Compton atop UCI rankings, Page in Europe

Katie Compton leads the UCI world rankings for Womens Elite Cyclocross racers. This is the first time an American (male or female) has ever led this prestigious competition. UCI rankings can be found here. Congrats to Katie on this huge accomplishment!

Jonathan Page has been racing the past few weeks in Europe and posting some solid results. Full reports can be found on his website

Results include:

10/17 Ardooie - 13th
10/18 Pizen World Cup - 13th
10/21 Nacht von Woerden - 7th
10/25 Koppenberg - 18th

Toronto UCI Races

Another great weekend of UCI racing for Team Planet Bike. James, Kaitie, Kristin, Linda, and Tristan headed up to Canada to participate in the C1 and C2 events in Toronto, Ontario. The races were well organized and unique courses greeted the riders each day. Sunny and cool weather kept conditions relatively clean and fast both days.

Saturday's course was situated on a ski hill and included a lot of elevation change each lap. In the womens race Natasha Elliot and Pepper Harlton shot off the front on the first lap with all three Planet Bike riders sitting in the top 10. Linda and Kristin both moved into the top 5 on the second lap as Elliot took the lead. photo thanks to Dave McElwaine photo thanks to Peter Kraiker

They both passed Harlton with just over a lap to go and went on to finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively. After battling some stomach issues Kaitie had a strong last lap and was able to pass 4 riders and finish an incredible 4th place. photo thanks to Peter Kraiker

photo thanks to Peter Kraiker

Womens Race Reports - Cyclingnews, Velonews, Cyclocross Magazine

Linda's postrace interview from Cyclingdirt

In the Mens event Tristan had a strong race and finished on the podium in 5th place. photo thanks to Dave McElwaine

A last row starting spot had James fighting through the field and he moved up to get both cash and UCI points by finishing 13th.

Men - Cyclingnews, Velonews, Cyclocross Magazine

Sunday's course was on the opposite side of the park and included more technical twists, turns, and ditches in addition to several short steep climbs. 17 year old Kaitie was the talk of the race riding into 2nd place with 2 laps to go. Looking incredibly strong and fluid on the course she was making up time on Elliot who went on to win by only 15 seconds. photo thanks to Dave McElwaine

Linda finished 4th with Kristin in 6th. Another strong showing for the Planet Bike women who were able to gather lots of UCI points this weekend.

Womens reports - Cyclingnews, Velonews, Cyclocross Magazine

Kaitie's postrace interview from Cyclingdirt

The Planet Bike men again had strong races as they moved up within the field and settled into the same finishing positions as Saturday. Tristan on the podium in 5th and James was 13th.

photo thanks to Peter Kraiker


Men - Cyclingnews, Velonews, Cyclocross Magazine

Thanks to everyone associated with putting on these great races! Also thanks to the great photographers at the event Jon Safka, Peter Kraiker, and Dave McElwaine. We had a blast meeting some really nice folks in Toronto and they have a cool cross scene there. Big thanks to Dave from Minneapolis who served as our mechanic and helped us out throughout the weekend. As always thanks to all of our great sponsors for helping make things happen so we can travel and race at events like these! Thanks to Planet Bike, Edge, Lazer, Ridley, TRP!

Triple Win for Compton in Ohio, Lalonde on Podium

Several Planet Bike riders headed to the Cincinnati area this past weekend for a rare opportunity to race three consecutive days of UCI events. Nearly 48 hours of rain leading up to the races caused the course for Friday to be slick and muddy. Staying upright through the numerous off camber sections proved difficult. Katie Compton was conservative on the first lap but put the jets on the remainder of the race and easily took the win.

Linda Sone took advantage of her strong technical skills and was in the hunt for third. Unable to outsprint Winfield, Linda took an impressive 4th place.

Kaitie Antonneau was riding in a solid 6th place before a snapped derailleur hanger forced her to abandon the race.
Kristin struggled in the sloppy mud but finished 11th.

Mark Lalonde rode a very strong race and finished in 4th.


