Katie versus the world

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.

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By Fred Dreier

Compton will face some serious competition from Van den Brand and Kupfernagel.

Compton will face some serious competition from Van den Brand and Kupfernagel.

Photo: Frank Bodenmüller/CBGPhoto.com

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.

The bloc of racing gave Compton another taste of racing against the world’s three best European riders: German Hanka Kupfernagel and Dutchwomen Daphny Van den Brand and Marianne Vos. VeloNews caught up with Compton the day before she traveled back to Europe to get her perspective on how she matches up against the three.

VeloNews: How do you feel you fare against defending world champ Hanka Kupfernagel? Where are you stronger than her?

Katie Compton: I feel like we’re pretty evenly matched. I’m stronger than her on the run ups and stair sections, which at first really surprised me. I can make her suffer a little in those sections. We’re both fairly similar riders in mud, and I think a lot of times it just comes down to who is riding better that day. I mean, between me and Hanka and Daphny, we’re all pretty damn good at the technical stuff. But Hanka and I are going to be at the front in the mud races.

VN: Where is Kupfernagel stronger than you?

KC: She’s got more raw horsepower than I do in general. On those flat straightaways she can make me suffer. She’s a great time trailer, and I’ve never been good at that. I’m never going to be as good as her at putting out brute strength in a straight line.

VN: How about Daphny Van den Brand — where are her strengths and weaknesses compared to yours?

Compton scored yet another stars-and-stripes jersey in November. Now she's looking for a rainbow.

Compton scored yet another stars-and-stripes jersey in November. Now she’s looking for a rainbow.

Photo: Ben Ross

KC: In straight-line power sections and running sections I’m stronger than her. But she’s a really smart racer and always tries to zip in front of me before sand or stairs, which is frustrating. She’s good at playing the position game, and I just have to try and not let her get those positions.

But in the twisty turns and windy stuff she’s really good. Daphny is so small she can just fly around tight turns. It’s actually pretty fun to ride behind her because she can ride through turns so smooth. On the faster, twisting courses with lots of flow she really excels.

VN: And what about Marianne Vos?

KC: In the mud and sand I’m definitely stronger. I can get through that stuff much better than her, but Vos is one hell of a fast sprinter. If it comes down to a group of us, she’s going to be really hard to beat. If it’s a fast course then she’ll do OK, but if it’s going to be a heavy, muddy one I think she’ll struggle.

VN: How about your American compatriots Rachel Lloyd and Georgia Gould? They had some success during the Christmas week races.

KC: Yeah, and I think that speaks a lot about the ’cross racing in the U.S. We’ve definitely stepped up our game, and now we can be consistently finish in the top-10 in Europe, which is awesome. Rachel learned a lot from her first races and seemed to get the feeling for the races. Georgia I think learned really quickly the differences between World Cup cyclocross and mountain bike races. She’s a strong and really smart racer. I think both of them are going to have really good rides at worlds.

VN: What kind of conditions are you hoping for at the world championships?

KC: I hope it’s muddy and heavy and really hard. I hope we have conditions that will sort the field out and make sure the strongest rider wins.

VN: Last year you had to pull out of worlds on the opening lap due to a bad sickness. Are you doing anything different this year to try and stay healthy?

KC: Yeah, I’m definitely backing off the training a bit. I’m not doing as much as I did in the lead up to last year’s worlds, and I’m giving myself more recovery time before traveling. I’m going to worlds with what I have in my legs, but I know I can be competitive with the work I’m able to do. I know that if I push myself too hard in training, then I can’t race at all. I’ve had to find that balance.

VN: I know you’ve struggled with a chronic leg cramping issue for much of your career, and it even kept you out of some European races at the beginning of the season. Are you changing things up at all in your prep for worlds?

KC: Yeah, the reason I messed up the first time was that I took a sleeping pill on the [flight to Belgium] and spent the whole flight sitting down. I just can’t do that for that long. I can tell. I start cramping. It’s weird, it’s a little hard to explain, but if feels like that burning in your legs after a day of skiing or if you run up the stairs. Your legs feel tender, and it just lasts.

I have to get up and move around and stretch during long flights. The flight attendants are cool with it — I stay out of their way and wait until everyone is asleep. I walk around. I wear my Skins compression tights, which makes a big difference.

So yeah, no sleeping pill this time. It was a lesson I learned the hard way. I was just thinking if I got more sleep I’d feel better. This time I just suck it up and deal.

VN: How are your nerves heading into worlds.

KC: I get a little nervous sometimes. Right now I’m a little nervous talking about it, but it’s a good nervous. I’ve never gotten past being nervous about big races through my career. But it’s good; I know how to perform with it. It just means that I’m excited and I’m ready to go fast.

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