- HOT TOPICS:
- An American start for the Giro? •
- 2010 Routes: Giro | California | TdF •
- LA doc guilty on all counts
Saturn dominates Solano crit'
It was all about Saturn at Solano on Saturday. The criterium, the third stage of the Solano Bicycle Classic, proved to be a showcase for the red and yellow, with Eric Wohlberg taking first on the men’s side and Laura Van Gilder atop the women’s race.
Saturn led a charging breakaway in the men’s race, with five teammates pulling together, including Chris Horner, Trent Klasna, Mark McCormack and Viktor Rapinski, to keep the pace very high.
Horner put in terrific turns at the front, stringing along Prime Alliance’s Jonathan Vaughters, Ben Brooks of Jelly Belly and all the strong GC contenders until there was nearly a minute gap on the field.
“If it was going to come down to a field sprint we were going to line it up,” said Wohlberg. “But the best defense is a good offense, and if everyone’s aggressive all the time, then you’re never really caught behind the eight ball.”
HealthNet’s Gord Fraser was carefully watched in this breakaway, as was USPRO Criterium Kevin Monahan of 7Up-Maxxis.
“We knew Kevin was going to be fast,” said Wohlberg. “And Gord’s got such great legs right now, we really didn’t want to have to deal with him in any kind of field sprint.”
Fraser pulled out of the break with a flat tire and used his free lap from the pit, but was not pushed back into the breakaway. Instead he came back into the race at the back of the pack.
“It took me a long time to get to the front,” said Fraser. “And the break was going, so I didn’t have any legs to go with it. I guess we are a little spoiled by our successes and so we’re pretty disappointed today.”
At the wire it was Wohlberg and McCormack, with Ofoto-Lombardi’s Russell Hamby swinging wide to the left for third.
“I had a teammate with me,” said Hamby. “But we have a guy sitting in 5th overall, so I didn’t want to drive the break and give those other guys any kind of help. So we were able to just sit on and sprint. I really feel like that was a good sprint for me.”
On Ina’s wheel
In the women’s race Laura Van Gilder took an expert leadout from teammate Ina Teutenberg for the win over Tina Mayolo Pic of Diet Rite and Team Basis’ Nicole Freedman.
“Ina’s such an awesome leadout because she’s such a good sprinter herself and can maneuver through the pack so well,” said Van Gilder. “I felt honored and excited to be on her wheel.”
Earlier in the race Teutenberg was in a break alongside Lynne Gaggioli of Velo Bella when she thought she had a flat.
“There must have been something caught in my wheel that sounded like a puncture,” said Teutenberg. “I thought I’ll just get it changed but then I got to the pit it must have been a leaf or something, because it the puncture was gone.”
As a result she did not get a free lap and had to re-enter the race with the pack. This left Saturn out of the break entirely with only 10 laps left, something they most definitely did not want.
“We didn’t know what her problem was exactly,” said teammate Manon Jutras. “There was a bit of a lack of communication at that point. That’s when we went to the front and started to pull. When you saw the Saturn machine, it was really awesome.”
Melissa Sanborn of Intermountain cycling was in the break and nabbed two of the intermediate sprint points, solidifying if not locking up her ownership of the green jersey. When the race came together at the end she was at the back of the main pack but happy with her result.
“I just marked Freedman and Tina,” she said. “Just watched the strong sprinters, because I’m kind of new at this. The best I could do was just shadow a few of the really strong riders. It was hard to tell which laps were the sprint laps, but the plan was to try to hang on to the jersey.”
Sunday is the circuit race, 9 laps of a 6-mile course for the women, 13 laps for the men. There are 500 feet of climbing each lap, and though that may not sound terribly high, the stakes certainly are. Team GC and the top 10 are still fluid in both races, and the stage promises to shake things up.
