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Bissell's Tom Zirbel and Team Type 1's Alison Powers appear headed to NRC overall victory.
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With just a couple of events left, Bissell's Tom Zirbel and Team Type 1's Alison Powers appear headed to their first National Racing Calendar overall victories.
Zirbel — a strong time trialer and stage racer — has 1127 points, to the 1030 points held by second-placed Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home) — a sprinter. If nothing else, their relatively close one-two finish shows the calendar is balanced between stage racing and criteriums.
Haedo's team, Colavita-Sutter Home is leading the men's team standings, while Zirbel's Bissell team is in second. Defending NRC team champion OUCH-Maxxis is third.
On the women's side, Powers grabbed the lead early in the season thanks to some strong stage racing at Redlands, Tour of the Gila and the Joe Martin Stage Race. She has easily maintained her lead through the season through consistent racing.
Team Tibco holds the women's team lead, followed by Team Type 1 and Colavita.
The last two events on the NRC are the Chris Thater Memorial Criterium in Binghampton, New York, this weekend and the 100K Classic in Atlanta on Sept. 7.
Zirbel will miss both events as he plans to race in the U.S. Professional Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, this weekend and the Tour of Missouri, which starts on Sept. 7. The winner of the Thater race receives 120 points and the 100k winter receives 100 points, so Zirbel, with a 97-point lead of Haedo, can't relax quite yet. Haedo is expected to start the Missouri tour, too, so the Binghampton race may be his last chance to pass Zirbel.
Powers, however, with a 386-point lead over Kristin Armstrong, has her title in the bag.
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