Newton Circuit Race

The Newton Circuit Race was the final stage of the 2016 Georgia Cycling Gran Prix. It took place on a 2 mile half uphill and half down hill circuit that only had two turns. It was a false flat uphill drag from the final turn to the line. The race was supposed to be 2 hours in duration, but since it was 97 degrees the race promoter and officials decided to be easy on us and make the race 90 minutes long. I was sitting in 5th overall heading into the final stage only a couple points out of third with the possibility to move up to second overall. I would have to get into a big break with none of the riders sitting in 4th to 2nd in that break. As the race started I settled in and let riders attack. No one in contention seemed to be marking any moves, so I did not want to make the first move and begin wasting bullets. Some large moves went up the road, and it took a lot of patience for me to not go in them. Brock Mason of Prima Tappa put in a bold ride to go solo very early in the race, and Dillon Swaim of Prima Tappa also began to be aggressive and made a split. That one was dangerous, so I bridged when it got close dragging the whole field. This is when the fireworks began . After we caught that split Oleg Tanovitsky of the Lupus amateur team and race leader began to put in some massive 20 second accelerations. Lactic acid was pouring from my eyes with his attacks. Oleg is such a motor. After a couple laps of this I countered and just went with it. I made a split of 8 riders, and riders would catch me and drop off, but I just kept driving the pace hard. Finally after 2 laps we got separation from the field, and I just kept driving the pace. I was the only rider in the top 5 to make this split, so this was my time to gain position. The other riders in the break helped me by pulling through, and we ended up making it to the line. On the final lap I sat on, and started sprinting with 200 meters to go, but 4 riders came around me and I ended 5th. That moved me up to third overall for the week, and that was about the most I could have hoped to move up heading into the final stage. I really had a fun week at the Georgia Cycling Grand Prix and would like to thank Tim Molyneaux and Topview Sports for putting on the great event. I'd also like to congratulate Oleg for taking the overall win and killing it all week long. He really is a beast, and you could not meet a nicer guy. Next week I'll be racing a crit in Hendersonville, North Carolina.