Voight, Neben take epic road nationals
Thursday’s elite national road championships in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, saw a continuation of the T-Mobile dominance on the women’s side with Amber Neben leading a 1-2-3 sweep by the women’s national team. In the men’s race, Mike Voight brought home the first-ever elite national road champion’s jersey for the longtime East Coast regional powerhouse Snow Valley team, after an epic day of racing that ended in the rain after five hours in the saddle.
The brutal 28-mile course beginning and ending in the Seven Springs ski resort featured a wide variety of climbs, from short, steep power climbs to long, gradual grinders, and culminated with seven miles of mostly uphill roads from Laurel Hill State Park to the finish in Seven Springs. Predictably, it turned into a showcase for a couple of climbers, Neben and Voight.
Neben put in a spectacular individual performance, soloing for a lap-and-a-third to take the win, but that individual effort was set up by T-Mobile’s dominance in both strength and numbers, which was evident from the very start.
After Wednesday’s top-five sweep in the time trial championships, T-Mobile sent 12 riders to the start line on Thursday, and they controlled the race from the beginning.
On the first lap, with T-Mobile riders in control of the tempo at the front, there were virtually no attacks from the field, while their steady pace whittled the race down from 70 to 50 riders in the opening 20 miles. As the lead group hit the tough climbs in the final third of the circuit, the attrition continued, with the group thinning to about 15 riders, and finally eight by the end of lap one.
By looking at those eight, you could pretty much tell where the race was headed. Along with Lynn Gaggioli (Velo Bella), Kate Maher (Basis) and Christine Thorburn (Vaniqa-Red 5 Racing), were the same five riders who had swept the time trial on Wednesday: Kimberly Bruckner, Dede Demet-Barry, Neben, Kristin Armstrong and Katrina Grove.
Over the next 20 miles, the three non-T-Mobiles had to choose their poison — either contribute to the breakaway, or be assaulted by repeated attacks from the five teammates. In the end, they got a little bit of both, and the constant attacks finally did them in.
"They were going two by two," said Gaggioli. "Two would go, they would get caught, and then two more would go."
Gaggioli, Maher and Thorburn tried valiantly to hang on, but when they exited Laurel Hill State Park for the second time, with the nasty final hills approaching, it was Neben’s time.
"When it came time for me to attack again, we were in the perfect spot for me, and it worked out beautifully," she said.
Neben threw herself at the hills with everything she had, instantly opening up a huge gap. By the end of the lap, just six miles later, her lead was up to 2:36, and she was well on her way to victory.
Her lead continued to grow, and behind, T-Mobile riders kept attacking until finally Armstrong and Bruckner shook off Gaggioli, setting up a 1-2-3 finish. Neben finished alone, 4:29 ahead, while Armstrong and Bruckner came in together, hands raised in triumph. Gaggioli finished fourth, followed by Demet Barry and Grove.
"There’s five of them," Gaggioli said. "What do you do?"
In the men’s race, Snow Valley wasn’t the clear favorite that T-Mobile was in the women’s race, but, despite a shaky start that included multiple flats and two riders dropping out, the Mid-Atlantic team was present in just about every major move in the middle of the race. Still, as the miles ticked down, it looked like someone else was going to win the day.
The first of four laps saw little action, but as soon as the men started lap two, the attacks began, with Garrett Wonders (U.S. Armed Forces) and Andy Applegate (Cane Creek-Brew) making the first serious move of the day.
They would stay out for more than a lap, but on lap three, Snow Valley began to play its cards, putting two riders, Scott Zwizanski and Russell Langley, in a break along with collegiate champion Doug Ollerenshaw (Broadmark Capital) and Mike Dietrich (Fior di Frutta-Wheelworks). That elicited a chase from four more riders: Voight, Ron Schmeer (Saturn of Seattle), Brian Sheedy (West Virginia) and another Broadmark rider, Craig Wilcox.
Neither of those two groups would stick either, but after a regrouping at the end of lap three, Schmeer shot to the front of affairs, and was soon joined on the break by yet another Broadmark rider, Calvin Allan.
Zwizanski would put up a chase for nearly 15 miles, but could never get closer than about a minute. With half a lap to go, Allan and Schmeer had a lead of about 1:45, and it looked like the race would come down to a duel in the hills through Laurel Hill park and over the final seven miles heading to the finish.
But Voight doggedly went out on the chase. "I think the gap when I went was 1:45," said the blonde, shaggy haired Voight. "I just kind of put my head down, and the gap went down to 1:30, then it went to a minute, then it was 25 seconds."
The gap was 25 seconds, with the rain starting to fall, when Allan and Schmeer turned right out of the park and onto Copper Kettle Highway, and those tough climbs heading home. It was there that Allan put in a strong surge, dropping Schmeer straight off, and it looked like the Broadmark rider had made the decisive move of the day. But no.
Voight just kept on coming, and as soon as he made contact with Allan, Voight went right past. "I tried to put in a good attack just to bury him, and I turned around and he wasn’t coming back," said Voight.
Instead, Allan went backward, with three more riders passing him in the final five miles. Voight, meanwhile, knew he has the stars-and-stripes in hand. "I was just thinking about the jersey – that was keeping the legs turning over," he said.
Voight soloed in, while less than a minute back came Adam Bergman (Bianchi-Grand Performance), Steven Cate (Mathis Bros.), Bryan Smith (ISCORP-Children’s Hospital), and finally, Allan.
The day ended on a dark and dreary note, with the rain continuing to fall, but for Voight and his Snow Valley team, it was their brightest moment.
"We’ve always been one of the best amateur teams in North America," said team director Brian Walton. "Now we can say we are the best amateur team."
Photo Gallery
Most Recent Articles
- Tour of Missouri in peril as state faces budget cuts
- Columbia's Tony Martin will face a mountain battle to retain his white jersey
- Arcalis will answer many questions
- John Wilcockson: A change of pace for the Tour
- Near their European base, the Garmin-Slipstream men go on the attack
- A Casey B. Gibson Gallery - Into Barcelona
- Hushovd win gives Cervélo a boost
- Menchov's woes continue
