Trebon takes day one in Louisville

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US National Cyclo-Cross Champion, Ryan Trebon (Kona-FSA) earned himself a hard-fought victory at the Derby City Cup, round three of the US Grand Prix of Cyclo-Cross held in Louisville, Kentucky. Cyclocrossoworld.com teammates Jamey Driscoll and Tim Johnson gave him a battle to the end, however the pair placed a respective second and third after a three-way sprint to the finish line.

"I wouldn't consider my self a sprinter," Trebon said. "Jamey attacked but I didn't want to bring him back right away. Even though I could have, I wanted him to sit out there because I didn't want Tim to have the opportunity to counter. I just waited him out on that last lap and kept the gap pretty close. I tried to close it in the last four or five turns. I was surprised I caught him right on the pavement. It was risky, but it's hard when you are racing against three guys rather that just one guy."

Trebon took over the USGP series leader's jersey; he's no stranger to the prestigious ranking having won the overall title on three previous occasions.

"It's always nice to lead this series out of the handful of times that I've won it," he said. "It's a great series and I'm not really doing the NACT series because it's too much travel and there are other races that I want to do. I decided to focus on this a little more. I wasn't riding that well at the start of the season. I started to feel better at Cincinnati and I've been training really well this week."

Power sucking terrain was the theme in Louisville

Days of torrential downpour soaked the Champions Park that had the 'mudders' delightfully picking out their finest set of mud tires, suitable for the nasty weather on the eve of the Derby City Cup. However, the dark skies finally broke to sun shine by morning and gave way to dried up, tough and tacky muck combined with plenty of grass and obstacles to over come.

"I didn't feel like I had great legs today because the course was so heavy and hard to pedal but apparently I did!" Trebon said.

Barry Wicks (Kona-FSA) took the early lead ahead of tough-to-beat front row call ups like Johnson, Driscoll and Trebon along with Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com), Canadian National Champion Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain-Maxxis), Chris Jones (Champion Systems), Jesse Anthony (Jamis), Davide Frattini (Fuji). Also in the mix was Danish National Champion Joachim Parbo (CCV Leopard Cycles), Brian Matter (Gear Grinder) and Nick Weighall (California Giant Berry Farms) and Troy Wells (Team Clif Bar).

Johnson was the first to open a significant gap that forced rival Trebon to move to the front and put forth a demanding chase as early as the second lap. Johnson maintained a slim five-second lead for the duration of the circuit, pulling only the toughest riders on the day off the front with him: Trebon, Driscoll and Anthony. The mob of fans bounced back and forth between the barriers, the green monster, a sand pit and a muddy lane trying to catch a glimpse of the front end of the 'cross race.

"It has to be telepathic because we were both suffering so bad," said Johnson regarding the final laps of the race. "I think we both had our mouths open just to stay on Ryan's wheel. Ryan was riding great today. He was really putting the hurt on us on the sections that were difficult."

"The course was really slow," he continued. "Any time there was just a little bit of moisture it made you feel like you were riding through five inches of mud even though it looks dry. Ryan had a great race, congratulations to him. It's going to be game on tomorrow and we are going to do everything we can to get that jersey off his back."

The four riders reconnected on the third lap forcing Trebon to spend the majority of the race in the lead. A position he was happy to take in order to keep a close eye on what he considered to be a three-against-one scenario.

"It was more like three of them [Cyclocrossworld.com riders] with Jesse being the third," said Trebon referring to the three east coast New England riders. "I don't know how those guys are feeling but it was just a slow race. They started to attack and I would chase them down and we would just sit there. There was a couple of them and it was left up to me to do most of the pace making."

As the leaders continued to muscle through seven and half minute lap times, the race for the top ten heated up behind. Notably missing from the front was the true third Cyclocrossoworld.com amigo Jeremy Powers who steadily drifted back into the top 20 placing, a rather unusual performance from the a rider who has recently won four races in Cincinnati, Ohio and Toronto combined.

Kabush and Jones settled into a quick pace to maintain their fifth and sixth position between the four leaders and the next chase group that included a reshuffling of Frattini, Weighall, Wicks, Matters, Wells, Parbo and Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell).

A tactical game between the leaders started with two laps to go when Driscoll attacked approaching the Green Monster, a stair stepped obstacle located a few hundred meters from the finish line. Driscoll maintained his lead through the start of the final lap. When it looked as though Trebon was gaining time on the escapee, Driscoll put in one more dig and opened the gap for a second time.

"I don't remember too much there wasn't that much blood in my brain at that point," Driscoll said regarding his attempt at victory on the last lap. "I was looking back to see, actually I don't even remember noticing that Timmy was gapped off. I was going ballistic attempting to hold off Ryan. I knew it was pretty slow into the pavement and that was when he got me and jumped me pretty good. I didn't have much left to fight for the sprint."

The work to bring back Driscoll was left to Trebon as Johnson sat on his wheel, perhaps he considered a counter move in the closing meters if needed. Trebon reeled in Driscoll in just enough time to provide the crowds with a suspense filled finale and sprint to the line for victory.