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Borrajo and Allar take wins at Nature Valley; Zirbel, Armstrong lead GC
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Colavita’s Alejandro Borrajo and Erica Allar (ValueAct Capital Team) sprinted to wins in the second stage of the 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix, a 66.5-mile road race through rural Minnesota.
Despite a challenging course and aggressive racing, both Tom Zirbel (Bissel Pro Cycling) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervélo Test Team) retained their overall race leads.
The Cannon Falls Road Race took the Nature Valley GP out of the big city to a popular rural tourist destination, exchanging a backdrop of the state capital for open farmland. Cannon Falls is the trailhead of the Cannon Valley Trail, one of the largest bike trails in the Midwest, and the race finished on five technical laps through the streets of that small community. The hilly course featured strong winds, a steep uphill kick to the finish, and even a dirt section that challenged the riders vying for the stage win.
Colavita … again
After taking first and third in Wednesday’s criterium, the Colavita-Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light team showed its strength again on the finishing circuits of the Cannon Falls Road Race on Thursday afternoon. Borrajo won the steep uphill finish, improving on the third-place finish he scored on Wednesday.
“Ale’ has been riding good,” explained Colavita’s director Sebastian Alexandre. “He has been leading out Sebastian for many races, and today I told him it was his turn. With the hill at the end it was a course that was good for him.”
It was clear that teammate Sebastien Haedo was eager to repay his teammate for his stellar lead-out in Wednesday’s criterium, launching Borrajo to the win and claiming second place for himself.
“He came through for me,” Borrajo said of his Argentinean compatriot Haedo. “With 40 meters to go, Sebastian led out and it was perfect for me.”
John Murphy (Ouch p/b Maxxis) continued his success by sprinting to third place on the stage. It was a nice bonus for some hard work from the Ouch squad, which, like Bissell, fought to keep their top GC men safe and in good position. Meanwhile, Colavita capitalized on their position just a little further off the radar.
“They (Colavita) have got a little more room to win the sprints, and they are doing a good job of it,” Murphy said.
The race rolled out from Cannon Falls at a leisurely pace, neutralized for the first couple miles. However, as soon as the flag dropped, the racing was open full throttle. Only 3.5 miles into the race lay the first Sport Beans King of the Hills points, which immediately brought the racing to a frenzy. But the pace did not slacken as attacks continued to fly.
Amateur and professional teams alike were anxious to try their hands at an opportunistic breakaway. As a consequence, the road race played out much more like a criterium as teams continually sent men up the road in hopes of finding a suitable combination. But it was not to be.
The Freewheel Bike Most Aggressive Rider award was rightfully given to Chad Gerlach (Amore e Vita p/b Life Time Fitness-Velo Vie). Gerlach got plenty of exposure for his sponsors in a couple early moves, but he tried again at just after the feed zone at mile 30 with a solo move.
“I just wanted to make the ride harder,” said Gerlach of his aggressive strategy. “I had really good legs.”
The former U.S. Postal rider built up a maximum advantage of about 50 seconds. But the peloton was still hungry and he was reeled with 15 miles to go. The final miles of the race were just as tenacious as the first.
“Today, everyone wanted to sprint; everybody wanted the stage,” said Alexandre.
Despite their success so far, Colavita still has lofty goals. According to Stage 3 winner and sprinting ace Borrajo, “We plan to win again.”
A Value(able)Act
Erica Allar (ValueAct) overcame a missed turn in the closing miles of the race to take one of the biggest wins of her young professional career. Allar uncorked a powerful sprint on the kicker to the finishing line, beating out last year’s stage winner, Tina Pic (Colavita) and Shelley Olds (Proman Hit Squad).
“We missed the turn (onto the one-mile stretch of gravel road) so we had to stop, turn our bikes around and chase through the dirt section and make it back to the front,” Erica recalled. “After I missed the turn I said to myself, ‘Well, there goes my race,’ but I wasn’t willing to give up. Yesterday (ValueAct) didn’t have a very good day. We were itching for a better day and it couldn’t be any better than this.”
The women started the Cannon Falls Road Race right where they left off the night before in Downtown Saint Paul. Attacks were constantly flying off the front as teams strove to find a chink in the armor of race leader Armstrong.
“It was non-stop,” said an upbeat Armstrong of the flurry of attacks launched by her rivals. “All the teams were represented in the breaks. Everyone looked at me (to chase). It was a lot of work for me at the end of the day, but you know what – that’s what I’m here for. I respect that everyone is out there racing their bikes. It’s so much fun, that’s what bike racing is.”
Christina Smith (Veloforma) established the only major breakaway of the day, with a counter-attack after the first Sport Beans Queen of the Hill points three miles in. She extended her gap to a maximum of only 20 seconds and was caught in short order.
Marring the action were several crashes, some of which caused larger splits within the peloton. Even second-place Pic was brought down near the end of the race.
“I crashed a few miles before the turn onto the dirt road,” said Pic. “If it wasn’t for my teammates, I wouldn’t have been able to do so well – I thought I was done after I chased back onto the pack.”
There were only a couple major classification changes. Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita) won the Sport Beans Climbers jersey with a stellar performance, taking third, second and then first in the three points sprints. Shelley Olds took over third place on general classification with her third place on the stage.
On Friday the racers take to the streets of hip Uptown Minneapolis for a flat
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