- HOT TOPICS:
- An American start for the Giro? •
- 2010 Routes: Giro | California | TdF •
- LA doc guilty on all counts
Gould, Kabush take lead in NMBS
Georgia Gould (Luna) and Geoff Kabush (Maxxis) dominated the cross-country finale to claim the stage-race titles in round two of the National Mountain Bike Series, run on a fast, technical, desert course at McDowell Mountain Regional Park near Fountain Hills, Arizona.
Kabush and Gould, both of whom also won Friday's Super D time trial, now lead the NMBS standings with two of six rounds completed.
"I like the stage-race format,” Gould said afterward. “I wish we could do more of them. We're here, so we may as well race, right? That's one thing about the World Cups: you do all that traveling and then it's just one short race and it's all over and time to pack up."
Kabush rocks as others flat
In the men’s race, Kabush worked with a lead group of five over three fast laps of the technically challenging, relatively flat 10-mile course. With an abundance of embedded rocks throughout, many riders with superlight tires and hardtail bikes suffered flat tires.
Not Kabush. The 2007 NMBS series champion went to the lead on the first lap, with four others: Adam Craig (Giant), Barry Wicks (Kona), Sam Schultz (Subaru-Gary Fisher), and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher).
On the second lap, Schultz, riding a hardtail, followed Craig through an alternative line that turned out to be full of sharp rocks. Craig floated; Schultz flatted.
Craig was doing a lot of pace-setting toward the end. But going into the final three miles, Kabush grew restless and attacked. The first two times the group came back together, but eventually Wicks and Horgan-Kobelski lost touch with the battling Craig and Kabush. Kabush pressed his advantage on the descents and the finishing order was decided: Kabush first, Craig second, Horgan-Kobelski third at 50 seconds and Wicks fourth at 1:30.
Gould-bye
In the women’s race, Gould rocketed away at the start of the two-lap, 20-mile race and finished a minute and 47 seconds ahead of teammate Katerina Nash, who laid it down in the first corner and collected an injury to the left knee that required stitches after the finish.
Dellys Starr (Dale's Pale Ale) took third, ahead of Kelli Emmet (Giant) and Kathy Sherwin (SoBe-Cannondale).
