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Horner, Bruckner take first round at Solano
Chris Horner and Kim Bruckner won Thursday’s windy opening stage of the Solano Bicycle Classic, both beating a field of strong climbers on the day's final ascent to the finish at the Lake Berryessa recreation area.
Horner, who has won the Solano Classic twice before, charged off the front soon after a serious mid-race breakaway had been reeled in... and he was certain that his teammate Will Frischkorn had not gone up the road solo.
“I didn’t want to pull other guys up with me if Will was up there. He’s the National Road Champion, so he’s totally capable of controlling the break,” said Horner. “Saturn put together a really strong squad to help me win. When we were in the crosswind section I was just drafting the whole time.”
The breakaway group came together as the men’s race rolled off of the flat roads of Solano County and up toward Lake Berryessa. Fourteen riders from an array of teams, with serious representation by Saturn, Prime Alliance and Health Net, had gained as much as a four-minute advantage as they sped through brilliant green hills.
Hayden Godfrey from 7Up-Maxxis and Erik Saunders of Ofoto-Lombardi were undefended in this group, and so only Jelly Belly’s Ben Brooks seemed to want to launch attacks. Unfortunately the Australian rider could not motivate his fellow riders to organize themselves, while Godfrey’s and Saunder’s teammates worked rapidly from behind to bridge the gap.
“I was just hoping to have a little bit more time at the bottom of the climb,” said Brooks. “I think we only had about 50 seconds, and I would have liked a minute and a half. That would have given a little bit better chance for the stage win.”
7Up-Maxxis and Ofoto-Lombardi paced the hard charging field, swallowing the breakaway near the bottom of the day’s last climb, and then two protected riders leapt out to attack. Horner made his move, and Prime Alliance’s Jonathan Vaughters was right alongside.
“It came together at the end and Chris Horner went and I went up the hill, too. Chris went faster and the Jelly Belly guy who was in the breakaway stayed in the middle,” said Vaughters. “I just had flat legs today.”
The wind played an enormous factor in racing, with double echelons in the first half leading to confusion and collision. Team West Virginia’s Conor Hurley finished 18:40 back of the leaders because of a crash near the town of Winters.
“We were riding in a double echelon and somebody just went down,” said Hurley. “I landed on my back and had to chase back into the wind. That was some wind”
Navigators’ Marty Nothstein seemed less critical of the 25 mph gusts.
“We took a beating, sure,” he said. “But at least it didn’t go on forever. It stopped in the hills, but I’d prefer the wind to those hills any day of the week,” said Nothstein.
Bruckner puts the hammer down
The women’s race was also decided in the final climb, when T-Mobile’s Kim Bruckner put the hurt into Saturn’s Manon Jutras and Lyne Bessette. Despite superiority in numbers, Saturn could not match the pedal strokes of Bruckner, who put 40 seconds into her competitors on the uphill.
“The pace wasn’t fast after the first climb, so we came to the final one together,” said Bruckner. “We put some girls to the front, and Saturn put some to the front, to rotate and bring back two other girls who got away. Then it was just me.”
For the women the wind was not as much a factor, as their race began just on the cusp of the flat California farmland. In the hills it was negligible, and as they progressed further towards the finish, the group dynamic of the peloton made even the headwinds seem to abate.
“It was strong in the beginning,” said Bruckner. “But if you sat back in the middle, it wasn’t bad at all.”
Friday’s stage 2 is a 7.7 mile hill climb which race organizers claim is steeper than the Vuelta a España’s famed -- and feared -- L’Angliru. Local racing legend and professional triathlete Steve Larsen was asked by Solano Bicycle Classic promoters to pick out a time trial course this year and he gladly turned over maps to a place called "Garbage Hill."
The road is a one-lane switch back averaging a 12-percent grade, with the last mile affectionately dubbed ‘The Death Zone’ in light of its 22-percent pitch. Organizers glibly advise riders ‘Don’t be proud –Consider a triple.’
