Cross Vegas paid off once again as the most exciting event of the week here at Interbike. With a wide variety of riders from both sides of the pond, including Liquigas-Cannondale Pro Tour honcho Ted King, and the massive Interbike media circus on hand, competitors pushed hard to impress the teeming throng.
The race started with Ryan Trebon (Cannondale-CyclocrossWorld) launching his trademark attack that began with his first pedal stroke. Cannondale-CyclocrossWorld rider Tim Johnson and Rapha-Focus rider Jeremy powers were not about to let him get away and stuck to Trebon’s wheel like Portland’s mud.
After two laps Trebon’s pace began to slow and Tim Johnson attacked hard. Powers was tight on his former teammate’s wheel however and patiently waited to make his move. After three laps of cat and mouse between the two, Powers made his took off with two and a half laps to go in the race. He dialed up the pace about three notches pushing hard on the pedals grinding away in the saddle. The charismatic Rapha Focus rider developed an 80 yard gap between himself and Tim Johnson in about 30 seconds.
From there it was all over. With Powers and Johnson already far off the front, no one was able to bridge the gap and Powers sailed into the finish unopposed for the top step of the podium at Cross Vegas. Belgian Ben Berden (Raleigh-Clement) hung on for third.
- Jeremy Powers rolls through the line with a well deserved Cross Vegas win!
- Powers made his move and attacked hard about 1/3 of a lap after this corner.
- Reigning national champ powers out front after the barriers with Johnson hot on his tail.
- A crazed fan in a guillie suit scaled the fly over to offer elite racers dollar hand ups. This rider was too cool to ever need money and hucked the flyover as the crowd went wild.
- Scrub-a-dub-dub! This bada** straight up scrubbed the entire Spy Optics flyover and styled it up for the crowd. Was this downhill World Cup Champ Aaron Gwin in disguise?!?!
- The pack slices its way through the first corner.
- Elvis was on hand to sing Viva Cross Vegas just before the start of the elite race.
- Johnson had his game face on and was gunning for a win but it wasn’t in the cards for him.
- Tim Johnson doing a pre-race video interview with Art’s Cyclery.