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Mt. Hood kicks off Tuesday

Published: May. 28, 2007
The race's namesake provides a scenic backdrop
The race's namesake provides a scenic backdrop
Photo: courtesy Mt. Hood Cycling Classic

The next stage race on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, kicks off Tuesday in Hood River, Oregon.

Now in its fifth year and its third as an NRC event, the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic has quickly emerged as one of the top stage races in the U.S., drawing professional and amateurs from several different categories. But with the Commerce Bank Triple Crown series beginning in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 3, the final day of Mt. Hood, many teams are either splitting their squads or simply skipping the Oregon race.

That’s not to say that the six-stage race, which runs through June 3, isn’t a worthy event, however. Last year, Health Net-Maxxis rider Greg Henderson, returning to racing after fracturing his hip, won two stages at Mt. Hood — but was relegated once for an erratic sprint — and then went on to win the Reading and Philadelphia legs of the Triple Crown. Henderson now rides with the T-Mobile ProTour team.

“I think racing in Mt. Hood was the right decision,” Henderson said last year, after skipping Lancaster and missing a chance at winning the Triple Crown. “The team told me to go and race, not for results, but to get some hard racing days in my legs. You just can’t simulate those kinds of efforts in training.”

Four of the nation’s top teams will send full squads capable of winning the 2.2 NRC-ranked stage race. Health Net-Maxxis is sending a six-man team that includes Ryder Hesjedal and 2006 overall winner Nathan O’Neill. Toyota-United will send a six-man team led by high-altitude specialists Chris Baldwin and Burke Swindlehurst. Priority Health-Bissell will send NRC rankings leader Ben Jacques-Maynes backed by four riders; Jacques-Maynes currently leads Baldwin in the NRC standings by 9 points. Navigators Insurance is sending an eight-man team in support of Phil Zajicek, who has recently won a pair of races in Colorado over the last two weekends, the North Boulder Criterium and the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic. Zajicek finished second at Mt. Hood last year, 27 seconds behind O’Neill.

Other full squads include amateur teams such as Fiordifrutta, BPG-Montano Velo, Hagens Berman, Team Bobs-Bicycles.com, Rio Grande and California Giant Strawberries, featuring professional triathlete Chris Lieto. Last year Lieto finished fourth on the final stage of the Larry Miller Tour of Utah, finishing 11th overall.

Another rider to watch will be unheralded Aaron Tuckerman (Rubicon), winner of the opening climbing stage of the Tri-Peaks Challenge in Arkansas, who led the race before eventually finishing third overall. A six-man squad will support Tuckerman.

Racing without the support of teammates are cyclo-cross stars Ryan Trebon and Barry Wicks, also known as Kona’s “Twin Towers.” Trebon, who races on the road for Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada, finished second at last year’s Mt. Hood prologue while riding for AEG-Toshiba, nine seconds behind O’Neill but ahead of riders like Zajicek and Scott Moninger. Trebon finished the race fifth overall.

The women’s field at Mt. Hood has also suffered from scheduling conflicts, notably a clash with the June 3 Montréal World Cup. Top names will include two-time defending Mt. Hood champion Leah Goldstein (Symmetics), 2005 world pursuit champion Katie Mactier (ValueAct Capital) and recent Athens Twilight and Joe Martin stage race winner Katharine Carroll (Aaron's).

With a commitment to take women’s cycling to a higher level the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic partnered with Taco Del Mar restaurants to again offer travel grants to all Pro 1-2 women’s teams planning to compete at this year’s event. The grants ranged up to $500 cash and were available to Pro 1-2 women’s teams of between four to six riders. Ten grants were distributed for this year.

“We are excited at the tremendous opportunities in the U.S. for men’s cycling with the creation of the new Pro Tour. Unfortunately pro/elite women have not had those same opportunities,” said event director Chad Sperry. “We have a real passion to grow women’s participation in the sport and maximize opportunities for women. This event is just too good not to get more elite women involved.”

The new Wy’East Road Race replaces the Three Summits course, damaged by flooding
The new Wy’East Road Race replaces the Three Summits course, damaged by flooding
Photo: courtesy Mt. Hood Cycling Classic

The six stages feature eight category 1 climbs. New for 2007 is a point-to-point 18.5-mile time trial into the famous Columbia River Gorge, also known as one of the world's largest wind tunnels, dishing up blasts of air that can average 30 mph as riders gain close to 2000 feet in elevation. Also new for this year’s race is the stage 5 Wy’East Road Race, the race’s toughest that covers nearly 10,000 feet of vertical gain over 92 miles and finishes at the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area. The new stage replaces the Three Summits Road Race course, which was lost when a small bridge at the base of the second major climb was washed away during heavy floods last November.

“We have really shaken things up for 2007 and are going to be pushing this to be tougher than ever for both men and women,” said Sperry, who has also taken on duties as director of July’s Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon. “We are looking at nearly 360 miles and 30,000 feet of elevation for the men. The women’s field will be covering 285 miles and 25,000 feet of climbing over six days and six stages.”

The final stage, the Downtown Hood River Criterium, is a course race promoters describe as “an incredibly challenging criterium course that will throw everything at the riders.” It was on that course that race leader Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home) crashed and broke her collarbone last year.

Mt. Hood Cycling Classic
Stages
Stage 1, Tuesday, May 29: Panorama Point Prologue
Stage 2, Wednesday, May 30: Columbia Hills Road Race
Stage 3, Thursday, May 31: Cooper Spur Circuit Race
Stage 4, Friday, June 1: Scenic Gorge Time Trial
Stage 5, Saturday, June 2: Wy’east Road Race
Stage 6, Sunday, June 3: Downtown Hood River Criterium

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