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Hutchinson, Davidenko tops at Athens Twighlight
As if the torrents of rain that soaked last week’s Tour of Georgia weren’t enough to dampen the state’s bicycle racing fan base, the clouds once again offered up soggy conditions for the 25th running of the Athens Twilight Criterium, in downtown Athens, on Saturday.
The estimated crowd of 15,000 was noticeably smaller for this race – in past years it had swelled to more than 40,0000.
“It’s a little smaller this year, but Twilight night is still the biggest non-football event in this town,” said race director Gene Dixon, who has organized the race every year since it’s inception in 1980. “A lot of people out here don’t know much about bike racing, they just come out for a good time.”
The throngs of University of Georgia students crowding the tarmac, leaning out of windows and packing away cups of beer were apparently undeterred by a night in the rain.
For bike racers, however, the general sentiments were quite the opposite.
“The corners are really rough in the rain. Some people were slowing through them, but for the most part it was still really fast,” said Megan Esmonde (Colavita-Cooking Light). “I don’t think as a whole people were more conservative. It was just the same as it is every year, really fast.”
Indeed, in both the men’s and women’s races the pace was pushed to the maximum from the get go. In the women’s race, a dominant Quark squad led by Sarah Uhl established the race’s rhythm from the get go, and only 10 minutes into the 60-minute race, large groups of abandoned riders crowded the 1-kilometer course.
Coming into the final lap, Quark established itself at the front with three its riders controlling a small breakaway group that included Aarons’ Shannon Hutchinson and Vicory Brewing’s Lauren Franges. Candice Blickem (Quark) kicked hard on course’s backside, however a strong effort by Franges reeled Blickem back in. At the line it was Hutchinson taking the win a wheel length ahead of Franges. Uhl finished third.
“Quark was definitely laying it down out there. They were the strongest for sure,” said Hutchinson, an orchestra teacher at Garrett Middle School in Atlanta. “But Lauren [Franges] deserves some credit for being the strongest rider in that group. She kept the race together.”
Few predicted a bunch spring in the men’s race. With the soggy tarmac and slick corners, the conditions were perfect for a breakaway to succeed in separating itself.
“When it’s wet and dark and the break up the road is out of sight no one is going to want to chase it back,” said Richard England (Advantage-Endevour).
One rider set on benefiting from such conditions was Danny Pate (Jelly Belly-PoolGel). Pate spent much of the first half at the front launching attacks, trying to establish the separation of the day. An hour into the 90-minute race, attacks by Pate and Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) succeeded in drawing out an eight-man break that included England, John Lieswyn and Ivan Dominguez (Health Net).
Dominguez, the strongest sprinter of the bunch, sat in waiting for the last lap. But with three laps to go Davidenko launched the attack of the night, and with the breakaway running on fumes, no one could chase the Russian back. Dominguez won the sprint for second, more than 15-seconds after Davidenko cruised across the line, arms raised.
“Vassili was incredible. He was strong as ten guys out there today,” said Marty Nothstein, Davidenko’s only teammate at the race. “We were outnumbered out there and he made everyone look like a bunch of boys today.”
Conditions are slated to be better for today’s Roswell Criterium in Cumming, Georgia. Ya know, they’d kinda have to be.
