 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Alex Wentz (USA) Team Oregon P/B Laurelwood Brewing | Row 56 - Cell 2 |
DNS | Cole Sprague (USA) | Row 57 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | Header Cell - Column 3 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jeremy Powers (USA) Team Rapha Focus | 332 | pts |
2 | Geoff Kabush (Can) Maxxis-Rocky Mountain | 226 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
3 | Ryan Trebon (USA) LTS-Felt | 226 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
4 | James Driscoll (USA) Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld | 206 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
5 | Timothy Johnson (USA) Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld | 177 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
6 | Ben Berden (Bel) Ops Ale-Stoemper | 133 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
7 | Christopher Jones (USA) Team Rapha Focus | 107 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
8 | Troy Wells (USA) Team Clif Bar | 93 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
9 | Christian Heule (Swi) Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld | 92 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
10 | Bart Wellens (Bel) Telenet-Fidea | 90 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
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