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Armstrong solos into lead at 'Toona; Pipp grabs win at the line

By Phil Marques
Published: Jul. 26, 2006
Armstrong tears up the road on her own
Armstrong tears up the road on her own
Photo: Phil Marques

Wednesday’s 96-mile point-to-point road race took the riders through four counties starting from the Johnstown Galleria Mall and finishing at the Logan Valley Mall in Altoona. The yellow jersey would change hands in both the men's and women's race on a day of attrition over an undulating course.

Frank Pipp (Target Training) was the surprise winner in the men's race, nipping prologue winner Karl Menzies (Health Net) and Ciaran Powers (Navigators) at the line. The 20-second time bonus was enough to put Pipp into second place overall. But Menzies second place finish was good enough for a 15-second time bonuses, leapfrogging him back in yellow.

In the women's race, it was reining national champion Kristin Armstrong (Lipton TEAm) who crested the QOM at Blue Knob first and never saw the field again. Armstrong would solo the remaining 22 miles, finishing 2:59 ahead of the main group that swelled to 23 riders.

Pipp takes it in the sprint
Pipp takes it in the sprint
Photo: Phil Marques

The men's race started out aggressive with a break of nine riders getting away within the first 20 miles of the race. Navigators had Glen Chadwick and Valeriy Kobzarenk - also in the break were Christopher Baldwin (Toyota United), Dominique Perras (Equipe du Quebec), Davide Frattini (Colavita), Robbie King (Priority Health), Dustin MacBurnie (Target Training), Patrick Walsh (CCB/Volkswagen), Jeff Louder (Health Net-Maxxis), and Predrag Prokic (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork).

Ed Beamon, director sportif of Navigators Insurance, knew the break's survival was tentative.

"The break got away and we thought it was the end of the race and no one would chase it," said Beamon. "But Health Net did not like it and Louder did not work. Because Louder stopped working Baldwin stopped working too and that was not good for us."

Health Net-Maxxis director sportif Jeff Corbett explained why he didn't like the odds.

"I think Louder could have done well in that break," noted Corbett. "But we have several guys who are threats here. If we let that break go and Louder was working it would have twenty minutes and the race would be between those eight guys, but we didn't want to take all of our own players out of the mix right away."

After the first feed zone Chadwick dropped Perras and ascended the KOM at Blue Knob alone, but was quickly absorbed on the descent by a group that would eventually grow to 25 riders.

For Target Training's Frank Pipp, the victory was the most satisfying NRC stage victory in his career.

"I had just been dangling off the front group over the KOM," said Pipp. "I actually blew up a little - Health Net had tried to control everything but everyone was attacking. I had two teammates attacking while I recovered. At about 300 meters to go I came by and got on to the Navigators. Then it was a sudden [left] turn and I kind of slammed my brakes."

Pipp dove the inside track and went directly to the finish line.

Mariano Friedick - the GC leader going into today's stage - summitted the KOM several minutes behind the leaders, and it was clear at that point the yellow jersey would change hands.

"It was somewhat to be expected," said Toyota-United director sportif Harm Jansen. "It was a hard day, it was hot, and the last climb put Mariano into difficulty."

Though Menzies reclaimed the yellow jersey, his performance on stage 6 will be key. Saturday's epic stage features three difficult climbs - two on horrendous dirt roads - including a steeper ascent up Blue Knob (paved) that pitches up to 17%, and will likely spread the GC out if not determine the overall winner, as only 55 seconds separates the top 26 men.

The women's race unfolded with QOM leader Dotsie Bausch (Colavita) making an aggressive move right before the Blue Knob climb. Eventually Bausch would be reeled in by Armstrong's Lipton teammates, leaving it to Armstrong to power away from the field up the climb, cresting the summit at Blue Knob almost a minute ahead of chasers Erinne Willock (Webcor-Platinum) and Alex Wrubleski (Biovail).

Bausch would eventually lose over 8 minutes on a day that had an ominous beginning with the Colavita van getting a flat tire after running over a piece of steel that fell off a tractor trailer on the way to the stage start. The van's spare tire was nearly flat as well, and in order to make the start in time, promoter Rick Geist called in the Pennsylvania state police give the Colavita van a high-speed escort.

At one point, Willock and Wrubleski chased to within 90 seconds of Armstrong with about 14 miles remaining in the race. Yellow jersey wearer Alison Powers (Advil-Chapstick) was able to tap into her downhill proclivity and bridged the gap to the two chasers (Powers is a former national downhill ski team member). But in the end, the Wonder Womanesque-clad time trial champion was in full overdrive and motored away from the field, practically sealing her lead on general classification.

"We [Wrubleski and Willock] were just rotating until Alison [Powers] caught us," said Wrubleski afterwards. "Then we weren't going very good together, so they caught us."

Armstrong gave kudos her team's effort in helping her win.

"They were either in the break or bringing back breaks. Dotsie went right before the climb and we didn't want to catch her right off the bat," said Armstrong afterwards. "We wanted to make sure she got to the base of the climb before we caught her. She used up a little too much energy, I think, before that climb."

"I was really motivated to stay off. My head gets in time trial mode - my teammates call it my little bubble - I just go for it, I get really focused," said the dual national champion. Using her SRM, Armstrong said she concentrated on keeping her power constant in the final hour.

"I was trying to keep it as close to 300 watts as possible," said Armstrong. "It is a good tool for me because every time I see the numbers go down I just pick it up a little bit."

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