Planet Bike cyclocross star Jonathan Page and Trek-Volkswagen’s Lea Davison win at Wisconsin’s Chequamegon 40.

By Fred Dreier

Cyclocross star Jonathan Page (Planet Bike) and Lea Davison (Trek-Volkswagen) escaped with overall wins at Wisconsin’s Chequamegon 40 on Saturday. The event is the highlight of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival, a weekend of mountain bike races and events in and around Cable, Wisconsin.

The famed race once again began with a mass start of 1700 participants in downtown Hayward, Wisconsin, before following the American Birkebeiner ski trail to Cable.

Page, the 2007 silver medalist at the UCI world cyclocross championships, spent much of the day chasing Minnesotan Jeff Hall (Salsa Cycles). Page bridged across to Hall with only eight miles remaining, and then dropped the Salsa rider on the final climb to win by just eight seconds. Page had only ridden his winning Ridley mountain bike once prior.

“I knew it (the course) got harder,” said Page, the runner up at the 2007 national ‘cross champs. “[Hall] was very strong. I just capitalized on the situation.”

Travis Woodruff finished third, 41 seconds back.

Davison, who finished third in 2007, spent the first mile of the race chasing 2007 champion Jenna Zander (Sobe-Cannondale). The Sobe-Cannondale rider got a gap after making around a crash on Railroad Avenue just outside of Hayward, a half mile into the race.

But Davison made her way past the crash and quickly caught and dropped Zander. But mile 16, the Trek rider enjoyed a two-minute advantage, which she held to the finish.

“I felt phenomenal. I’m having the season of my life,” said Davison, who finished 19th at the 2008 UCI world championships in Val di Sole, Italy.

2008 Chequamegon 40
September 13, 2008

Men
1. Jonathan Page, 2:08:06
2. Jeff Hall, at 0:08
3. Travis Woodruff, at 0:41
4. Landon Lueck, at 0:42
5. Chris Peariso, at 0:52
6. Mike Phillips, at 1:04
7. Doug Swanson, at 2:49
8. Thomas Bender, at 2:53
9. Dewey Dickey, at 3:43
10. Cam Kirkpatrick, at 3:45

Women
1. Lea Davison, 2:19:27
2. Jenna Zander, at 2:41
3. Catherine Walberg, at 12:00
4. Holly Liske, at 17:17
5. Erin Vicary, at 17:51
6. Rebecca Sauber, at 21:49
7. Julie Meyer, at 23:19
8. Amy Thomas, at 23:21
9. Jennifer Meyer, at 24:27
10. Sara Morse, at 25:04

FILED UNDER: Mountain