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Veilleux and Miller win in Charlotte
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Canadian David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Tibco’s Brooke Miller scored solid wins in the sixth annual Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte, North Carolina, Saturday.
Veilleux rolled the dice during the final laps of the men’s race on Saturday night and came up a winner.
Veillieux leapt off the front of a strong 10-man breakaway, where he was the sole Kelly rider, to hold a 14-second gap throughout the remaining three laps of racing.
“Anyone of us who was in the breakaway was a good option,” Veilleux said as he readied to collect a $13,000 check for first place. “I was just in my bubble … and I just kept going, because sometimes you just lose it a little bit and the gap comes back again. I knew that I had to push hard all the time.”
Since teams could field no more than six riders in the event, the 50-mile race became a game of wait and see when the expected break would occur.
“We knew that a break would go, so we just tried to be in every move and it paid off.”
That winning move happened around the midway point of the race when Team Type 1’s Valeriy Kobzarenko went away from the field taking 2008 Presbyterian champion Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home) with him.
They were soon joined by other strongmen from the pack including Veilleux, Karl Menzies (Team Ouch), Nick Reisted (Jelly Belly), Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Domincan rider Euris Vidal Paulino (Champion Systems), Mark Hekman (Team Mountain Khakis), Aldo Ilesic (Team Type 1), and Luis Amaran (Colavita-Sutter Home).
As the break only managed to hold a small 14-second lead over the next ten laps, there were several attempts from the peloton to bring it back. Current U.S. National Criterium Champion Rahsaan Bahati made several concerted efforts, but could not manage to get across.
Benjamin Zawacki of Richmond Pro Cycling made a brave try to join the leaders as did 2007 Presbyterian winner Frank Pipp, but neither got anywhere close to the back end of the group. With seven laps to go there was nearly 40 seconds separating the two groups out on the road and it began to appear certain that they would survive to the finish.
With three laps to go, however, Veilleux decided it was time to throw caution to the wind and made his bid. Behind him it fell to the teams with more than one rider in the group to retrieve him, but
“Everyone was keen to work and was preparing themselves for a bunch sprint.” Menzies said afterwards, “Colavita and Type 1 had the advantage, but in the end they were forced to chase Veilleux down since they had the majority of guys. They had their guys chasing and their sprinters sitting on, so you have to go at their pace. If they catch him you sprint for the win, and if they don’t you sprint for second.”
And with Veilleux using his three-time national time trial championship abilities to remain solo for the victory, Menzies squared up against Ilesic and Borrajo for his shot at the podium. The Argentine rider went first in the final drag race coming out of the last corner but stalled, which Menzies was able to take advantage of, but he could not come around Ilesic who would finish second.
Veilleux, who spent a good portion of the season recovering from a broken collarbone was thrilled to receive such a tidy sum for the win, and to be back at the top of his form.
“It’s one of the (biggest) wins of my career,” said Veilleux. “It took me a lot more time than I expected to come back but I’m happy to be back in good shape (again). Now I’m looking forward to the espoir world championships. So right now all my energy is (being put to) this.”
While Mark Hekman could only manage a sixth place for his efforts, he won the biggest single lap prime of the evening ($1000), and moved himself into first place overall in the 2009 USA CRITS Series. Hekman leads Veilleux’s teammate Jake Keough by 41 points in the contest and hopes to be able to expand and maintain his lead throughout the remaining races – particularly since his 2007 USA CRITS overall lead was lost to him after crashing in that year’s Downer’s Grove race.
“Hopefully I can keep it in the family with me and Tom up on the leaders’ podium, but we’re just taking each race as it comes,” Hekman said. “We’re going to go to all the remaining events and do the best we can.”
Titanic battle for Tibco
In the women’s race an anticipated battle between the heavy hitters of Team Tibco and Colavita-Sutter Home began to emerge with about 7 laps remaining in the 18-lap contest. Earlier in the day, Tibco’s current U.S. National Criterium Champion Brooke Miller accurately predicted that her team’s leadout train would rule the day.
“The reason I was so confident today was because everyone was really focused and does their job,” Miller said. “There’s a certain feeling you get when your team is behind you so much. It’s like you could close your eyes and fall back and everyone would catch you.”
Miller’s team was extremely attentive during the race, not allowing any major moves to escape their grasp.
“Usually we don’t like to let anybody go up the road without one of us on it right away. It’s easier to cover somebody when they attack and just be right on them and do a short effort and be there, then to try and bring it back. So almost no one gets more than maybe 50 meters in front of the peloton before one of my teammates is there.”
The one team that tried, but couldn’t quite make anything of the event was Team Type 1, who’s Alison Powers was sitting atop the NRC women’s ranking before the start in Charlotte. Their highest placed finisher on the day was Jen McRae in ninth position after collecting some early prime money.
A tell-tale battle between Colavita’s Rachel Heal and last year’s winner Katherine Carroll (Tibco) erupted midway through the race but the field was altogether with five laps to go. Three laps later Miller sounded the charge for her entire team to come to the front of the pack, and it was clear that she was putting the team’s leadout plan into effect.
Colavita’s Tina Pic did her best to interrupt the Tibco train, but it was not to be. The soon-to-retire Pic was watching Tibco carefully but in the final lap made a critical error.
“Kat Carroll went and I just got on her wheel. But because it was so long to the finish, I thought we should wait and that turned out to be a mistake,” Pic recounted. “I saw Theresa (Cliff-Ryan) come up and Brooke must have got a good slingshot off of her and got a good gap.”
Theresa Cliff-Ryan who had not been seen as too active throughout the race, had indeed motored to the front of the field in time to cross the line in third place. Pic finished just three-tenths of a second in Miller’s wake, who had plenty of time to post a victory salute. Miller will share a tidy payday of $7500 dollars with the rest of the Tibco women, who now also count a freshly minted U.S. National Road Champ in their ranks in Meredith Miller.
Maintaining her lead in the Women’s side of the USA CRITS Series is veteran rider Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom), who shares the next step down on the podium with her teammate Kristen Lasasso.
“I’m really happy about keeping the jersey,” Van Gilder said. “Our sponsor is in the southeast, so the exposure for them is great. I’m hoping that Kristen and I can keep the lead going. I was close to the podium tonight and got fourth. But there’s still a lot of racing to go in the series and we’ll take it race by race from here.”
