Katie Compton took her third successive national cyclo-cross title Sunday, after riding in a solo breakaway for most of the day and the U.S. championships in Providence, Rhode Island.

The Spike-Primus Mootry rider waved goodbye to the women’s elite field midway through the first lap after accelerating up the first climb on the mile-long course, which snaked through Providence’s Roger Williams Park. The move splintered the women’s field, with Coloradan Georgia Gould (Luna) riding by herself to a second-place finish, and Kerry Barnholt (Tokyo Joe’s) and Deidre Winfield (Velo Bella-Kona) fighting for third.

“It was easier this year because I got a call up,” said Compton, who won her titles in 2004 and 2005 after starting at the back of the women’s field. Until this year, Compton was forced to skip UCI events because she had been actively involved as the sighted member of a Paralympic tandem team.

Compton had made a commitment to blind tandem partner Karissa Whitsell to ride through to the end of 2005. Now, she can focus on her own competitive career and, unlike past years, will not turn down her automatic nomination to the world's 'cross team.

Compton plans to race in Belgium in January, taking on the world's best for the first time in her career.

"I would love a top-ten finish," she said, "but this year I'd just like to go for experience and feel it out and see where I stand and next year go for a better result."

Behind Compton, Gould finished in second place, roughly a half-minute down and Barnholt won the sprint for third.

The elite women took to the course after watching New Englander Tim Johnson take top honors in the Strawberry Cup. Johnson attacked out of a lead group containing Mark McCormack (Clif Bar) and Jonathan Baker (Harshman Wealth-Primus Mootry) to take the win.

Taking the day’s first stars-and-stripes jersey was Jamey Driscoll who took the men’s collegiate crown for the University of Vermont. Driscoll dropped Joey Thompson (Fort Lewis College) in the final climb to take the win. Fort Lewis finished two riders in the top five with Thompson and third-place finisher Troy Wells, however the Skyhawks finished second in the Collegiate team competition behind Lees-McRae College.

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2006 California Giant Berry Farms USA Cycling CyclocrossNational Championships
Providence, Rhode Island
December 17, 2006Elite Women
1. Katie Compton, Spike-Primus Mootry
2. Georgia Gould, Luna
3. Kerry Barnholt, Tokyo Joes
4. Deidre Winfield, Velo Bella-Kona
5. Ann Knapp, Kona

Strawberry Super Cup
1. Tim Johnson, Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com
2. Mark McCormack, Clif Bar
3. Jonathan Baker, Harshman Wealth-Primus Mootry
4. Ben Jacques-Maynes, Cyclo-crossworld.com-SRAM
5. Ryan Trebon, KonaCollegiate Men
1. Jamey Driscoll, University of Vermont
2. Joey Thompson, Fort Lewis College
3. Troy Wells, Fort Lewis College
4. Ryan Iddings, Seattle Pacific University
5. Bjorn Selander, University of Wisconsin-River FallsCollegiate Team Division 1
1. Lees-McRae College
2. Fort Lewis College
3. Colorado State University
4. UNH Cycling
5. University of ColoradoCollegiate Team Division II
1. MIT
2. Dartmouth
3. Appalachian State University
4. USMA
5. Seattle Pacific College