THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Friedick takes stage, lead at Toona
Mariano Friedick (Toyota United) scored a 10-second winner's time bonus to take the lead at the International Tour de Toona on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, four-time national criterium champion Tina Pic (Colavita) took the stage-2 field sprint ahead of Lipton's Laura van Gilder, but Alison Powers (Advil-Chapstick) retained the yellow jersey heading into Wednesday’s decisive 98-mile stage, which features a Category 1 climb over Blue Knob ski resort at mid-race.
In the men’s race, a five-man breakaway got away early and nearly made it until the end. Stefano Barberi (Toyota-United) and Bernard van Ulden (Navigators Insurance) drove it hard, forcing stage-1 winner Karl Menzies’s Health Net-Maxxis squad to set tempo - a chase that would last for 40 miles.
"We were reeled in with a mile and a half to go," said Barberi. "I saw the field coming and I knew it was probably going to come back together. But I figured I would give it one last chance. At least if I stuck out there for an extra mile or whatever it was, it would force other teams to chase and my guys would just sit on and focus on winning the stage."
Although the break was absorbed and Barberi caught, the effort did not go unrewarded, as Barberi claimed the KOM jersey.
Friedick, who won the race in what he described as a "mob finish," provided a play-by-play of the last few kilometers.
"It was up to Chris Wherry, J.J. Haedo and myself to try to be near the front for the last three kilometers and go for the win," he said. "It looked like we were setting J.J. up for the win because I was leading him out. I went around a couple of guys and J.J. was on my wheel yelling 'Si, Si, Si, Si,' and all of a sudden he opened up a gap and I took the win. I figured he wanted me to go for it so I took the last corner first and stayed in front. The last 750 meters was crazy."
Friedick was guarded about his chances of keeping the yellow jersey after Wednesday’s more challenging point-to-point road race.
"Obviously with the leader's jersey we're very motivated," said Friedick. "Tomorrow's going to be a hard stage. We have three or four climbers on the team so we're going to try to defend this jersey as much as we can. Whether I can make it towards the end - who knows? I mean, I can climb but we'll see what the climbing legs are going to say tomorrow."
Pic's win in the women's race was hardly a surprise, given her track record as the rider with the most stage victories in Toona history.
"It still was pretty dicey," noted Pic. "That's just the name of the game with sprinting. I knew once we came down that little exit ramp, you just had to be in front there, so my team was amazing today doing the leadout. It really made it easy for me - especially because it was so hot out today and you just don't know what you're going to have at the end. There's a lot of miles this week and I just think a lot of people are waiting for the mountains tomorrow."
Powers - only in her first full season of racing - was still beaming to be in yellow.
"The best girls who aren't racing in Europe from North America are here," said Powers. "So this race is the biggest race of the year. Everyone comes and wants to do well here, so I'm very honored to get to wear the yellow jersey for the second day in a row. We knew it was a sprinter's day today so it was a good chance to keep the yellow jersey. For the next few days we won't, you know, kill ourselves to try to keep it because it is a seven-day race."
Powers said she knew Tuesday’s stage would ultimately come down to a field sprint and her strategy was to just stay safely in the peloton. She remains six seconds ahead of Lipton's Kristin Armstrong and van Gilder.
Dotsie Bausch (Colavita), still on the road to fitness after a month’s hiatus from racing while recovering from a broken collarbone she incurred back in May, captured top points on two QOMs, giving her the polka-dot jersey.
2006 International Tour de Toona
Johnstown Galleria Circuit Road Race
Men
1. Mariano Friedick, Toyota-United, 2:13:14
2. Juan Jose Haedo, Toyota-United, at 0:06
3. Greg Henderson, Health Net-Maxxis, at 0:04
4. Brice Jones, Jelly Belly, s.t.
5. Sergey Lagutin, Navigators Insurance, s.t.
6. Karl Menzies, Health Net-Maxxis, s.t.
7. Erik Lyman, Calyon-Litespeed, s.t.
8. Shawn Milne, Navigators Insurance, s.t.
9. Emile Abraham, AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork, s.t.
10. Jonathan Page, Colavita-Sutter Home, s.t.
Women
1. Tina Mayolo-Pic, Colavita-Cooking Light, 2:41:22
2. Laura Van Gilder, Team Lipton, at 0:04
3. Gina Grain, Colavita-Cooking Light, at 0:06
4. Alex Wrubleski, Team Biovail, s.t.
5. Brooke Miller, PABW-TIBC, s.t.
6. Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Verducci Breakaway, s.t.
7. Lauren Franges, Victory Brewing, s.t.
8. Rachel O'Connell, Cheerwine, s.t.
9. Liza Rachetto, Team Lipton, s.t.
10. Laura Yoisten, Victory Brewing, s.t.
Overall
Men
1. Mariano Friedick, Toyota-United 2:18:21
2. Karl Menzies, Health Net-Maxxis, at 0:02
3. Greg Henderson, Health Net-Maxxis, at 0:03
4. Shawn Milne, Navigators Insurance, at 0:06
5. Jeff Louder, Health Net-Maxxis, s.t.
6. Bernard Van Ulden, Navigators Insurance, s.t.
7. Christopher Baldwin, Toyota-United, at 0:07
8. Juan Jose Haedo, Toyota-United Pro, s.t.
9. Mark McCormack, Colavita-Sutter Home, at 0:08
10. Davide Frattini, Colavita-Sutter Home, at 0:09
Women
1. Alison Powers, Advil-Chapstick, 2:47:03
2. Kristin Armstrong, Team Lipton, at 0:06
3. Laura Van Gilder, Team Lipton, s.t.
4. Alex Wrubleski, Team Biovail, at 0:10
5. Tina Mayolo-Pic, Colavita Cooking Light, at 0:11
6. Kori Seehafer, Team Lipton, at 0:13
7. Lauren Franges, Victory Brewing, at 0:14
8. Katherine Sherwin, Victory Brewing, at 0:16
9. Kristin Sanders, Cheerwine, at 0:17
10. Felicia Gomez, Webcor-Platinum, s.t.
