Nash Holds Off Noble for Jingle Cross UCI C1 Win – Full Results, Photos

While the course was similar to Saturday’s World Cup, conditions couldn’t have been more different on Sunday for the C1 race. Missing from the start was Sanne Cant, Ellen van Loy Sophie de Boer and the heavy mud and oppressive heat and humidity that taxed riders on Saturday.

As racers lined up, a light sprinkle started, and cool temperatures in the 70s kept racers from overheating. Gone were the mud treads and in their place were file treads and “all around” tread patterns like the Challenge Grifo and Clement MXP were commonplace on the drying course. The track wasn’t nearly as heavy, as the mud had dried and gotten packed down. The course also wasn’t nearly as heavy with spectators as it was on Saturday, but the hardcore fans showed up and made up for the lower numbers in volume.

When the gun went off, it was clear that even without World Cup fans or points, the race wouldn’t just be a Sunday ride through the fairgrounds.

California-based Katerina Nash (Clif Pro Team) of the Czech Republic, slowed by a broken rear derailleur on Saturday, showed she was ready to make up for a missed opportunity, hitting the front of the race, and never straying far from the lead.

A group of 10 riders split away from the 49-rider field early in the race. The group included Eva Lechner, Nash, Ellen Noble, reigning USA champion Katie Compton (KFC Racing p/b Trek/Panache) and Courtenay McFadden (American Classis/Zones). With three laps to go, Nash, Noble and Lechner broke away to battle for the podium spots.

Lechner was the first to pop off, while American Ellen Noble (Aspire Racing) gave chase of a surging Nash. Noble kept Nash within sight on the long Mt. Krumpit run-up, but couldn’t quite close the gap. Nash went on to put together the two fastest laps of the day, back-to-back on laps three and four.

The conditions changed once again on the third day of racing at the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Iowa City, and Nash found them to her liking. “It was good. A little different than yesterday, it dried up a bunch. Definitely faster, but just as hard,” Nash said with a laugh.

Nash also had a chance to use her mountain bike racing endurance a bit more than in Saturday’s short, 37-minute race. Completing five laps instead of four, Sunday’s race was 44 minutes long.

Forty four minutes wasn’t enough for the U23 World Cup leader Noble to catch Nash, and the final gap was 13 seconds. With her victory at Sunday’s UCI Volkswagen Jingle Cross C1 Elite Women’s race, Nash claimed her eighth victory in four years at the Iowa City event. Nash’s teammate Eva Lechner of Italy was third, 31 seconds off the lead.

“It was fast racing, pushing hard the whole time but I felt really good,” agreed Lechner who took the holeshot. “I had a good start with good speed, leading the girls from the beginning and I tried to stay there as long as possible, and I’m happy with the third place today.”

Today’s C1 race comes on the heels of a big block of World Cup competitions in the U.S., the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup CrossVegas on Wednesday and the UCI Telenet Cyclo-cross World Cup Jingle Cross on Saturday.

“That’s the thing, we’re all on a pretty even playing field. All the top 10 women, most of them did Trek [CXC Cup], so we’ve all been racing straight out since last weekend. I think we’re all going a little bit slower today but I felt pretty good,” Noble said about everyone feeling the World Cups in their legs.

“I just arrived on Monday evening from Europe, then racing on Wednesday (Las Vegas), Interbike on Thursday, Friday traveling, Saturday race, and today race again,” Lechner stated about a crazy week. “It was exciting. A lot of people watching and cheering for us, loud cheering. A really nice welcome for me and I just enjoyed the racing in the U.S.”

Nash and Lechner will now take time to rest and recover before continuing their cyclocross seasons. Nash explained, “I just finished the mountain bike season not that long ago. so I need to stay home a little bit and head to Europe a little later on.”

On the other hand, Noble plans on defending her U23 World Cup lead. “I’m going to do the full World Cup circuit. but when I’m here [in the United States], I’ll be doing the big ones. So next we’ll go to Thompson, Connecticut, which is pretty close to my house, which I’m excited about. And then we’ll go to Charm (City Cross) and then head over to Valkenburg, a quick trip over. With these results and especially being the [U23] World Cup leader, you’ll see me at all the World Cups this year.”

Saturday’s World Cup winner Compton had an off day, and husband Mark Legg-Compton told Cyclocross Magazine it was partly due to Compton’s asthma problems as she didn’t take her medication before the race.

Sanne Cant, although not on the start list, suffered from a shoulder injury sustained in a crash at the barriers on Saturday. Cant had trouble raising her arm and will be visiting a doctor when she returns to Belgium.

Jingle Cross is traditionally held in late November or early December. The 2016 event was moved to September to accommodate the inclusion of World Cup cyclo-cross races for the first time. Jingle Cross, Inc is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation and proceeds from this event are donated to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Over its history, the event has raised well over $100,000 for the hospital.

Reporting by Peloton Sports and Andrew Yee

See our ever-growing Jingle Cross coverage here.

