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Escapees rule the day at Nature Valley
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The breakaways finally found success in Saturday’s Mankato Road Race at the 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix, in Minnesota. Andrew Crater (Wheel & Sprocket) and Alexis Rhodes (Webcor Builders) both delivered wins from small escape groups after 92 miles of aggressive and unpredictable racing.
Stage 5 took the riders through rural Minnesota, offering a real taste of the Midwest: rolling, open country roads with strong winds sweeping across the countryside. After covering more than 80 miles the race culminated in four laps of a short, technical circuit with a steep ascent and gradual descent that would bring the riders to the finish line.
The riders were treated to ideal riding conditions with sunny skies and warm temperatures. For the first time this year, however, the race leaders had were anything but comfortable as groups went up the road in pursuit of General Classification gains and the stage win. At the end of the hard day’s racing, however, leaders Tom Zirbel (Bissel Pro Cycling) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervélo TestTeam) remained in yellow, if only by a few seconds.
The break that stuck
Crater scored the first amateur win of the 2009 Nature Valley GP after four stages of dominance by professional squads. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, native broke the glass ceiling by beating pros Chad Gerlach (Amore e Vita) and Mike Northey (Land Rover-Orbea) in a three-up sprint.
Zirbel held on to his seven-second lead over Rory Sutherland (Ouch p/b Maxxis) and Sebastien Haedo (Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light) is a further three seconds behind in third.
The three riders broke clear from a group of 14 riders that slipped off early in the race. The major pro teams – Bissell, Ouch, Colavita, Team Type 1 and Jelly Belly – were each represented in the break and so there was little motivation in the peloton to chase the leaders. About halfway through the race the break had worked its gap up around eight minutes, at which point it seemed sure to bring a major GC shake-up.
Ciclismo Racing and CRCA-Empire p/b Northwave were among the teams that missed the break, but they took responsibility for the hard work of trying to contain the leaders.
“It could have been so much worse,” said a relieved Zirbel at the finish. “Amateur teams went to the front and really brought that break back. We would not have had a chance to catch the break if they hadn’t worked.”
Zirbel came through the finish line in the main group, which lost only 16 seconds to the escapees by the end of the stage. The highest placed rider from the winner trio was Northey, who sat in 47th position 1:20 off the race lead overnight.
“We lucked out,” Zirbel said. “I didn’t think it was going to come back.”
The breakaway began to attack each other under the pressure of the chase being mounted behind. At the fourth sprint point, at mile 64, Ty Stanfield (Kenda Pro Cycling p/b Spinergy) set off alone, but was joined immediately by Gerlach, who was Thursday’s Freewheel Most Aggressive Rider.
“I was just trying to get something going,” Stanfield said. “The break was going slow.”
Cody O’Reilly (Bissel), Aldo Ino Ilesic (Team Type 1), Nicholas Clayfield (HagensBermanCycling), Ben Raby (TradeWind Energy-The Trek Stores), Northey and Crater soon bridged up as well. The eight men worked well together to build their lead until mile 78, when Ilesic and Gerlach went clear over the Jelly Belly Sport Beans King of the Hills sprint.
Gerlach continued his aggressive riding, attacking just as the group began to re-form, entering the finishing circuits alone. Northey and Crater joined him on the second lap. Behind the chasing riders were caught by the group in the closing kilometers but with the added horsepower the leaders were able to stay clear of the charging peloton.
Sutherland was notably absent from the podium on Saturday having won the event stage in 2007 and 2008. The defending champion finished ninth on the stage and is poised to strike in the technical criterium on Sunday, when the race has often been decided.
Armstrong defends
For the first time in four years, Armstrong did not claim a solo victory in the Queen stage of the Nature Valley GP. On Saturday, that honor belonged to Rhodes, who stormed away from her breakaway companions in the final 10 kilometers of the race. Dotsie Bausch (Jazz Apples) cruised in for second place 35 seconds arrears, and just behind her was Friday’s winner, Brooke Miller (Team TIBCO), who took third.
“I’m climbing really well at the moment,” said Rhodes, who broke away from the lead group on the climb in the finishing circuit. “So I guess the climb was really a blessing in disguise.”
Armstrong crossed the line over two minutes behind the leaders after doing an enormous amount of work in the last hour of the race. In past editions Armstrong has used the long road race to catapult herself into the race lead.
The Beijing Olympic Time Trial champion showed off her incredible diesel engine once again, saving her race lead in the process. Armstrong remains at 12 seconds over Alison Powers (Team Type 1), but now holds only 11 seconds over the stage winner, Rhodes, who took over the second spot on GC.
The racing was decidedly more tactical on Saturday, with the relentless string of attacks from days past replaced with calculated, all-out efforts. Kathryn Curi Mathis (Webcor Builders) made the first move of the day after the second Wheaties Sprint point, and three riders soon joined her at the front of the race. Together they built a lead of nearly two minutes. However, Colavita missed the move and took up the chase, eventually bring the field all back together.
Counter-attacks flew as TIBCO, Webcor and other tried again to create a successful move. Rhodes, Bausch, Miller, and Kelly Benjamin (Colavita) formed what would become the winning breakaway with about 50 kilometers left to race. The women worked very efficiently together and soon their gap began to grow, reaching over two minutes before the field took up the chase.
“I saw two major teams go, then the third, and I knew we had to get somebody on this so I went for it,” explained Bausch, a veteran rider who serves as an in-race mentor for her pro development squad. “I just gritted it out because I wanted to get a podium for the girls."
Meanwhile, Olivia Dillon (Nature Valley Cycling Team) and Nicole Evans (ValueAct Cycling Team) had taken up the chase. The two riders slowly chipped away at the advantage of the women up front, eventually completely their bridging move after some 20 miles of chasing.
With the added horsepower the gap continued to widen, reaching a maximum of about 3:40 with only 20 kilometers to race. Behind, Armstrong was having trouble recruiting other teams to help with the chase.
"When the break got up to three minutes forty, I couldn’t believe that every team out there was happy with the break,” said Armstrong.
Once inside the finishing circuits, much of the work fell on the shoulders of the race leader, who had to leave everything she had on the road to defend her race lead.
In the front, the breakaway split over the challenging climb the first time through the finishing circuit. Rhodes took off immediately with Miller and Bausch left to duel it out for second.
“I knew that I had to conserve on the downhill,” said Bausch. “I just focused on catching Brooke the fourth lap. I knew that if I could just make it to the fourth lap relaxed and with full oxygen I could give it my all up that last climb and all the way down the backside.”
Rhodes went on to increase her lead over the chasers, but not over Armstrong, who continued to pull back the necessary time to retain her lead. In the closing miles of the race the suspense built – not over the stage win or podium - but whether or not Armstrong would be able to retain her race lead.
Armstrong finished 2:02 behind Rhodes, who also earned a 15-second bonus for the stage win. Despite the drama on Saturday’s stage, many are treating Armstrong’s win on the overall as a forgone conclusion.
“I felt pretty awesome today, but Kristin’s just a class above the rest of us,” replied Rhodes when asked about her chances of displacing the three-time defending champion. “I’ll try my best to hold her wheel, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Sunday the riders race in Stillwater, Minnesota, to take on the feared Chilkoot Hill, which boasts a maximum grade of 24 percent. With technical descents and laps up the selective climb, the Stillwater “Killer” Criterium will surely crown deserving winners.
