Sunny King Criterium and McClellan Road Race

One week ago the Lupus Racing Team raced the Sunny King Criterium and the McClellan Road Race in Anniston, Alabama. This was the first event of the USA Cycling Pro Road Tour, formerly the National Race Calendar or NRC. I started training from an injury that took me off the bike for 8 days about 2.5 weeks before Sunny King and McClellan, so I was unsure of where my fitness would be for the race weekend. 

We didn't have the strongest crit squad, so our plan was to cover moves and put someone in a breakaway. The race started off fast from the gun, like any national level crit. I started near the front in order to save energy and followed a couple moves. I paid a higher price than I normally pay for covering any move and wasn't able to attack as hard as normal either. It was just difficult sitting in the field for me most of the race. Another thing that made the race difficult was that a sizable break never really got off the front. This meant there were constant attacks and surges throughout the race. We had Nolan Tankersley and Michael Olheiser cover a couple significant moves throughout the race. With about 15 laps to go United Healthcare upped the pace to reel in a lone Holowesko Citadel rider. This caused the group to snap and I was caught in no man's land between the locomotive that was the field and riders getting dropped. Eventually the elastic snapped and I was in a group off the back chasing the field. My group was pulled with 4 laps to go. Nolan had a strong race where he sprinted to 14th place. Holowesko Citadel ended up taking the win with Travis McCabe.

I was excited for the McClellan Road Race because I came in 5th place last year.  The race was on a 22 mile circuit that consisted of 4 laps with a 1km climb at over a 10% grade and a 2km climb at roughly a 5% grade. The first time over the top of the 5% climb, I made a split of 6 riders. We got a gap of about one minute and hammered up the 10% climb. On the flat road after the climb we stopped working well together and were caught by another group of 6. At this point it was a smart decision for me to not work at all since I was outnumbered by 2 Holowesko Citadel riders. On the 5% climb we were caught by another group of 12 riders that included my teammates Oliver Flautt and Michael Olheiser, and I cracked hard. This is the point where the winning break went with Oscar Clark and Andrei Krasilnikau. Since I cracked I went back to the main field. I started the 10% climb at the front of the field, but could no longer produce watts and was dropped. I finished out the third lap and that was it for me. Meanwhile the 20 rider group off the front was absorbed by the field. My teammates set pace at the front of the field to try to bring back the duo of Clark and Krasilnikau off the front, but the gap never came down. It was a tough weekend of racing!

This weekend I wasn't at my highest level, but I was happy I was able to race near the front and make one significant breakaway. It tells me I can put high power, but I just need a little more endurance there. I am confident I will have more fitness at the USPro Crit Championships next weekend. 

Tour of Southern Highlands

This past weekend the Lupus Racing Team raced the Tour of the Southern Highlands in Gainesville and Clermont Georgia. We fielded a team of Mike Stone, Marcos Lazzarotto, and myself. This race weekend was a timed stage race consisting of street sprints Friday night, a rolling 10 mile time trial on Saturday morning, a rolling 35 mile circuit race on Saturday evening, and a hilly 90 mile road race on Sunday.

The street sprints we done on a straight course with 2 180 degree turns. We were placed in 13 heats of 4 riders where the winner of each heat would advance to the next round. I had Michael Hernandez of CCB in my round. He is a strong sprinter, and he killed me, so I was done with the first heat. None of us won our round, so it was a quick night for us. The street sprints were won by Andrew Dahlheim of Arapahoe Resources over Ben Renkema and Fletcher Lydick both Finish Strong. The street sprints had no effect of the general classification but decided the final three starting spots in the time trial the next morning.

Since I won the overall in the race last year, I was the final rider to begin the time trial before the street sprint victors. This time trial was Merckx Style (no aero equipment allowed) on a rolling course with a few turns. I just started out at near my limit, pushed harder on uphills and tried to save some energy on the downhills. I spent the entire time trial with my forearms on the tops of the bars to stay in the most aerodynamic position possible. My biceps are still on fire as I type this post! I put in a decent ride to finish 32 seconds down on the winner Kai Wiggins of CCB in 13th place. My teammates finished about a minute down on me. I would say the stage went well having me close to striking distance going into the final two stages.

Stage 2 of the Mission Source Tour of Highlands was 9 laps on a 4 mile circuit that had a 2 minute hill in the middle of the lap. I won this stage last year in a solo effort, but it was really hard to go off the front. The plan for me was to try to save energy during this stage because we thought the stage would be easy. However, the race played out just the opposite. There was an attack of 10 riders that went off the front pretty much from the gun. After a couple laps of hard racing that move was brought back and a counter of 3 riders went off the front. This turned out to be a break of the day, but it was tough in the field. No teams set pace ever, so the pace was either full gas or coasting. There were attacks every time up the hill, but they were neutralized on the downhill. The race leader was in a bad crash that put him out of the race with two laps to go. I was right next to the crash and narrowly missed it. In the final lap Arapahoe Resources set the pace strong and attacked going up the hill. This produced a little split off the front, and the pace was full gas going toward the finish line. We caught the final remnants of the breakaway going into the final 200 meters and I came in 5th place on same time. I would call the stage a success because I saved energy and lost no time going into the final stage.

