THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
O'Neill, Goldstein seize lead at Mt. Hood
The individual time trial is often referred to as the race of truth, and after two time trials in four days at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, Health Net-Maxxis rider Nathan O’Neill has a pair of yellow leader’s jerseys to testify to his dominance over the pro-1-2 field assembled in Hood River, Oregon.
As expected, the race’s defending champion won the 18.5-mile Scenic Gorge individual time trial on Friday. But the eight-time national Australian time-trial champ didn't quite dominate the stage as had been predicted by many, including O’Neill. Instead O’Neill’s time of 40:25 narrowly beat Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance), last year’s Mt. Hood runner-up, by just nine seconds.
O’Neill also beat Zajicek in the 3-mile stage 1 time trial, by 11 seconds. But with Zajicek’s 10- and 5-second time bonuses earned on stages 2 and 3, the Navigators rider now sits just five seconds behind O’Neill heading into Saturday’s epic 90-mile Wy’East Road Race, which features nearly 10,000 feet of elevation gain, much over the final 40 miles, which is almost entirely uphill.
The morning’s race leader, Ben Jacques-Maynes, finished third on the stage, 43 seconds off O’Neill’s pace. The Priority Health-Bissell rider now sits third on GC, 26 seconds behind O’Neill.
The 18.5-mile time trial ran along smooth pavement and featured five miles in the Columbia River Highway State Park, which was closed entirely to vehicles. The course, which began in The Dalles, dished up a pair of climbs, the first more substantial than the second, and headed straight into the infamous winds that funnel down the Columbia River Gorge. Though Friday’s wind wasn’t overbearing, at approximately 15-20 miles per hour the steady breeze was definitely a factor.
"I felt like I did pretty well given the headwind," said Jacques-Maynes. "I prefer a flatter time trial like the [the Central Valley Classic] in Fresno where I can just let it roll.
"I'm not slow, but I'm not perfect on these types of courses. I couldn't have ridden any harder so I have to be happy with third place."
O'Neill, who came into Mt. Hood feeling a little under the weather, said he felt "okay" on the windswept course, then tipped his cap to Zajicek for a ride well done.
"That's a great ride for Phil. We've always known he had it in him. But it's never been a given result with him," he said. "The good thing for me now is we're only talking about one guy [Zajicek]. That makes my day tomorrow pretty simple.
"Man to man, I think I'm okay, and on paper, I think we have the stronger team. I think it's going to be a good race. The GC has been more or less sorted out, and we know who's in it for the win."
Zajicek was ecstatic with his ride. The Navigators rider has improved on his time trialing after visiting the San Diego Low-Speed wind tunnel in February before the Amgen Tour of California. He’s since fine-tuned his position at a weekly time-trial series in his new hometown of Boulder, Colorado. In his first attempt in Boulder Zajicek nearly broke the local record set by Toyota-United’s two-time national time-trial champion Chris Baldwin.
Zajicek explained why a course straight into a headwind can favor a smaller, more compact rider like himself, versus a course with crosswinds, which would favor a bigger rider such as O’Neill.
"I have very low drag, and right now I have good power. In the headwind it comes down to a power-to-frontal-area ratio," said Zajicek. "An undulating course like today's favors a lighter, smaller rider."
The Navigators rider had something else going for him, too.
"Yesterday Nathan told me he'd put a minute-thirty into me and Jacques-Maynes today. And that was certainly a big motivator. I was thinking about that all last night and all this morning," Zajicek said.
Come Saturday, he added, "I've got to try to put as much time into him [O'Neill] as I can. We have a strong team and we have a lot of cards to play. But I think it's just going to come down to me and Nathan."
And one more thing: "Don't forget there's still Sunday's criterium," Zajicek said. "There are still two days of racing to try to take back five seconds."
Zajicek, one of the top climbers racing in America, could well find an opportunity to cut out six seconds from O’Neill’s lead on Saturday’s steepest sections in the final two miles up to the Cooper Spur Mountain Resort.
Jacques-Maynes is not regarded as talented a climber as Zajicek and O’Neill, but will have an ace in the hole in teammate Cameron Wurf, who finished fourth on the stage, 1:28 down, and now sits fifth overall, 2:08 behind O’Neill.
Meanwhile, Zajicek’s top-ranked teammate, Glen Chadwick, sits fourth overall, 1:56 back, and O’Neill’s top-ranked teammate is Ryder Hesjedal, 2:57 off the top pace.
Goldstein stomps the ITT
After 2005 world pursuit champion Katie Mactier won the stage 1 prologue and the stage 2 road race, it appeared as though the Aussie might run away with the overall win at Mt. Hood.
But Thursday’s road race showed that Mactier’s ValueAct Capital team might not be up to the task of defending the jersey, and an Aaron’s team effort saw Katherine Carroll take the stage win and overall lead thanks largely to the teamwork of Kristin Sanders and Felicia Gomez.
Meanwhile, two-time Mt. Hood winner Leah Goldstein (Symmetrics) hovered at fourth overall heading into Friday’s time trial. Goldstein finished fourth in the stage 1 time trial, but then faltered during the final uphill kilometers of stage 3 after helping Mactier drive the chase up to the lone Sanders breakaway.
However, a longer time trial was again the ace in the hole for Goldstein, who won the Mt. Hood time trial in 2005 and finished second last year to Dotsie Bausch, who later crashed out in the penultimate stage criterium, opening the door for Goldstein to take the overall win.
Goldstein unleashed an unbeatable performance Friday, beating Webcor Builders rider Beverly Harper by 59 seconds and Mactier by 1:44. Goldstein now leads Harper by 1:32 and Mactier by 1:39. Carroll, who finished sixth on the time trial stage, 2:38 down, now sits fourth overall, 1:55 behind Goldstein heading into Saturday’s climbing stage.
However, what Goldstein has in time she lacks in team support. Her only other Symmetrics teammate is Marni Hambleton, who is more than nine minutes down.
Likewise, Harper is completely without team support, while Carroll’s teammates Sanders and Gomez sit sixth and seventh, respectively. Gomez is sixth at 2:47, while Sanders, the team’s top climber, is seventh at 2:50 down.
Aaron’s team director Carmen D’Alusio said the team would be using its depth to put Goldstein into trouble early and often.
“We’re going to use our numbers as early as we can,” D’Alusio said. “Saturday’s race is long, and if you look at Thursday’s circuit race, we put 42 seconds into Katie in the final three kilometers, with a little less time into Leah.
“It’s unfortunate that our best climber is third in the line on the team’s GC, but we’re going to make it an interesting day, that’s for sure.”
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