Cyclocross

[nid:86746]Mark Legg is Katie Compton's husband, mechanic and one-man support crew at most races. He also captures Compton's races in still pictures and, more recently, in video. This week he is sharing his video of Compton's dominant win at the Roubaix World Cup on Sunday. Compton is skipping this weekend's Milan World Cup to focus on preparing for the world championships. Legg is preparing her worlds bike in part by removing the SRM Dura-Ace crank and replacing it with a Rotor Agilis crank. Compton will use round chainrings, instead of Rotor's oval rings.

CrossVegas is coming to a TV near you, if your cable package includes Universal Sports. A half-hour program on the international cyclocross race, held September 24 in Las Vegas in conjunction with the Interbike trade show, will air at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 25. Encore presentations are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday, January 30, and 6 a.m. Saturday, January 31.

The North American Cyclocross Trophy will expand in its second season, living up to its name by adding a new weekend in Toronto. The 2009 season will include 10 events over five weekends: • Star Crossed on September 19 (Seattle. WA) • RAD Racing Gran Prix on September 20 (Seattle, WA) • The Erdinger Gran Prix of Gloucester on October 3-4 (Gloucester, MA) • Toronto International Cyclocross on October 17-18 (Toronto, ON) • Blue Sky Velo Cup on October 31 (Longmont, CO)

The fourth round of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup is in Koksijde, Belgium.

The Mercer Cup weekend in New Jersey is the penultimate weekend of the USGP series.

Despite facing charges that he missed an in-competition doping test in November, former U.S. champion Jonathan Page could still earn a spot at cyclocross worlds.

The United States is among those countries eligible to send five riders to compete in the elite men’s division of the cyclocross world championship in Hoogerheide, in the Netherlands, on February 1.

Earlier this week, however, USA Cycling released the names of only four riders planning to compete in the world championships, leaving one additional slot to be filled before the UCI’s roster deadline on January 23.

Katie Compton is America’s best hope to bring home hardware from this year’s UCI Cyclocross world championships, which will be held in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands, on January 31-February 1. Just last month Compton (Spike Shooter) had her best ever run of European racing, racking up a slew of UCI podium finishes, including a win at the World Cup in Nommay, France.

Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) and Brian Matter (Gear Grinder) have joined Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Matt Shriver (Jittery Joe’s) on the U.S. men’s team that will contest the 2009 UCI Cyclocross World Championships on February 1 in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. Trebon, Powers and Tim Johnson (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) all earned automatic nominations to the team as the top three Americans in the UCI rankings. Johnson has declined his nomination and will not compete.

Jonathan Baker (Vitamin Cottage) has been suspended from racing for three months for his involvement in a mid-race tussle with Adam Myserson at the cyclocross national championships in Kansas City last month. Baker, who is in Belgium, will serve the suspension starting Jan. 17, meaning he will miss any remaining 'cross races he had planned for this season. "It is with some disappointment that I will be ending my 'cross season early, but I will take this as a good opportunity to spend some quality time with my family," Baker told VeloNews.

Matt Shriver (Jittery Joe's) learned Monday that he has been named to the U.S. men's team for the UCI Cyclocross World Championships later this month. Shriver will join Kona's Ryan Trebon on the team. Trebon is the only automatic member of the the team, by virtue of his winning the national championship and leading the USA Cycling national cyclocross calendar. Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) is another likely team member, although his status is uncertain because of a missed doping test in November. Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) also is expected to be named to the team.

Hanka Kupfernagel (Itarea-Stevens) won her eighth German national cyclocross title on Saturday, confirming her position as one of the favorites heading into this month’s world championship in Holland. The 34-year-old Kupfernagel, the reigning world champion, scored her win ahead of 18-year-old Sabrina Schweizer in the cold and wintery conditions that have swept across Europe in recent days.

Last month Olympic mountain biker Georgia Gould headed to Northern Europe with a small band of American cyclocross racers to tackle the busy two weeks of ’cross racing that book-end Christmas.

