Saturday, September 25, 2010

French cyclocross champion, elite field roll into Planet Bike Cup (JSOnline.com)

Big-time cyclocross racing, with the top riders in the world, returns to Angell Park in Sun Prairie on Saturday and Sunday.

For a second year, the Planet Bike Cup will be part of the Greenware U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross, and the clang of cowbells will replace the roar of engines in the park outside of Madison. The elite women will race at 1:45 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, with the elite men taking the start line at 3 p.m.

The group of top-level riders registered to chase valuable UCI points is led by Francis Mourey, a five-time French national champion. He already has enjoyed a successful visit to the states, scoring wins at the Starcrossed/Rad Racing GP UCI-double and the CrossVegas race earlier this week.

Velo News reports that the top Europeans on hand to challenge Mourey include Swiss national champion Christian Heule (Gippingen-Champion System), former German national champion Rene Birekenfeld (Harvesterhude) and Belgian Tim Van Nuffel (Van Goethem-Prorace).

The best of the U.S. will be representing the stars and stripes: four-time USGP overall winner Ryan Trebon (Kona-FSA), European-based Jonathan Page (Planet Bike), three-time Canadian national champion Geoff Kabush (Maxxis-Rocky Mountain), and the powerhouse Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com team of national champion Tim Johnson, CrossVegas standout Jamey Driscoll, and Jeremy Powers, who took a commanding win at the opening Planet Bike event last year.

In the women’s ranks, Velo News predicts a battle between Luna teammates Amy Dombroski and Georgia Gould, who finished second and fourth at Cross Vegas, as well as Cal Giant-Specialized rider Meredith Miller, Sue Butler (Hudz Subaru) and Mo Bruno Roy (Bob’s Red Mill-Seven).

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