Powers solos to USGP lead

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Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com) left nothing to chance when he attacked a star studded front row of cyclo-cross talents from the gun and continued on to a solo win at the Planet Bike Cup, round one of the US Grand Prix of cyclo-cross series held in Madison, Wisconsin.

Technical setbacks marred the race for favourites Erwin Vervecken (Revor-Baboco) and Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), who clawed their way back into second and third place respectively.

"I always hope for this and I'm ecstatic," said Powers, who attributes his winning form to the tough road season that recently ended at the Tour of Missouri. "This is the biggest win in my career. This wasn't the easiest way to win and I told Jamey that I was going to go ballistic at the start and to just hang on."

Powers' win granted him the early lead of the USGP series.  He was honoured to pick up the slack for the series' defending champion and teammate Tim Johnson who could not start due to a separated shoulder sustained following a crash one week ago.

Powers leads the overall ahead of Vervecken and Page; the trailing two riders won't contend the series beyond round two on Sunday after which their contracts take them back to the European calendar for the start of the UCI World Cup series which kicks off in October.

"It's so early and a lot of these races come down to November and December," said Powers. "I want to have a consistent season at the beginning and have a good season later on through the World Championships. It's great to do well here and having the jersey is cool but it's definitely not my top priority.

"I think it is something that if we get, we are psyched but if we don't then we are really happy to be on the podium every weekend."

Powers makes his own luck

Some 60 riders took their places on the tarmac eager to kick off the USGP's newest addition to the series. Title sponsor Planet Bike threw its top dog into the mix with the 2007 World Championship silver medalist Jonathan Page.

The drum roll continued as front row call-ups included three-time world champion Erwin Vervecken, US National Champion Ryan Trebon (KONA), recent Cross Vegas winner Jamey Driscoll (cyclocrossworld.com) along with notable European talents Christian Heule (Rendementhypo) and his teammate Tim van Nuffel.

"I'm the best I've ever been at the beginning of the season and these guys are very good competitors," said Page. "It's good bike racing and the same as any race would be in Europe right now. I love racing in front of my sponsors, Madison is a great town. I want to thank Planet Bike and everyone else who came out to support this race."

Powers took matters into his own hands from the gun by launching a cagey attack. He opened up a large advantage over the first lap that forced everyone else to play catch-up. Only two reconnected to include Page and Vervecken and the rest were left to ride their own race, out of contention for the victory as early as the third lap.

Trebon's relentless efforts to regain contact with the leaders was not enough and he remained in fourth place, roughly 15 seconds behind.

"When Jonathan and I were away, I thought, 'This is going to be hard and I'm going to need to sit on for a couple of laps and get more fuel back in the tank,'" said Powers, who rode the first two laps alone before the two chasers caught up. "I definitely overcooked that first lap a little bit but that was my plan. I wanted to go as hard as I could and isolate the guys that I knew would be trying to sit on. That was my goal to go as hard as I could at the start."

Page headed the train hard enough to cause Vervecken to struggle behind. His work kept the trio at a safe distance from the ever-chasing Trebon and the continuing line behind containing Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain), Chris Jones (Champion System), Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and Jesse Anthony (Jamis) and Driscoll.

The short end of the straw

A slight bobble through a technical corner caused Vervecken to lose valuable time to the two leaders. He pulled out all the stops to try to catch back up however, Page looked over his shoulder around each corner and turned up the heat forcing Powers hanging on for the ride. The Belgian displayed just why he has rainbow stripes on this sleeves and regained contact with five laps to go.

"I made a little mistake and I had to chase with everything I had," said Vervecken. "I was like 50 metres behind the race and I almost never closed that gap again. We were both really tired and the two others were 10 seconds behind. Jeremy was strong, he could always ride the stairs and I couldn't, I ran them. I lost ten meters each lap so after ten laps that's a hundred metres. Jeremy was the strongest today.

In the meantime, all eyes were on Page to win the debut event and he looked to be in complete control. The crowds roared as he lead Powers into the ‘stranglers' run-up, a steep set of stairs followed by a 50m incline. The cheers turned to gasps as a rolled tire caused Page to go down at the base of the stair. Powers continued on alone.

"It was my race to lose," said Page who took three bike changes during the following laps. "I just had to keep my calm and try not to over do it or under do it. I did my best today and the way the circumstances were, at least I got third place and this is my fourth race of the season so four times on the podium is nice."

Valuable seconds passed as both Vervecken and then Trebon passed Page who struggled to put his tubular back on the wheel. He passed through the pit lane snagging a second bike before setting off on a high-speed chase for a podium place. Powers remained the man of the hour fighting to maintain a slim cushion over Vervecken, now riding in second place. Trebon and Page rode through at an evenly matched tempo, three-second apart and neither gaining any ground on the next place.

"I tried to get the tire back on but I couldn't do it with my hands so I kicked it back on with my foot," said Page. "When you have bad luck, you have bad luck. I felt good today but bad luck happens."

Vervecken clawed his way back in the game, passing Powers over the barriers with two laps to go and the race was on for the victory. Powers made his winning move when he attacked the Belgian on the run-up and holding a mere three-second lead into the final straight ahead of Vervecken. Page, who caught and passed Trebon on the last lap muscled his way into third place.

"This is my fourth time coming to America and the level has certainly improved," said Vervecken who competed in his first US cyclo-cross race in 2001. "I had a pretty good day today. I fought for what is worth and the guys were very strong. At the moment I fell, I just couldn't go anymore and then Jonathan had bad luck but otherwise the two were very strong. It's always fun to be able to ride here at the beginning of the season. I like the atmosphere and to see that it grows every year and I hope someday in the future it will be as big as in Belgium."

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