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2016 Jingle Cross Day 3 - UCI C1 Elite Women's Results

Place	Bib	Last	First	Team	Nat	Racing Age	Time	Gap
1	12	NASH	Katerina	Clif Pro Team	CZE	40	44:09
2	11	NOBLE	Ellen	Aspire Racing	USA	22	44:22	13
3	3	LECHNER	Eva	Clif Pro Team	ITA	32	44:40	31
4	2	MANI	Caroline	Raleigh Clement	FRA	30	44:57	48
5	19	FAHRINGER	Rebecca	Amy D Foundation	USA	28	45:20	1:11
6	25	PENDREL	Catharine	Clif Pro Team	CAN	37	45:47	1:38
7	7	ANTONNEAU	Kaitlin	Cannondale pb CyclocrossWorld.c	USA	25	45:50	1:41
8	6	WYMAN	Helen	Kona Factory Team	GBR	36	46:02	1:53
9	15	MCFADDEN	Courtenay	American Classic/Zones	USA	32	46:13	2:04
10	4	COMPTON	Katherine	KFC Racing p/b Trek/Panache	USA	39	47:08	2:59
11	10	ANTHONY	Crystal	maxxis-shimano pro cyclocross	USA	37	47:24	3:15
12	65	FERRIER	Christel	SAS-Macogep-Acquisio p/pMazda	CAN	38	47:36	3:27
13	22	GILBERT	Sunny	Van Dessel	USA	38	47:47	3:38
14	16	NAUMAN	Amanda	SDG - Muscle Monster	USA	28	47:57	3:48
15	13	DYCK	Mical	Naked Factory Racing	CAN	35	48:05	3:56
16	30	FINCHAMP	Hannah	LUNA Pro Team	USA	22	48:08	3:59
17	36	GOMEZ VILLAFANE	Sofia	TenSpeed Hero	ARG	23	48:11	4:02
18	24	WEST	Ruby	Cannondale Cyclocrossworld.com	CAN	18	48:30	4:21
19	18	MELLOR	Amira	NEXT Wyman/Kona	GBR	20	48:50	4:41
20	40	ARMAN	Danielle	Tenspeed Hero	USA	27	49:12	5:03
21	32	MCGILL	Sidney***	Focus CX Team Canada	CAN	18	49:28	5:19
22	27	VESTAL	Caitlyn	Feedback Sports Racing	USA	32	49:36	5:27
23	34	MONTAMBAULT	Cindy	Trek GPL	CAN	34	49:48	5:39
24	23	KACHOREK	Emily	Squid	USA	37	49:54	5:45
25	38	MERTZ	Nicole	ISCorp Cycling	USA	30	50:04	5:55
26	17	MAXIMENKO	Cassandra	Van Dessel/Atom Composites/ISM	USA	34	50:22	6:13
27	33	GROSS	Rebecca	KHS Bicycles	USA	37	50:55	6:46
28	26	KOROL	Meghan	Team Handmade	USA	33	51:02	6:53
29	37	COOGAN CISEK	Corey	The Fix Studio	USA	40	51:18	7:09
30	35	BLATT	Rebecca	Van Dessel	USA	37	51:28	7:19
31	44	RUBINO	Rachel	Fearless Femme Racing	USA	33	51:49	7:40
32	62	BARR	Megan	Angry Catfish Bicycle + Coffee	USA	30	51:55	7:46
33	66	NOWLIN	Jennifer	The Fix Studio	USA	42	52:44	8:35
34	31	BARSON	Ashley	Focus CX Team Canada	CAN	27	52:58	8:49
35	28	LARKIN	Maria	Chicago Cuttin Crew	IRL	30	53:29	9:20
36	29	KELLY	Siobhan***	To Wheels Epic Sports	CAN	21	54:04	9:55
37	67	KALEMKIARIAN	Stacy	The Fix Studio	USA	32	54:28	10:19
38	61	WOOD	Heidi	333fab CX Factory Team	USA	32	54:36	10:27
39	64	KNIGHT	Lindsay	Heritage Race Club	USA	33	54:48	10:39
40	68	MCGILL	Abbey	Juventus Cycling Club	CAN	17	55:14	11:05
41	69	CURTIS	Vanessa	University of Iowa Heart and Va	USA	40	55:46	11:37
42	41	MALARSKI	Anya	JetCycling/Power Fix	USA	18	@1Lap
43	70	RIBBENS	Diedre	Orion Racing p/b K'UL Chocolate	USA	30	@1Lap
44	43	ZOERNER	Ashley	Alpha Bicycle Company Vista Sub	USA	18	@2Laps
45	63	WALBERG	Catherine	Tradewind Energy	USA	55	@2Laps
DNF	8	MILLER	Amanda	Boulder Cycle Sport/YogaGlo	USA	31
DNF	20	KEMMERER	Arley	Fearless Femme Racing	USA	33
DNF	21	GREASER	Jena		USA	31
DNS	14	ANDERSON	Elle	Elle Anderson Racing	USA	29