Trebon rains on Johnson's parade

Image 1 of 38

United States of America Cyclo-cross Champion Ryan Trebon (KONA) road away from break companion Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) with two laps to go and captured a solo victory at the Mercer Cup presented by Knapp’s Cyclery, round five of the US Gran Prix of Cyclo-Cross (USGP). After a turbulent start at the New Jersey race Jamey Driscoll (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) clawed his way through the field and into third place.

“I felt good today,” Trebon said. “It was a hard course, a real grind the whole way. I tried to push everywhere I could to gain time on Tim. I tried to gain the gaps on the mud sections but, it wasn’t an easy day.”

Trebon made an impressive comeback from a serious crash two weeks ago, which forced his withdrawal from Derby City Cup, round four of the USGP. That saw Trebon lose the series leader’s jersey to Driscoll, but today’s win earned Trebon the required points to recover the series’ prestigious jersey.

“I wanted to win today, not worry about the points,” Trebon said. “I knew that if I won the race that I would take the lead back. I just went into it wanting to win. After the crash I went in to get my head and neck looked at and it was fine but it turns out I had some problems with my hips so I got that figured out too. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t push that hard sometimes.”

Hurricane aftermath touches Mercer Cup

Hurricane Ida stalled on the eastern seaboard, but remnants of high winds and rain tormented the course on the eve of the Mercer Cup presented by Knapp’s Cyclery double-header. Officials, organisers and volunteers pieced the course back together before dawn, just in time to start a day full of muddy cyclo-cross racing.

“I had no problems with any of the sections of the course,” Trebon said. “I like getting on and off the bike a lot and running. I run a lot at home.”

Running was a major factor in the elite men’s field, with sections of the course forcing riders to run for several minutes at a time. Tricky off-camber twists and turns caused the riders to slip, slide and topple over one another on the first lap. A long line of cyclo-cross talents fought onward through the drudge, over the double barriers to the back-side of the Mercer County Park before sweeping back around through the start-finish line.

“Sounds like earlier today it was even worse,” Johnson said. “It’s just tough and you’ve got to keep on the gas and keep pedaling. Pretty much wherever your shoulders were pointed was where you were going to go. The way the ruts were out there, it was difficult to find a line so trying to chase someone was a whole lot easier to pick a good line.”

Canadian Cyclo-cross Champion Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain) took the hole-shot on to the mud-churned grass. Swiss youngster Valentin Scherz (Pro Cycles-Scott Newwork) followed Kabush and the pair gained a five-second lead over Trebon, Johnson, Chris Jones (Champion Systems), Davide Frattini (Team Fuji), Nicholas Weighall (California Giant Berry Farms), Danny Summerhill (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin), Barry Wicks (Kona) and Troy Wells (Team Clif Bar).

Scherz fell off the fast pace and swapped positions with Weighall. He too met his demise trying to follow the Canadian and soon Trebon, Johnson and Jones worked their way through Sherz and Weighall and caught Kabush on the
second lap.

Trebon attacked his four companions half way through the second lap and only Johnson was able to bridge the gap. The pair pressed on and the advantage exploded to 15, then 25 seconds. Kabush and Jones desperately tried to limit their losses while racing for the third place on the podium. Not too far behind Frattini led a second chase group that included Summerhill, Wells and Zach McDonald (Classic Cycles).

Trebon attacked Johnson with three laps remaining and gained enough padding over the final laps to earn himself a commanding victory. Johnson pushed on to keep well ahead of the chase group. “I think I got a gap in the running section and I had a little more power in my legs today,” Trebon said.

“Tim definitely was riding pretty good today in the technical stuff,” he continued. “But there was a small amount of technical stuff and more slogging away at the pedals. I just kept it up out front and was pushing as hard as I could and it worked out. I was looking back and I’m like ‘come on Tim crack’ because I was going pretty hard and my legs were getting loaded up on the last lap.

“I knew if I made a small mistake he would bring it back,” he added. “Tim’s not one of those guys who gives up once you get a gap on him.”

Notably missing from the lead group was Driscoll, who faltered on the start line and lost valuable places. All eyes were watching as he worked his way through the traffic wearing the USGP leader’s jersey.

“Today was a lot easier to pass people because there were slower conditions,” Driscoll said. “I’ve had quite a lot of practice with starting at the back this year, unfortunately. You definitely can’t think about being 30 seconds down. You have got to keep your head in the game and a lot of those guys started blistering fast but I passed them pretty successfully half way through the race.”

Driscoll picked off one rider after another until he found himself comfortably in fifth place with two laps remaining. He gained an additional two more places when Kabush broke his derailleur and Jones crashed into the fencing and struggled with his rear wheel.

“I took a bike and cut it inside and hit a stake,” Jones said. “I hit it and crashed and my chain got caught between the cog and the frame. I had to take the wheel out and put it back in. It was a mental error on my part. Fourth is still good and tomorrow will be better.”

The USGP continues with round six at the Mercer Cup held at the Mercer County Park, New Jersey on Sunday. The remnants of hurricane Ida are expected to pass and temperatures to reach as high as 65 Fahrenheit.

Results