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Jensen tops Cliff Drive Classic

By Sean Weide
Published: Aug. 12, 2006

A year ago, Jelly Belly’s Brian Jensen gutted it out through a torrential downpour to win the lightning-shortened Cliff Drive Classic at the Tour of Kansas City. On Saturday, the conditions were considerably different, but the result was the same.

Jensen, who calls Lawrence, Kansas, his home, soloed to victory in the 50-mile Pro-I-II race in two hours and 40 seconds, beating Team Mack’s Clark Priebe of Eagle Grove, Iowa, by more than a minute. In addition to earning his sixth victory of the season, Jensen also pocketed an additional $225 cash for winning the "King of the Mountain" competition.

"The heat kind of wears on you," a sweat-soaked Jensen said after the race in 93-degree heat, which started with 57 competitors but finished with only 29. "I was kind of lucky to have my wife out there in the feed zone. I was able to stay cool and that was a big benefit for me."

Jensen broke from the pack early in the 18-lap race, along with the 40-year-old Priebe (who had earlier won the Masters 40+ race) and Alexander Welch (Mercy Cycling), a 20-year-old from Stillwater, Oklahoma.

"Clark told me he had already raced, so I was trying to be as nice as possible," Jensen said, when asked if the three shared the workload equally while quickly building up a 1:14 advantage in two laps. On one of those two circuits around the hilly course, the trio recorded one of the fastest laps in recent memory (6:09), which equates to a 28 mph average.

The fast pace and extreme heat eventually proved too much for Welch, who dropped back and eventually finished fourth. Priebe managed to stay with Jensen until fewer than 10 miles remained, then soldiered on by himself to beat Mercy Cycling’s Chad Cagle, who finished third. What was left of the pack rolled in nearly four minutes after Jensen.

The 44th annual edition of the race attracted riders from 20 different states to the three-mile course in northern Kansas City. Two Nebraskans - Team Kaos’s Ian Gray and Sydney Brown of Lincoln Plating-LeMond – each scored victories. Gray soloed to his win in the 25-mile Category III race while Brown outsprinted Shari Woidwood of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, in the 14-mile women’s Category III-IV race.

In the women’s Category I-II-III race, hometown favorite Megan Hottman (MRRC-Trek-VW Midwest) scored a victory nearly a year to the date of her wedding on the start line to Category III racer Rob Helton.

"I would have liked to have won this last year, but I’ll gladly take the victory a year later," Hottman said.

The Tour of Kansas City concludes Sunday with the Overland Park Criterium in Overland Park, Kan.

Cliff Drive Classic
Kansas City, KS. August 12

USCF Pro-I-II
1. Brian Jensen, Jelly Belly
2. Clark Priebe, Team Mack
3. Chad Cagle, Mercy Cycling

Cat. III Men
1. Ian Gray, Team Kaos
2. Mark Smelser, GP Velotek
3. Lawrence Simonson, GP Velotek

Cat. IV-V Men
1. Ryan French, Central Iowa Cycling Club
2. Matthew Rahner, Big Shark Racing
3. 3. Casey Saunders, Dogfish Racing

Cat. III-IV Women
1. Sydney Brown, Lincoln Plating-LeMond
2. Shari Woiwood, Billy Goat Midwest Summit
3. Jennifer Herrell, KCOI Boulevard

Cat. I-II-III Women
1. Megan Hottman, MRRC-Trek-VW Midwest
2. Pamela Hinton, Columbia Bike Club
3. Stacey Bertsch, Mercy Cycling Team

Juniors (10-18)
1. Joseph Schmalz, GP Velotek
2. John Shipman, GP Velotek
3. Christian Griffin, unattached

Masters 40+
1. Priebe
2. Janne Hamalainen, Tulsa Wheelmen
3. Darrell Bratton, Team Mack

Masters 50+:
1. Ron Sapp, Columbia Bike Club
2. Bruce Tanner, Kansas City Bicycle Club
3. Harold (Dean) Parker, Team X Cycling