The U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross is adding a fourth weekend to its schedule this year, adding the Planet Bike Cup in Wisconsin to its lineup. The 2009 series will return for a third year to Louisville, Kentucky, Mercer County, New Jersey and Portland, Oregon. "The addition of the Planet Bike Cup is tremendous for the series. Madison has a great cycling community and the Planet Bike Cup was already a wonderful event. We are thrilled to have added such a strong early season weekend of racing to our schedule,” said Bruce Fina, the series' executive director.

Former U.S. cyclocross champion Jonathan Page has been notified that he missed an anti-doping test at the World Cup at Koksijde, Belgium, on November 29. UCI anti-doping officials have forwarded a report of the missed test to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for review. UCI anti-doping coordinator Peter Van den Abeele told the Belgian website Sport.be that Page failed to appear for a drug test despite being notified that he had been randomly selected. Page, however, said that he had not heard anything about the test until he was informed that he had missed it three weeks later.

The 2009-10 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships have been awarded to Bend, Oregon, the national governing body announced Tuesday. The 'cross nationals were last held in the Pacific Northwest when Portland hosted the 2003 and 2004 editions. Since then, the event has been held in Providence, Rhode Island (2005-06), and Kansas City, Missouri (2007-08).

USA Cycling has announced the first round of nominations to the United States National Team for the 2009 UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Hoogerheide, Netherlands, Jan. 31-Feb. 1. Five athletes were named to each of the elite women's, U23 men's and junior men's squads based on competitive performances over the course of the last year. The elite men's nominations will be announced on Jan. 14. Elite Women Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo.) Rachel Lloyd (Fairfax, Calif.) Laura Van Gilder (Cresco, Pa.)

It might have been something like what a visiting left fielder at Fenway Park experiences, but some long-time 'cross fans were shocked by the heckling — and then by a following scuffle amongst some expensive bikes — after the men's elite race at U.S. Cyclocross Nationals on Sunday. Although no criminal charges are being pursued, frame builder Richard Sachs may sue to recover what he says was thousands of dollars in damage to his team's bikes, which were trampled in the scuffle. At least one of the participants, Cale McAninch, says he's willing to pay his share of the damages.

Photog Ben Ross was on the job Saturday at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Kansas City; here's some of what he saw through the lens.

Two things were topics of discussion at the cyclocross nationals' host hotel breakfast buffet Sunday morning: the weather and The Hill.

Saturday 8:00 A.M. Course Open 9:00 A.M. U23 Women 40 min 10:00 A.M U23 Men 50 min 11:00 A.M Master Men 30-34 45 min 12:00 P.M. Awards/Course Open 1:00 P.M. Masters Men 35-39 45 min 2:00 P.M Masters Men 40-44 45 min 3:00 P.M Masters 50-54 45 min 4:00 P.M. Awards/Course Open Sunday 7:00 A.M. Course Open 8:00 A.M. Single Speed 45 min 9:00 A.M. Collegiate Men D2 45 min 10:00 A.M Collegiate Women 45 min 11:00 A.M Collegiate M D1 45 min 11:45 A.M. Course Open

Friday's racing at the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships crowned 16 national champions in both junior and master categories and locked up a spot on the U.S. World Championship squad for one junior rider. Cyclists from as young as nine to 67 years of age contested the muddy course at Kansas City's Tiffany Springs Park on the second day of competition at the 2008 national championships.

While many of the nation's top racers are at the cyclocross national championships in Kansas City this week, USA Cycling announced the dates and locations of 17 national championship events for next year. The organization, however, did not announce a location for the next cyclocross nationals, which are tentatively scheduled for Dec. 11-14 next year. 2009 USA Cycling national championship schedule: *All dates and locations subject to change March 21: USA Cycling BMX National Championships – Desoto, Texas

This Sunday’s mens national elite cyclocross championships are as wide open as any in recent memory, with four former champions, all in peak form, lining up. Defending women’s champion Katie Compton won’t face any former champs in her race, but she will contend with an increasingly deep women’s domestic field, most notably the powerful Georgia Gould. (Womens Favorites) When deciding on favorites, we looked at: - their history at nationals, - the top racers' own opinions of their relative strengths

The USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships opened on Thursday with just over 50 master-aged riders tackling the demanding course at Kansas City's Tiffany Springs Park. Gary Thacker (Louisville, Colo./Chipotle-Titus), Phil Bannister (Putney, Vt./Putney-West Hill), Rob Lea (Taneytown, Md./Team Fuji), Walt Axthelm (Durango, Colo./Durango Wheel Club) and Ronald Riley (Aptos, Calif./Team Santa Cruz) won the first of 35 stars-and-stripes jerseys to be awarded at this year's competition.

American Olympian Georgia Gould (Luna) has her eyes on the 2009 UCI world cyclocross championships, held January 31-February 1 in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands. The 28-year-old Gould, who finished eighth in cross-country mountain biking at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, announced her intentions to race cyclocross’ biggest race on her Web site.

The Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross returns this weekend to Portland, Oregon, the scene of 2007’s epic finale, when snow, rain and heavy winds battered spectators and riders alike. This time around, the racing is expected to be equally fierce, but the weather should be a little less so, says KOIN meteorologist Bruce Sussman. “It's going to be a lot drier than last year,” Sussman said. “In fact, Saturday looks dry. Then on Sunday a system from the north will bring some rain at times, but nothing major.”

He's been there before and, he concedes, he might just thrive on it. Jonathan Page, America's most successful international male cyclocross racer, is having another relatively quiet season, with a few top performances but a spate of frustrating mechanicals, illnesses and other bad luck, plus an unusual mid-season bike sponsor switch. Now, with a week to go before the national championships in Kansas City, the Planet Bike pro is looking to break out with a fourth elite national title, and then carry the momentum into the world championships.

For American cyclocrosser Katie Compton, the pieces are coming together in her long pursuit of a world 'cross championship, a chase she hopes to conclude successfully Feb. 1 in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. Compton, who turns 30 on Wednesday, says she feels stronger than ever this season — and she's been racing bicycles since she was 10 years old.

Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Georgia Gould (Luna) lead the national standings after 34 events on the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Calendar. This past weekend saw Jamey Driscoll (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) and Maureen Bruno-Roy (MM Racing-Seven Cycles) win the UCI C2 Bay State Cyclocross on Saturday in Sterling, Massachusetts.

New York City is the proud home of the House that Ruth Built, The World's Most Famous Arena, and a legendary marathon that concludes with a final sprint into Central Park. To that world-class sports heritage you can add one more landmark: The Cinnabon of Despair.

[nid:85117]It was already raining Friday at West Windsor, New Jersey's Mercer County Park as top riders checked out the course prior to the middle weekend of the three-city 2008 Crankbrothers US Grand Prix of Cyclocross series: the Mercer Cup presented by Knapp's Cyclery. "It's muddy, the sand is like oatmeal," Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) told VeloNews Friday.

Beth Lyndon-Griffith (Hagens-Berman) and Zach McDonald (Classic Cycles) emerged triumphant on Sunday as the Seattle Cyclocross series visited a gooey course at the Bremerton fairgrounds. With several inches of rain in the week leading up to the race and many local rivers on flood watches, the course was already wet. Sunday began with showers that diminished as the day wore on, and as temperatures reached the low 50s the conditions created a course to test nearly every ’cross skill in the book.

After 25 races completed on the USA Cycling Cyclocross Calendar, Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) and Laura Van Gilder (C3 Sollay) lead the points race. At the most recent calendar event, Christopher Jones (Sonic/jittery Joes/Louis Garneau) earned the pro men's victory while Rachel Lloyd (California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized) took the women's pro win at the Dam 'Cross on Sunday in Los Angeles. Men's Standings:

The Mid-Atlantic Cross Powered by SRAM Cyclocross Series visited New Jersey for the Beacon Cyclocross and its iconic “Amphitheater of Pain” on Saturday. In a switch from past years, the event was run under domestic sanctioning instead of its traditional UCI sanction. But the lack of international stature didn’t seem to hurt, as the event drew record entries and the largest Elite fields in years, which were won by the C3-Sollay.com duo of Wes Schempf and Laura Van Gilder.

