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North American News: Pipp freelances in Austin, Slipstream on track; Lea sets sights on Olympics; Hincapie plays host

By VeloNews.com
Published: Jun. 19, 2007

Frank Pipp of the Health Net-Maxxis team was on his own at the Austin Criterium last Saturday. With no teammates helping him at the AT&T Criterium, he had to play the race smart and take advantage of opportunities when they opened up.

His tactical prowess helped earn him a strong second place in the race behind Frank Trevieso (AEG-Toshiba), and ahead of Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels (both Toyota-United).

"It was a fast race, with a pretty good field," Pipp said. In addition to three riders from Toyota and AEG-Toshiba, he also had to contend with a three-man team from Abercrombie & Fitch, including Mark Hekman, the overall leader of the U.S. Criterium Series, of which the Austin race was a part.

In fact, it was Hekman, along with Sean Sullivan (Toyota-United) and Phil Wikoff (Health Coach) who were off the front in the latter stages of the race, putting pressure on the rest of the field.

"I didn't think they were coming back, frankly," Pipp said. But a number of local teams went to the front and slowly started to reel in the trio.

"I was really impressed with the way the local guys rode," Pipp added.As the pack neared the break, Sullivan took off on his own. With two laps remaining, Christian House (Navigators Insurance) attacked out of the main group. "He was full gas for a lap," Pipp said. Pipp jumped on his wheel, along with Trevieso, Stevic and Vogels, as well as a number of other riders in the main bunch.

Coming through the start/finish area for the final lap, Trevieso launched off the front. "I was sitting about fifth wheel and just wasn't in a position to follow when Frank went," Pipp said. "Coming into the second turn, House turned off the gas and sat up. There was a bit of hesitation, and I'm not sure that I would have caught Trevieso even if I had reacted immediately, but definitely not after that."

When he did make his move, Pipp was able to gap the rest of the front group, and held on for comfortable second place.

"It was a great race, and the promoters took really good care of us," he said. "The crowd was awesome. Over the course of the race, it just kept getting bigger and louder."

Pipp will take his good form into the Nature Valley Grand Prix, which begins Wednesday.

"I had a good race there last year (racing for TargeTraining)," he said. "But Health Net Presented by Maxxis just steamrolled everyone. Hopefully I can do a little bit better time trial this year, and then we'll see what happens. But we have a lot of really strong guys like Nathan O'Neill, Rory Sutherland and Jeff Louder as well."

Louder tunes up for NVGP with wins in Wyoming
Jeff Louder of Health Net-Maxxis also will have his form dialed for Nature Valley. He was in southwest Wyoming for the 19th High Uintas Cycling Classic in Evanston, where he and neighbor, frequent training partner and rival Burke Swindlehurst (Toyota-United) waged a one-on-one duel for honors in the two-day, three stage race.

Louder actually achieved the better results, with wins in the time trial and criterium Sunday, and a 2nd place to Swindlehurst in Saturday's road race, which included Bald Mountain Pass at over 10,000 feet of elevation. However, Swindlehurst earned enough time bonuses on Saturday to overcome his third and second placings in the TT and criterium respectively to take the overall title. Louder came second overall.

The weekend before, Louder also won the Sugar House Criterium, literally his home neighborhood race, as he lives in the Sugar House area. "My wife walked the one block from our house to the race course to watch," he noted. It was his third time winning the Sugar House. "When the race is in your neighborhood, you want to do well," he added.

Pared-down Slipstream on track at Beauce
Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle turned in their finest stage race performance to date last week at the UCI category 2.2 Tour de Beauce in Quebec. With four podium appearances, including Slipstream's first-ever UCI road stage win, and third place overall, it was an exciting week of racing.

Coming off of an unsatisfying week at the Triple Crown series in Pennsylvania (Danny Pate's 4th in Lancaster was the sole highlight), Slipstream-Chipotle headed north to Quebec with just one day off, looking to jump-start the second half of the season at the UCI Category 2.2 Tour de Beauce.

In addition to the quick turnaround between races, Slipstream started Beauce with another limiter: manpower. One team member forgot his passport and could not make the trip, and two more riders succumbed to a stomach virus on Stage 1. Quickly, the seven-rider team was down to four.

Fortunately, motivation and morale remained high, and Alex Howes, Ian MacGregor, Francois Parisien and Danny Pate put on an impressive display of determination, teamwork and aggressiveness that led to Slipstream-Chipotle's best stage race performance to date.

