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Stevens and Sevilla wrap up the overall titles as Cascade, but not without a fight
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Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light) attacked a nine-man break that had been out since the third of five laps in Sunday’s final stage, and soloed across the line for the biggest NRC win of his career. He was followed seconds later by fellow breakaway partners Taylor Shelden and Alex Howes, both of Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin.
Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) held onto the yellow jersey and also succeeded in helping teammate Francisco Mancebo gain enough time to jump ahead of Jeff Louder (BMC) on GC for second.
In the women’s race, a break that went out on the second of three laps was reeled in late in the final lap, and Kristin McGrath (ValueAct Capital) attacked the field to solo across the line. She was followed by Joanne Kiesanowski (Team Tibco) and Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Sutter Home) in second and third respectively, who took a group sprint.
The women’s GC remained the same, as rising star Evelyn Stevens (Webcor Builders) kept the yellow, Amber Rais (Team Tibco) took second, and Alison Powers (Team Type 1) earned third.
Finally ... a break that stuck
The stage 6, five-lap Awbrey Butte Circuit Race was no different than previous stages in that various teams were throwing attacks right from the start. This time, though, a few members of a break managed to stay away to win the 83-mile race.
The break included Colby, Jackson Stewart (BMC), Moises Aldape (Team Type 1), Patrick McCarty (OUCH-Maxxis), Omer Kem (Bissell), Jesse Moore (California Giant Berry Farms), Ben King (Trek-Livestrong), and Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin teammates Howes and Shelden.
Colby had been involved in a few break attempts earlier in the day, and didn’t think this one was going to stick, either. “When you looked around, we weren’t really the strongest group out there,” he said. “But then I was like, this is exactly why they’d (the field) just sit up and let us go – because they could bring us back in a heartbeat.”
He said the break rode smart. “Some of the guys weren’t pulling through because maybe they couldn’t, or maybe they were told not to ... But everybody else that was in the move just kinda stuck with it ... We weren’t ever riding at a blistering pace, but we were riding smart, at a pace we could do.” They managed to gain a maximum gap of 3:10, and still had roughly two minutes halfway through the final lap.
Shelden, whose teammates call him Tito, said their plan was to set up the sprint for Howes, and he attempted to do that on the last lap. “I tried to do something on the KOM there with like 500 or 600 meters to go, and went over the top by myself. Anthony Colby bridged up to me. Then with maybe 2k to go, on the last little riser, I was just totally toast from that attack, and he just gapped me just enough over the top. I think I brought it back a little bit on the flats there, but just not quite enough. I was giving it everything I had, and it was close.”
Shelden took second by four seconds and Howes was able to sit on just enough to take the sprint for third out of the splintered break that came in 12 seconds later.
Back in the field, men at the top of the GC were still jostling for their last chances to move up. Louder had come into the day just 40 seconds off of Sevilla, and said his team wasn’t ready to give up. “I’ve been second in this race three times ... We wanted to win, and that was our goal,” he said. “We really tried to put everything into just trying to isolate Oscar and isolate Mancebo, and put something together that would find a chink in their armor. And we did that to some extent, but in the end, I was the weaker one,” he said with a laugh. “When you look at the palmares they have, it’s not an insult to finish second to them, but at the same time I respect them, I’m not going to just roll over and let them win.”
Rory Sutherland (OUCH), who came into the day 1:20 down on Sevilla and just 20 seconds down from Mancebo and a spot on the podium, attacked off the field on the last climb. Sevilla countered to go with him and Mancebo bridged. Louder said that, though he should have expected this “trademark move” from Sutherland, he was getting tired at that point, and wasn’t able to stay close enough to the three-man chase to maintain his second place, though they kept Sutherland from moving into third.
Sevilla said that as soon as he had Mancebo on his wheel, he became the domestique, as he wanted to move Mancebo into second, not only as a teammate, but as a very good friend.
Another soloist
While a few short-lived breaks occurred in the first of three laps in the women’s race, it was a break of six that went off at the beginning of the second lap and wasn’t caught until just before the feed zone of the final lap that really set things in motion.
Robin Farina (ValueAct Capital) said it was Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders), Merdith Miller (Team Tibco), and Carmen McNellis (Colavita-Sutter Home), all women who have raced together on the U.S. National Team in Europe, who were the first to go up the road. Toni Bradshaw (Team Lip Smacker) and Amity Elliott (Wines of Washington) began to chase, and were joined by Farina; they bridged to the first three together, and stayed off the field until just before the feed zone on the final lap.
When the break was reeled in, Farina said there were immediate attacks. “There was actually a group of about 12 of us that actually had a little gap on the rest of the field (once caught),” she explained. “People were attacking out of that break, so it was pretty hard. Cath Cheatley put in a good dig, and K-Mac (McGrath) attacked out of that, too.”
McGrath concurred. “Once the break was caught, we were obviously going for the stage win, so we kept attacking, kept the pressure on,” she said. “Other teams were attacking as well. On the very last roller before the long descent, I just took advantage of a lull, and was actually trying to launch Chrissy (Ruiter), but ended up gapping everybody ... and kept going, time trialing it.”
The stage win was particularly sweet for the women of ValueAct Capital who came into the week disappointed to not have the help of teammate Leah Goldstein, two time Israeli national time trial and road champion and three time Mt. Hood Cycling Classic winner. Goldstein just won a gold and bronze medal at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, and had to stay for the closing ceremonies, causing her to miss Cascade.
“We knew we had some big shoes to fill with Leah being gone, because she’s a great climber,” Farina said. “We really could have used her on some of the stage finishes. But you know, we had some riders really step up and do the job, and we’re really excited ... this was sweet at the end.”
As for Stevens, who is an amateur and was racing as a cat. 4 just 10 months ago, she was thrilled to win the yellow jersey. “There were only six of us, but it felt like there were 25 Webcor riders out there,” she said. “I think we all gave it everything we had to keep me in the yellow jersey today. It was super hard. I couldn’t have won this without them, there’s no way. Each and every one of those riders gave everything they had ... We’re definitely a tired bunch.”
She’s looking forward to competing in her first USA Cycling Elite National Road Championship, to be held in Bend next week. Asked what she thinks her chances are of securing a stars and stripes jersey, she said, “Oh, you never know. It’s going to be hard. There’s a lot of really strong women out there ... Of course, I’m going to give it my best go.”
Race Notes
Cascade was the final race in the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series. Powers held onto the leader’s jersey, which she took at the first race in the series, the Redlands Cycling Classic. Powers expounded on the significance of the series for the women’s peloton.
“Every stage race that’s a part of it is totally different from each other, so it’s … the best overall, I think, GC rider who will win it because you have to be good at every one. So I’m lucky enough that that was me, and that I had a team that helped me, and super good equipment.” Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) won the Sprinter’s jersey, and Rebecca Much (Webcor Builders) won the Best Young Rider’s jersey.
The U23 development team of Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin not only took second and third on the last stage of the men’s race, but secured three jerseys: Peter Stetina won both the Mountain Climber and Best Young Rider jerseys, while Raymond Kreder won the Sprinter’s jersey. Of the team’s overall performance at Cascade, Stetina said, “We missed the split on the first day, but I think we more than made up for it with a couple six-packs on the podiums and three jerseys.” Of course, two riders on the team aren’t old enough to drink the beer awarded on the podium.
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