Which of the four riders currently leading America’s two premier cyclocross series have you not heard of: Georgia Gould, Ryan Trebon, Jesse Anthony or Amy Dombroski? If your answer was Dombroski, you’re probably not alone. Dombroski, who is leading the North American Cyclocross Trophy (NACT) series, has shown herself to be the revelation of the 2008 cyclocross season so far, having taken big wins at the October 11-12 Erdinger Gran Prix of Gloucester. Just 21 years old, the two-time U23 national ’cross champ stands a mere 5 foot 1 inches. So just who is Amy Dombroski?

The premier event for single speed cyclocross enthusiasts returns to Portland this weekend, November 8th and 9th. A weekend of racing dedicated solely to those who race with just one gear, the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC) gathers top-level racers from across the country and beyond to compete for the top prize in this category. Registered riders include Adam Craig, Ryan Trebon and returning champions Wendy Williams and Barry Wicks.

New England cyclocrossers are headed to Northampton, Massachusetts, this weekend for the Cycle-Smart International, the oldest UCI cyclocross race in the U.S. This year's event is a two-day affair for the first time since 1996 and race director (and pro racer) Adam Myerson said the course will be significantly different each day.

The nation’s top cyclocross racers will descend upon Boulder, Colorado, this weekend for a pair of UCI events held under expected warm, sunny skies. Saturday’s event, a UCI C2, will be held along the sandy shores of the Boulder Reservoir, while Sunday’s Boulder Cup, a UCI C1, will be held on the grass at Harlow Platts Park. Both events are part of the North American Cyclocross Trophy series, which culminates November 23 at Whitmore’s Landscaping Super Cross Cup in Southampton, New York.

Weston Schempf (C3-Sollay.com) claimed his second consecutive victory in the DCCX Cyclocross Race on Sunday in Washington, D.C. The race, held on the grounds of the historic Armed Forces Retirement Home and presented by DCMTB-City Bikes, is the third in the BikeReg.com MABRA cyclocross series.

Following last weekend's USGP races in Louisville, Kentucky, Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com - Cannondale) still leads the USA Cycling National Calendar rankings, while Sue Butler (MonaVie - Cannondale moved past Amy Dombroski into the lead of the women's rankings. The complete USA Cycling cyclocross national calendar is available on.pdf from the USA Cycling Web site. Men's USA Cycling cyclocross standings | ( Women's standings )

The Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross celebrates its fifth anniversary this Saturday as the six-race series kicks off in Louisville, Kentucky. The October 24-25 Papa John’s Derby City Cup presented by Toyota will once again be held at Champions Park, a former private golf course just east of downtown Louisville. Both races boast UCI C2 status. In 2007, Louisville debuted as a stop on the USGP, a move that brought Kentucky’s its first UCI cyclocross race. The decision to expand into an untraditional cyclocross market irked many riders and fans.

Due to the start time of a live football game being rescheduled on Saturday, the first showing on October 25 has been moved to 2:00 p.m. MT on Saturday (not 5:30 p.m. MT, as originally announced). The race is being broadcast on Altitude Sports and Entertainment Network, available on cable systems in the western U.S. and on DirecTV and Dish Network in select areas nationwide.

Canadian Wendy Simms currently sits atop the Women's UCI cyclocross rankings with 309 points, ahead of Dutchwoman Daphny Van de Brand, who holds 300 points. Simms (Kona) successfully defended her ’07 title at the Canadian national cyclocross championships on October 11 in Edmonton. The Victoria, Canada, resident then finished eighth at the UCI World Cup opener in Kalmthout, Belgium, on October 18. Simms was the top North American finisher, male or female, at that event.

Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) and Katie Compton (Spike Shooter) won at Cincinnati's three-day cyclocross festival this weekend, but while Powers took over the men's lead of the USA Cycling cyclocross standings, Amy Dombroski took over the women's lead. Dombroski (Velo Bella-Kona) scored double wins at the Erdinger Gran Prix of Gloucester in Massachusetts. Kona's Ryan Trebon, who won both days at Gloucester, is now in second on the standings. After 15 contests on the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Calendar, the current standings: Men

Kona's Ryan Trebon and Velo Bella-Kona's Amy Dombroski took over the lead of the North American Cyclocross Trophy Series after their dominant weekend at the Erdinger Gran Prix of Gloucester race in Massachusetts. Trebon and Dombroski each won their respective races both days. Dombroski also holds the lead in the Verge New England Cyclo-cross series, which also awarded points at Gloucester. Jamey Driscoll (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale), who was fourth and third at Gloucester, holds the men's lead in the Verge series. North American Cyclocross Trophy series standings, men:

The mid-October heat in Middleton Ohio was matched only by the hot racing action at the Java Johnny’s / Lionhearts International UCI C2 race on Saturday. The women's race saw Katie Compton power away from the field of the country’s top ‘crossers, including Rachel Lloyd, who finished second on the day, and eventual third-place finisher Sue Butler.

20.09.2008 FSA Star Crossed Redmond, WA C2 20.09.2008 Nittany Lion 'Cross Fogelsville, PA C2 20.09.2008 KTR Michigan Double Cross - 1 Springfield Township, MI C1 21.09.2008 KTR Michigan Double Cross - 2 Springfield Township, MI C2 21.09.2008 Rad Racing GP Lakewood, WA C2 24.09.2008 Cross Vegas Las Vegas, NV C1 27.09.2008 Mad Cross I Sun Prarie, WI C2 27.09.2008 Schoolhouse Cyclocross Montpelier, VT C2 28.09.2008 Mad Cross II Sun Prarie, WI C2 28.09.2008 Catamount Grand Prix Williston, VT C2 10.10.2008 The Cyclo-Stampede Burlington, KY C2

They like to call the Gran Prix of Gloucester the "New England 'Cross Championships," although with a winners' list peppered with names like Knapp, Bessette, Johnson, Trebon, Gould, Dunlap, Gullickson and even Vervecken, that might not be going far enough.

The US Gran Prix of Cyclocross is adding several features to encourage growth of the sport in the junior and U23 ranks. The three-weekend USGP series will now include the CyclocrossWorld.com / USGP Junior Race Series. Two events in the series — New Jersey's Mercer Cup presented by Knapp's Cyclery and The Portland (Oregon) Cup presented by Stanley have been named the official U23 and Junior Worlds qualifying races and are the only sanctioned UCI Junior races on the American cyclocross calendar.

After the first ten races of the 2008 USA Cycling Cyclocross Calendar, Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) and Natashia Elliott (EMD Serono/Stevens) lead the standings. Page was fourth at the category 1 CrossVegas race and then won both the Mad Cross / Jonathan Page Planet Bike Cup races in Wisconsin the following weekend. Likewise, Elliott was 15th at CrossVegas but won both the Mad Cross events. Men's Standings 1. Jonathan Page (Northfield, N.H.) 145 points

With the seasons changing, more and more racers are turning to cyclocross as a way to utilize their late-season fitness, stay in shape or just have some fun in the process. Managing editor Neal Rogers teamed up with national masters 35+ champion and online ’cross diarist Brandon Dwight to shoot some instructional videos. The videos are available on VeloNews.tv.

Dee Dee Winfield (Velo Bella/Kona) and Wes Schempf (C3-Sollay.com) scored impressive wins in Sunday’s Ed Sander Memorial Cyclocross in Buckeystown, Maryland.

Outspoken Kona cyclocross star Ryan Trebon has his own thoughts about Lance Armstrong’s plans to race cyclocross this season — bring it on, champ. While Jonathan Page has been the most successful American racing at the European World Cup level in the years since Armstrong retired, Trebon has been the most dominant cyclocross racer in North America, where Armstrong is expected to compete in the coming months.