The final stage was a 90 mile road race on a 15 mile rolling circuit. There was a 1 km 5% climb, but there were no significant hills on the course. A breakaway of 8 riders with a couple Arapahoe and a couple CCB riders rolled about 2km into the race with no Lupus riders represented. This was a scenario we did not want to happen. The yellow jersey Chris Jones of Kelly Benefits also had no riders in the breakaway. No teams set pace over the first couple laps, and the gap to the break grew to about 4.5 minutes. I knew from past experience that even though this gap seemed large the break would eventually implode late in the race and we could catch them if a team set a decent pace. I sent my teammates Marcos and Stone to the front to set pace. They received some help from Amore e Vita and from Kelly Benefits. The gap held steady for a while. In the final two laps fireworks happened from Phil O'donnell of Axeon on the KOM climb and my legs were toast. Going into one lap to go I put in a ton of attacks, but I could not make a gap happen. Once again at the start of the final lap Marcos was setting a good pace with the break only a minute up the road. On the KOM I tried to get a gap over the top as we could see the break, but I couldn't make anything happen. I tried one final attack with 5 kms to go, but I just could not make the gap happen. I decided then to try for the field sprint. Arapahoe and CCB set a fast pace on the front. Then a couple Arapahoe riders got off the front and their team sat up going into the final 3 kms. This gave their riders the gap to go one, two off the front while Andrew Dahlheim of Arapahoe took the field sprint for third. Arapahoe also ended up winning the overall with Adam Koble. They had sound tactics and rode strong as a team this weekend, so congratulations to them on taking the win. I am very thankful for the job my teammates Marcos and Stone did for me this weekend. They did an incredible and rode selflessly. In the end I was not able to deliver for them. I finished the final stage in the field in 13th place and ended up 6th in the general classification. Last year this road race imploded with huge time gaps, but this year with stronger teams the race was a lot faster and a lot of riders finished together. It's strange how courses can change so much depending on the riders present. I am also thankful that my teammate Igor Rudalev hosted Marcos and me at his house this weekend. The hospitality his family provided made the weekend a very fun and relaxing experience for Marcos and me.

Next weekend we will race Rouge Roubaix. It is a challenging 100 mile road race with 20 miles on gravel roads. I won this race last year, and I hope Lupus Racing Team can get the win there again next weekend!

Greenville Spring Series #3

This past weekend was the final weekend of the Greenville Spring Series. The Lupus Racing Team fielded a squad of Marcos Lazzarotto, Nolan Tankersley, and myself.

Saturday was the River Falls Circuit Race which was 10 laps on a 5 mile course. This circuit is tough with a 1km climb that averages aroud 6% and is followed by winding and narrow roads for the rest of the circuit. The past two times I raced River Falls the winning break went only a couple kilometers into the race. We knew we had to be attentive if we wanted to get the win this year. Like in years past a group went that included Phil O'Donnell (Axeon), Charlie Hough (Hincapie), and Ian Garrison (Hincapie Juniors). After missing the split Marcos, Nolan, and I were attentive and covering moves. For a couple laps the break was close, but we could just not get there. On the third or fourth time up the climb Mac Brennan surged hard, but no split occurred. I  came to the conclusion that Andy Crater was marking Mac for the Spring Series omnium after a few laps. That made the tactics interesting. Finally, after many laps of us trying to get off the front, with two laps to go I got into a move with Reid Beloni (Greenlife) and John Delong (Amore e Vita). I pulled hard with Reid and John and tried to drop them on the climb each lap. Leading into the finishing climb I jumped hard and dropped John, but Reid was able to hang with me. The leaders came into sight, but I just couldn't keep pushing the same pace. I paid for my surge and underestimated Reid's ability. By the finish I was toast and rolled in for 5th.

The next day was once again the Donaldson Circuit Race. We raced 8 laps on the rolling 7 mile circuit with wind gusting around 15 miles per hour. After River Falls I knew I was close in the omnium and may be marked throughout the race. I told Nolan and Marcos to follow early moves because that would put us in a strong position and would leave me fresh to make breaks late in the race. Two laps in Mac went solo in a brave move. He did an epic 42 mile ride by himself to take the win from us by a couple minutes. I figured Mac would have been brought back, but he proved to be on super form. I spent the first four laps mostly sitting in the field and conserving energy while Nolan and Marcos covered at the front of the race. After 4 laps Nolan, Marcos, and I worked with Andy Crater (Cycle Haus), Phil O'Donnell and Johnny Brown from Axeon. The field remained together. The next lap I worked with Johnny and Phil again to try to split the field but again nothing. With 2.5 laps to go we all just put in a flurry of attacks and finally made a 6 rider split that included Parker Kyzer (Finish Strong), Phil O'Donnell and Johnny Brown (Axeon), Rolly Weaver, myself, and another rider. A couple other riders bridged up to us near the end. In the finale there were once again a ton of attacks. It came down to a sprint of our group of 9, and I came in 5th place. We had one more tough weekend of racing. It wouldn't be honest if I said I wasn't disappointed we did not come away with a win. Mac was just on another level today.

My next race will be Rouge Roubaix in a couple weeks. I look forward to defending my Rouge title with my Lupus Racing Team teammates. It is a really tough and unique race where I had a great time last year. My form is coming along and I am happy to have gotten in a few hard races with my teammates before the season begins.