Highlights included:Danny Pate joined the pivotal breakaway and finished in 6th place in Stage 1.Francois Parisien bridged up to the winning breakaway and sprinted for a 3rd place finish in Stage 2.Parisien again made the breakaway, and almost soloed to victory on the mountaintop finish in Stage 3 (second place).Pate rocked the second fastest time trial, and Parisien turned in an impressive 8th place, in Stage 4a.Parisien joined his third breakaway of the race, which got caught on the final lap of the Stage 4b circuit race.Ian MacGregor won Team Slipstream's first UCI road stage by making the breakaway and attacking solo on the final climb to win the Stage 5 circuit race in Quebec City.Alex Howes, a 19-year-old, first-year professional, worked hard for the team and finished his first UCI stage race.

For more information, visit www.slipstreamsports.com.

Lea Sets Sights On Olympic Track Berth
Toyota-United rider Bobby Lea’s quest to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing began last Friday night in the venue known as the “Track Cycling Capital of the World,” the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania.

Over the next three-and-a-half months, Lea will become very familiar with the 333.3-meter concrete track and its 28-degree banked turns as he attempts to gain enough points to make the United States Olympic team in the points and Madison races.

“It’s no secret that it’s less competitive to make the Olympic team on the track than on the road,” Lea said. “For someone like me, track is by far my best shot. I know that if it is something I want to do, I have to get it done now, then I can switch over to road racing full-time.”

Lea has the opportunity to compete in seven Union Cycliste Internationale events this season, the most of any velodrome in the world. During UCI-sanctioned events, riders accumulate points for the world championship and toward qualifying for the Olympic Games. Because of this, more than a dozen top international riders are spending the summer in Trexlertown.

Since he started racing at Lehigh Valley (at the age of eight) in 1991, Lea has won seven elite national championships, five national titles as a junior and 30 National Collegiate Cycling Association national track titles. But adding to those victories seemed questionable this spring when Lea underwent surgery to repair arteries in his legs.

The Easton, Maryland, native had been experiencing problems with blood flow to his legs while pedaling with maximum effort during competition and training. An examination revealed constriction of the external iliac artery in both legs. Surgeons at the University of Virginia Medical Center placed a patch inside each artery to act as a wedge and open the artery back up to its proper size.

After extensive rehabilitation following the March 8 surgery, Lea was back on the bike in a few weeks and racing again by the last week of April.

“The first couple of weeks back were tough,” he said, “but I am definitely stronger than what I was before the surgery.”

Lea surprised even himself with a win at the Leonardtown Criterium on May 20 and raced impressively at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic earlier this month, finishing second in the closing criterium to teammate Heath Blackgrove.

The two events Lea has his sights on for the Olympics are similar. In the Madison, he will pair with another rider to compete for points during sprint laps. The event is a variation of the points race, Lea’s other main discipline, in which points are awarded to the first five finishers of sprints that occur periodically throughout the race.

Even though his primary goal is to compile UCI points toward an Olympic qualifying spot, Lea will split his time between the track and road racing.

Sunday was a prime example of the demands he will face. After finishing third in the 30 km points race and fifth in the 15 km scratch race Friday night, Lea was racing early the next afternoon in the Crystal City Classic criterium in Arlington, Virginia.

“I rode the first 45 kilometers sitting in, just trying to find my legs,” Lea said.

After working his way into three different breakaways, the last of which was caught with two laps to go, Lea finished 19th.

Hincapie: Are You Experienced?
Tour de France stage winner and reigning US professional road race champion George Hincapie is offering cyclists the opportunity to be part of the inaugural Hincapie Experience Cycling Camp, held August 31-September 6, 2007, in Greenville, South Carolina.

The all-inclusive week will offer cyclists of all ability levels the chance to experience one of the east coast’s premier cycling destinations during the US professional road and time trial championships. Participants will receive expert coaching, ride with Hincapie, join the excitement of the US National Championships and more.

Highlights of The Hincapie Experience include:Ride with National Champion, George Hincapie on his favorite training routes.Watch George Hincapie defend his title at the US Professional Road Race Championships.VIP status for all US Professional events for the weekend.Ride the US Professional road race course the morning of the race.Private Gala Party with professional riders at Hincapie Sportswear after the road race. Education from Hincapie’s ‘Mental Coach’, Christina Maddox, Co-founder of headSTRONG.Hotel accommodations at the famous Westin Poinsett Hotel (where scenes from the upcoming George Clooney/Renee Zellweger film “Leatherheads” were shot).Fully supported rides, as well as massages and meals

The retail price for the weeklong Hincapie Experience is $4800 per person (single occupancy), $4400 per person (double), while non-riding spouses can enjoy the experience for $2400. The experience is open to cyclists of all ability and experience levels.

“I am really looking forward to hosting the Hincapie Experience,” said Hincapie. “We are planning to give each participant the cycling experience of a lifetime.”

For more information, please visit www.hincapiesports.com. The Web site features a detailed itinerary of the week’s events and an official registration form.