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Pinfold, Benjamin win White Rocks crit
Kelly Benjamin of Cheerwine Pro Cycling and Andrew Pinfold of the hometown Symmetrics Pro Cycling won Saturday's Bosa Properties Criterium; the fourth win for each of them at Canada's seven-event BC Superweek.
Benjamin threw her bike across the finish line just ahead of Australian Ruth Corsets for the win. The Kansas City cyclist immediately raised her arms in victory, although it took officials a few minutes to examine the photo-finish before they declared her the winner.
After 30 laps around the one-kilometer circuit through the streets of White Rock, it came down to a 100-meter downhill sprint out of the final corner, with Corset leading until the final few feet.
“You can’t really pass that well so I knew if it was a sprint finish I really needed to be first coming out of that turn, but Ruth jumped on the back side and got the jump on me,” said Benjamin, who also won the Criterium and Road Race at last weekend’s Tour de Delta. “But that’s what I do, explosive speed. I saw the line and had a little extra pick up. The other night was really close, but today I knew.”
Corset wasn’t as sure she’d even start the race. She collapsed after finishing third in the Hillclimb on Friday night, requiring medical attention for half an hour after her second time up the grueling 700-meter race up the steep hill from White Rock Beach.
“My legs just cramped up completely and collapsed under me and I had no feeling at all,” said Corset, won the Tour de Delta overall last weekend and was third at the Tour de Gastown and Giro di Burnaby. “My legs were in so much pain, but my teammates gave me a massage last night and today I went for a little roll this morning and felt better.”
Benjamin's teammate Sarah Bamberger was third.
Men's: Pinfold outduels Horner
The 60-lap men’s race had a familiar finish as well, with Pinfold of beating Astana's Chris Horner in a bunch sprint.
Horner tried to break away up the hill on the backside, but Pinfold stayed on his wheel before coming around him on the final corner.
“The boys were out there again leading me out and then Chris hit on the hill and I knew he was trying to make it to the finish so I got on his wheel and just was able to get the jump on him at the corner,” said Pinfold, who also won the BC Superweek's Tour de Delta Road Race, and Tour de Gastown and Giro di Burnaby — all in pack sprints.
“We’ve just got a lot of confidence in a bunch sprint that we never had before. Normally on a course like today we’d be trying to get up the road, get up the road, and now we’re just let the other team’s try. … The bunch sprint is fine for us, that’s for sure.”
Kelowna’s Tim Sherstobitoff of Total Restoration Cycling rounded out the top-three.
Symmetrics can sweep BC Superweek by winning the Tour de White Rock Road Race Sunday morning, but will have their work cut out for them against Horner, better known as a climber than a sprinter.
“I’m learning how good I’m not because he’s on a motorcycle and I’m on a 10-speed here,” Pinfold said of Horner, “But he’s known more for climbing than his sprinting so tomorrow he could be a handful.”
Horner, of Bend, Oregon, returned the respect.
“The competition when I’m dealing with eight Symmetrics guys is really good, I’m going 100 percent out there, so it’s good for my form,” said Horner.
“I did every trick in the book. My strength is climbing so I knew I had to leave from there. When we went up the hill I went inside all the way to the gutter, slammed hard outside to try to mix up whoever was on my wheel and hopefully get them off.
"Going into the second to last corner I went all the way outside, but Andrew was really smart, he stayed on my wheel the whole time and jumped inside. I hooked him really hard because I wanted the inside lane coming into the corner but he got a little on me so when he started yelling ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,’ that’s when I knew I was at the limit. So I stopped there and he shot by me and took me to the finish. … Andrew’s so fast and he still had the punch to come over on me.”