Six hours before kicking off their cyclocross season at the Full Speed Ahead Starcrossed UCI cat. 2 event in Redmond, Washington, Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com riders Tim Johnson and Jeremy Powers sat down with VeloNews.com for a post-lunch, pre-nap chat on a rainy Seattle afternoon. The following day both men were headed to Tacoma for the UCI cat. 2 Rad Racing GP, presented by Kona and FSA, known for its dreaded UCI-limit 80-meter run-up. Top cross racers Ryan Trebon, Barry Wicks, Adam Craig, Carl Decker and Geoff Kabush were also expected at both races.

This weekend's Full Speed Ahead Star Crossed presented by Gerk's Ski and Cycle and the Rad Racing GP presented by FSA and Kona opens the North American Cyclocross Trophy with an impressive field. Current National champ Tim Johnson (Cyclocrossworld.com/Cannondale) will be met at the start line by '06 champion, Ryan Trebon (Kona) and '05 champion and Olympian Todd Wells (GT). Wells, who raced the Beijing mountain bike race, is on top form after finishing fifth in the cross-country at the Canberra, Australia, mountain bike World Cup on August 30th.

Eight established UCI cyclocross races in North America are linking their events to form a new series this fall.

Belgian national cyclocross champion Sven Nys signed a three-year deal with Landbouwkrediet-Töissteiner on Tuesday. The contract takes effect January 1, 2009. The 2005 world cyclocross champion, a 10-year veteran of the Rabobank squad, is vying to represent his country in the cross-country mountain bike race at the Olympics this summer in Beijing, China. "You have to feel good in a team; all noses must be in the same direction," Nys told Sporza.be. Nys will join cyclocrosser Rob Peeters and mountain biker Filip Meirhaeghe on Landbouwkrediet.

Cyclocross racer Jonathan Page will race for the Wisconsin-based Planet Bike team next season, after earlier negotiating an end to his two-year contract with his European team Sunweb/Projob. Page, who won a silver medal at the cyclocross world championships in 2007, will continue to try to improve on that placing. He also will participate in several U.S. races, including a new UCI event in Wisconsin that will bear his name.

It’s been two weeks since Rachel Lloyd closed out her 2007-08 racing campaign at the 2007 UCI world cyclocross championships in Treviso, Italy. Lloyd, a native of Fairfax, California, was the highest-finishing American during the January 26-27 championship weekend, crossing the line in 9th place. She briefly rode as high as third, until waning fitness from a long season caught up with her.

Belgian Niels Albert won the Hoogstraten Superprestige cyclocross on Sunday in Belgium. It was the seventh race of the Superprestige championship series.

Maureen Bruno-Roy, winner of the masters women’s 30-34 race at December’s USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, has been stripped of her title because she was ineligible to compete in that category. Runner-up Josie Jacques-Maynes has been declared the winner, with Sally Annis second and Kristi Berg third. The problem stems from a violation of rules 1H4 and 1A29 of the 2007 USA Cycling Rulebook, the national governing body noted in a press release.

It hasn’t rained all week in Treviso and that could mean that this weekend’s world cyclocross championships could be settled on what is probably the fastest world’s course since the 2002 championships in Zolder, Belgium.

Kona-Yourkey.com rider Ryan Trebon, the 2006 national champion and three-time Crank Brothers USGP of Cyclocross series winner, has withdrawn from this weekend’s world cyclocross championship in Treviso, Italy.

USA Cycling on Monday named its elite men's team slated to compete at the cyclocross world championship on January 27 in Treviso, Italy.

Three riders - Jonathan Page, Tim Johnson and Ryan Trebon - earned automatic spots on the team, while USA Cycling coaching staff named Jeremy Powers to fill the remaining discretionary slot.

Page qualified as a silver medalist from the 2007 world championships while Johnson and Trebon earned their spots as the next two Americans in the UCI Cyclo-cross Rankings.