Day 1 Reports - Cyclocross Magazine, Podium In Sight

Day 2
Elite Women
1st - Katie Compton

6th - Kaitie Antonneau

7th - Linda Sone

8th - Kristin Wentworth


Elite Men

3rd - Mark Lalonde

Day 2 Reports - Cyclocross Magazine, Podium in Sight

Day 3
Elite Women
1st - Katie Compton

6th - Kristin Wentworth

7th - Katie Antonneau

8th - Linda Sone


Elite men

Mark Lalonde - 7th


Day 3 Reports - Cyclocross Magazine, Podium in Sight


All the photos here are thanks to the wonderfully talented Lyne Lamoureux. Her photography and race reports are some of the best out there. Check out her website Podium in Sight. Huge thanks to her for being out there!

Compton wins in Italy, Page takes Gloucester #1

Katie Compton won the first World Cup race in Treviso, Italy on Sunday by nearly 30 seconds over her closest competitor. Taking control on the first lap, Katie demonstrated her dominance the entire race. The win puts Compton in the World Cup leaders jersey. The next race will be November 11 in Nommay, France.

World Cup reports
CX Magazine
Cyclingnews

Meanwhile back in the US Jonathan Page was racing in Gloucester, MA. Day 1 treated the riders to wet, muddy conditions and Page capitalized on his technical skills to win the race by nearly 2 minutes on Saturday. Day 2 was a drier course and a group of 4 riders emerged with Page the odd man out against three Cyclocrossworld.com riders - Jamey Driscoll, Tim Johnson, and Jeremy Powers. An unfortunate crash between Page and Johnson caused Page to have to chase after Johnson for the remaining 2 laps and he was unable to make up the time. He finished a strong 2nd place.

Gloucester Day 1 reports
CX Magazine
Cyclingnews

Gloucester Day 2 reports
Cyclingnews

USGP Planet Bike Cup

photos thanks to Lyne Lamoureux

Great weekend of racing in Madison, Wisconsin - the hometown of Planet Bike. Highlights included back to back wins by Katie Compton in the Elite Womens race and two 3rd place finishes for Jonathan Page in the Elite Mens race. Here's a rundown of results. More reports and photos to come.

Saturday

Elite Women - reports - cx magazine, cyclingnews, velonews
Katie Compton - 1st
Kristin Wentworth - 10th
Linda Sone - 12th
Kaitie Antonneau - 13th

Elite Men - reports - cx magazine, cyclingnews, velonews
Jonathan Page - 3rd - **Most Aggressive Rider**
Mark LaLonde - 11th
Tristan Schouten - 14th
James LaLonde - 22nd

Masters 55+ Men
Greg Pautsch - 1st
Gordy Paulson - 3rd

Women 3/4
Sarah Huang - 4th

Masters Women
Diane Ostenso - 2nd
Patti Kaufmann - 3rd

Boys 15-16
Jordan Cullen - 1st

Girls 10-14
Emma Swartz - 2nd

Sunday

Elite Women - reports - cx magazine, cyclingnews, velonews
Katie Compton - 1st
Kristin Wentworth - 9th
Linda Sone - 11th
Kaitie Antonneau - 14th
Patti Kaufmann - 25th

Elite Men - reports - cx magazine, cyclingnews, velonews
Jonathan Page - 3rd
Tristan Schouten - 8th - **Most Aggressive Rider**
Mark LaLonde - 11th
James LaLonde - 20th

Masters 45+ Men
Bob Downs - 6th

Masters 55+ Men
Greg Pautsch - 1st
Gordy Paulson - 5th

Women 3/4
Sarah Huang - 2nd

Masters Women
Diane Ostenso - 1st

Boys 15-16
Jordan Cullen - 1st

Girls 10-14
Emma Swartz - 1st

Saturday photos

Elite Women

Katie takes the win
Kristin

Linda

Kaitie

photo thanks to Matt Cook
photo - Ben Ross

Elite Men

Jonathan is named "Most Aggressive Rider"

Mark

photo thanks to BPAG

Tristan

James

photo thanks to Matt Cook

Mens Podium

Cross Vegas

The 2010 Cyclocross Season was kicked off with style in Las Vegas during the Interbike trade show on Wednesday September 23. Planet Bike was out in force with international superstars Katie Compton and Jonathan Page both participating in the event. Other Planet Bike riders present in the Elite races included Kristin Wentworth, Mark Lalonde, and James Lalonde. The racing was held under the lights on a soccer field and thousands of spectators lined the course to watch athletes from around the world battle to be the king and queen of Las Vegas cyclocross.

