Compton carries on in Wisconsin

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Planet Bike's Katie Compton made her sponsors proud by taking a solo victory at the Planet Bike Cup and displaying just why she is wearing the stars and stripes jersey as the US national champion.

Her win came with ample time to spare ahead of the talented Luna Pro mountain bike duo Katerina Nash  in second place and Georgia Gould in third.

"It's mostly pressure put on myself because I like to win," said Compton, referring to the fact that title sponsor Planet Bike owner Bob Downs was spectating. "I like to feel good and race hard. Bob's been awesome and I don't feel pressure from him.

"I just want to do well for my sponsors and for myself. I think if I come in confident and with good legs I can definitely get a win or at least a podium."

Race organisers presented Compton with the prestigious US Grand Prix of Cyclo-cross leader's jersey for winning the first event of an eight-round series. She will go into the next day's round two battle ahead of Luna Pro duo Nash and Gould.

"This is the only USGP that I'll be able to get to and I'll be doing all the World Cups," said Compton. "It just makes it hard to travel back and forth to do well at everything. I would love to do more of the USGPs, I wish I could but I can't do everything and I have to pick my battles."

Perfect conditions, even better racing

After a night of rain, the cloud covered skies broke to sunshine in the early morning to help dry up the Angell Park. Slightly sticky grounds combined with technical sections and several powerful straightaways suited Compton's abilities perfectly.

The women's drum roll included Compton along with Nash, Gould and teammate Alison Dunlap, Canadian Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain), Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale), Dede Winfield (C3 Athletes Serving Athletes) among others.

"I loved the course," said Compton. "I think the rain last night was perfect, made it pretty tacky and there were a lot of twists and turns, powerful sections and technical part. I really enjoyed the race. I think it was pretty fun and I got a great effort in."

Similar to Jeremy Powers' winning start to the men's race, Compton shot out of the women's starting gate and only one woman could hang on. It was Katerina Nash who displayed an evenly matched strength and sat close behind Compton through the first lap's twists and turns. Gould followed close behind along with several smaller groups of women vying for higher places.

"I tried to keep the pace up after the start of the first lap," said Compton. "I saw that Alison and Georgia were starting to close a little bit an I though it was time to up the pace again. I gapped Katerina through the barriers and kept it on. I wanted to keep the pace high and make it a hard race. I'm working on accelerating hard out of the turns and going fast up the run-ups and over the barriers. I have to be able to do those fast for the World Cups."

Compton quickened her pace and eventually found her self alone. She maintained a near 30-second lead over Nash and motivated herself to ride even faster by thinking ahead to the world cup season that starts next month. "This is the second race this week that I'm getting a little lesson here," laughed Nash who placed second to Compton in Cross Vegas a few days prior. "It's ok. Next time I'll try to stay a little longer on her wheel and maybe one day Katie will be on my wheel, what do you think about that?"

Gould secured her third place position almost a minute behind Compton and another minute ahead of reunited chasers Sydor, Winfield and Butler along with Amy Dombroski (Richard Sachs-RGM Watches). "My last mountain bike race was 10 days ago," said Gould.

"It's hard coming into straight cross racing but I really like cross. It's so fun and people have great enthusiasm for it. Look at all the people who came out today. As a racer it's awesome to come out after a long season and get rejuvenated to race again. Thanks to everyone who came out to cheer, it really makes a difference for us."

With the top three places solidified the race was on for fourth place. Dombroski is one of the fastest sprinters in the nation and no stranger to cyclo-cross having won the US under 23 national championships for three consecutive years. She chose not to leave it to a sprint and rather attacked her group over the steep ‘stranglers' run-up located approximately 200 metres from the finish line and rode in for fourth place.

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