Rabobank’s Sven Nys earned the fifth national cyclocross title of his career as he outpaced his closest challenger, defending champion Bart Wellens, in the Belgian championship race in Hofstade on Sunday. The 31-year-old World Cup leader and world’s No. 1 repeated a feat he’d accomplished in 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2006 and remains a favorite for the world’s championship race, scheduled for Treviso, Italy, on the 26th of this month. Belgium, like most countries, schedules its national championship race for Sunday.

Italy’s defending national cyclocross champion, Enrico Franzoi, has opted out of the opportunity to defend his title this weekend, saying that he hopes to recover from a month-old ankle injury in time for the world championships in Treviso. The 25-year-old Franzoi, who recently moved to the Liquigas team, said lingering problems from an ankle injury suffered during November's World Cup event in Koksijde, Belgium, will keep him out of this weekend’s Italian national championships in Scorzè, near Venice.

Now that it’s the holiday season, millions of Americans are travelling home to relax with family and friends. There is one select group of Americans, however, who will be doing just the opposite: leaving home and hearth to fly across the Atlantic and compete against the world’s best cyclocross racers in the damp and chill of northern Europe.

USA Cycling has announced the first round of nominations to the U.S. national team for the 2008 UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Treviso, Italy,January 26-27. Sixteen athletes were nominated to the squad in the elite women’s, U23 men’s and junior men’s categories based on their competitive performance over the course of the last year. The elite men’s nominations will be announced on January 14 following the next two rounds of the UCI’s World Cup in Belgium and France.

It’s been a busy year for Georgia Gould. The 27-year-old swept the National Mountain Bike Series, grabbed her first podium finish at a UCI World Cup, a top-10 at the UCI mountain-bike world championships and won the Crank Brother’s U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series. And now, the Luna rider is taking on the Union Cycliste International, asking for equal minimum prize money payouts for the top finishers in both women’s and men’s races.

To: Union Cycliste Internationale (U.C.I.)

The snow stopped, the sun came out, but conditions were still tough on the final day of the 2007 USA Cycling cyclocross national championships. [nid:41624]Mud, wind and cold aside, our man Casey Gibson braved the elements to document events as he saw them.

The intrepid Casey Gibson hadn't planned on filing any pix from Friday's installment of the 2007 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, but since he happened to be on hand in Kansas City, and since the eternal Steve Tilford just happened to be racing, he stuck around and clicked the shutter a few times, just for the heck of it.* [nid:41600]* Plus, we pay him. Not as much as he's worth, it's true, but we do pay him.

What will Mother Nature throw at Kansas City next? That’s the question organizers and racers alike are asking at the 2007 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, running Friday through Sunday in Kansas City, Kansas. On Monday, the metropolis was hit by an ice storm that grounded flights, knocked out electricity to tens of thousands and transformed city streets into treacherous swaths of ice. Wyandotte County Park, the site of the race, received a generous dusting and sports a slick layer of ice.

Cyclocrossworld.com teammates Lyne Bessette and Jeremy Powers capped off the Verge New England Championship Cyclocross Series on Sunday with wins in the elite races. Despite being besieged by illness this ’cross season, Bessette went on to clinch the series title, having won five of the seven races. Men's leader Jesse Anthony (Jamis), in his first year as an elite racer, easily pocketed the overall win with consistent top-three finishes in each of the seven races.

Anna Milkowski (Velo Bella–Kona) and Todd Wells (GT) helped end an era by winning the final W.E. Stedman Grand Prix of ‘Cross on Saturday. After a successful seven-year run, race promoter Joel Brown and patron W. E. Stedman will leave the Warwick, Rhode Island, race in good hands with the NBX-Narragansett Beer Cycling Team, which will promote it as part of a double-header NBX Grand Prix of ‘Cross weekend in 2008. Saturday’s 4km course wound circuitously around Goddard State Park, diving down to the sandy shoreline of Narragansett Bay at one point and sending racers running up the embankment