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Ollerenshaw, Armstrong seize Sea Otter road crowns in last-stage struggle
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A few weeks ago, organizers of the Sea Otter Classic road stage race decided to change the course on the final road stage in hopes of sparking more action for a climactic finale. That objective was achieved, and if the final stage was much more difficult than in years past, that’s just fine with overall winners Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net-Maxxis) and Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile). For each, Saturday’s arduous final stage, which took riders from the start at the Laguna Seca Raceway into the surrounding hills of Fort Ord, overlooking California’s Monterey Bay, proved decisive.
For the 25-year-old Ollerenshaw, a hard worker on a Health Net team stacked with talent, it was the biggest win of his career.
“It’s amazing,” said the 2002 collegiate champion for Oregon State University in Corvallis. “I don’t know how to describe how this feels, I didn’t think this was possible today.”
Midway through the fourth of nine 16km laps that made up the majority of the 169km men’s race, Ollerenshaw joined a 14-man break. With teammates Gord Fraser and Mike Sayers alongside him, and GC threats David Clinger (Webcor Builders), fourth overall, and Ivan Stevic (Aerospace Engineering-VMG), second overall, in the main field behind, Ollerenshaw was just one of many weapons that Health Net could turn to.
That breakaway suddenly gained six minutes just past the midway point of the race, a development some felt was due to some course confusion that occurred when the simultaneously racing men’s and women’s fields mixed together on the closed circuit. However it happened, it seemed clear that Chris Wherry, Health Net’s GC leader and a favorite on a tough course like Fort Ord, was out of the running for the overall win.
Fraser seemed the likely next choice for Health Net, until the day’s most surprising development: Stevic, the 24-year-old Serbian rider who won the previous day’s circuit race, set off on a solo pursuit of the leaders and closed the six-minute gap all on his own.
“With Gord up there, he was leader on GC [on the road],” said Ollerenshaw. “I was second and Mike Sayers was third, so we were happy. We were going to take that group to the line and set Gord up for the win, but then we got word that Stevic was coming across. We didn’t know he was close until he was just about to make contact with the group. At that point he would have been leader on the road.”
So with about 30km to go, Ollerenshaw attacked, bringing Tim Larkin (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) with him. “At that point, any hope of keeping it together and setting up Gord was gone,” Ollerenshaw said.
With Ollerenshaw and Larkin up the road, and the final 5km climb up Barloy Canyon approaching, another small group including Sayers, Clemente Cavaliere (Aerospace Engineering-VMG), Chris Greene of California Giant and Roman Kilun of McGuire-Langdale, dropped Stevic and closed in on Ollerenshaw.
At that point Kilun, a 23-year-old second-year pro whose first race was at Sea Otter when he was 16, attacked. “There were three Health Net riders in that group, so I knew I had to go,” he said.
On the final climb, Ollerenshaw dropped Larkin, hammered into Laguna Seca, completed two 3km laps of the circuit, and held off the chase to collect the biggest win of his career.
Kilun held on for second, which was the best result of his career, too. “This is pretty much the best day of my life,” he said.
Last woman standing
The 133km women’s race also came down to a small group of survivors at the end of a hard-fought battle. As in the men’s race, the favorite T-Mobile team let a break form early, so by the time the wind and hills took effect, the team’s top riders were fresh to attack.
Just before the day’s early break of six riders was caught by the field, T-Mobile’s German sprinter Ina Teutenberg set off on a solo chase. It was the second-to-last circuit, and after a long day in the hills and wind, the breakaway riders were so spent that Teutenberg shot right through them and took the lead.
That left it up to Quark and Webcor, whose top riders were GC leader Tina Pic (Quark) and third-place Christine Thorburn (Webcor), to fight to bring Teutenberg back before the final climb. And by the time they did, the women in pink launched their final weapon - Kristin Armstrong.
Armstrong, who came into the race second overall, four seconds behind Pic, hit the climb fresh. “I got to sit on, and Christine knows when you’re racing and you’re in third place, she had to take a risk on the climb,” Armstrong said. “She took a really hard attack.”
Pic went with Thorburn, and Armstrong joined them. “I knew both of them were probably pretty taxed, so I countered,” Armstrong said. “And that was that.”
Sea Otter Classic Road Stage Race
Monterey, CA. April 14-16
Fort Ord Road Race
(Unofficial top three)
Men
1. Doug Ollerenshaw, Health Net-Maxxis
2. Roman Kilun, McGuire-Langdale
3. Chris Greene, California Giant-Village Peddler
Women
1. Kristin Armstrong, T-Mobile
2. Tina Pic, Quark
3. Christine Thorburn, Webcor
Overall
Men
1. Doug Ollerenshaw, Health Net-Maxxis
2. David Clinger, Webcor Builders
3. Daniel Ramsey, Seasilver
Women
1. Kristin Armstrong, T-Mobile
2. Tina Pic, Quark
3. Christine Thorburn, Webcor
