Powers, Day win 2013 StarCrossed titles
Americans finish 1-2 in the men's race, which took place in Redmond, Washington
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Former U.S. champion Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) opened his 2013-14 cyclocross campaign on the right foot on Saturday night, winning Rapha StarCrossed in Redmond, Washington.
The 30-year-old outsprinted runner-up Ryan Trebon (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com). Belgian Ben Berden (Raleigh-Clement) was third, at 21 seconds.
Powers, Trebon, and Berden battled with current U.S. champ Jonathan Page (Fuji-Spy) at the front for much of the race. In the final lap, Powers and Trebon powered away from Berden, with the Powers taking a narrow win. Page fell off the pace in the final lap and finished fourth. Earlier in the race, Berden and Page tangled in the barriers, with the Belgian crashing hard while bunnyhopping.
The crash sparked a passionate Facebook exchange between Trebon, Adam Myerson (SmartStop-Mountain Khakis), Zach McDonald (Rapha), Jonny Sundt, and others on Monday night. Raleigh team owner Donn Kellogg confirmed that the team considered filing a protest over the incident, but Berden declined.
“Ok, I will jump in as team manager of the Raleigh Clement CX team, there is no room for blatant moves that take a rider out,” Kellogg wrote. “It is one thing to squeeze a rider, it is another to ride them into the curb or check them in the cross barriers. Ben has worked extremely hard to be in top shape for the start of the season which the first race for the team was in the title sponsor’s home market. It was only Ben’s strong character and even stronger insistence to me personally that the team did not lodge a seriously worded protest. Mr. Page should feel lucky that he did not have to answer for his actions to the officials.”
In the women’s race, Great Britain’s Gabby Day (Rapha) held off American Courtenay McFadden (Bicycle Blue Book-HRS) by a comfortable 23 seconds to take the title. Finishing third was Mical Dyck (Stan’s NoTubes) of Canada, who was six more seconds adrift.