Katie took control of the womens race on the first lap and never looked back. Only Katerina Nash was able to stick to Katie's wheel and following a mishap on the second lap Katie rode the following 30 minutes of the race solo to take the victory by a minute.


Kristin settled into a group with Amy Dombroski, Laura Van Gilder, and Alison Sydor for the majority of the race and finished 13th.

Reports - Cyclingnews, Cx magazine, Velonews

The mens field was filled with riders from across the world and over 100 racers on the line. After an impressive first lap a group of about 20 riders, including Jonathan, appeared to have a bit of a gap on the rest of the field.
An attack on lap 2 by Chris Jones proved to be the winning move with Jamey Driscoll bridging up to him shortly after. A chase group of about 7 formed but a lack of organization and a solid effort by the two leaders prevented a regrouping. Jonathan tried a few attacks from the group but the gap proved too far to bridge and he settled into a group of 4 chasers. In the final 400 meters of the race Page displayed his sprinting power to take the final podium spot and finish 3rd in the race.


Mark and James battled throughout the race. The hot, dry conditions proved troublesome to both riders and they finished 27th and 50th, respectively.



Reports - Cyclingnews, Cx magazine, Velonews

All photos thanks to Lyne Lamoureux

Team Planet Bike 2009

photo by Jamie Young

Planet Bike, a leading manufacturer of innovative, high quality, and practical bicycle accessories, is honored to announce its 2009-2010 Cyclocross Team roster. In its third year of sponsoring a Cross team, Planet Bike is thrilled to have Jonathan Page back for a second year and to welcome Katie Compton to the team. Two of the nation’s top cyclocross stars Page and Compton will both race predominantly in Europe after kicking off their season with Cross Vegas on September 23 during Bike Industry trade show Interbike.

"It is an absolute dream come true for us to have two of the best cyclocrossers in US history in Compton and Page riding for our small company. Besides being outstanding riders, both Katie and JP are quality people who are very representative of the Planet Bike philosophy of hard work and doing things the right way," stated Planet Bike's founder Bob Downs.

Additionally the team will field a talented Midwest based Elite, Juniors, and Masters team. The Elite team is proud to bring back Mark LaLonde, Jesse LaLonde, Tristan Schouten, and Kristin Wentworth. Both Mark and Kristin raced UCI events throughout the country last year scoring numerous top 10 results. After some unfortunate injuries early on last year Jesse and Tristan are healthy and ready to resume their history of strong racing. New additions this year include James Lalonde and Minnesotan Linda Sone. The Elite team will focus on gathering points at UCI events throughout the season.

Wisconsin has a talented cyclocross presence among all ages and Planet Bike is proud to sponsor some of the nation's top young riders. Juniors include 2008 US Cyclocross Champion Sarah Huang (age 13-14), 2008 bronze medalist Kaitie Antonneau (age 17-18), and 2008 bronze medalist Jordan Cullen (age 13-14). The masters team will be headlined by two time US Cross Champ Diane Ostenso (age 55-59).

The first round of the US Grand Prix Cyclocross series will be in the hometown of Planet Bike – Madison, WI – on September 26th and 27th. The entire team will participate in the prestigious event that is set to bring the top North American cyclocross stars to Wisconsin.

Midwestern Elite team members will be sponsored by Ridley Bicycles and will be riding the new 2010 Ridley X-Night and X-Fire. Team Planet Bike is proud to again be riding Edge wheels and Challenge Tires. In addition to these sponsors, Team Planet Bike will also represent TRP brakes, Lazer helmets, CinQo Power meters, and Vermarc clothing. A team presentation will occur on Friday September 11 at 6pm at Chronometro bike shop in Madison, WI.

Planet Bike, founded in 1996, has always believed in the great potential of the bicycle to help improve the world and the lives of the people in it. The company has embraced an alternative corporate purpose which seeks to help get more people on bicycles by making communities friendlier places for the self-propelled. Planet Bike accomplishes this by donating 25% of company profits to causes that promote and facilitate bicycle usage. By the end of 2009, Planet Bike will have donated $1 million to organizations that are dedicated to making America a friendlier place for cyclists.