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Rapinksi, Palmer-Komar take San Rafael under intense heat
World-class field holds back as anticipation peaks for San Francisco event
The Bay Area is heating up as riders from across the globe have amassed in San Francisco for the T-Mobile International, an event that, in just its third year, is being hailed as the strongest field ever assembled on American soil.
Organized and directed under San Francisco Cycling LLC, a joint cooperative of Tailwind Sports, the management company that runs the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team, and Threshold Sports, organizing body of the Pro Cycling Tour, the event has again drawn Postal’s Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, as well as first-time appearances from two-time Giro d’Italia winner Gilberto Simoni (Saeco), Paris Nice and Amstel Gold winner Alex Vinokourov (Telekom), and 2001 Giro winner Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola-Sidermec).
In only its first year as a women’s event, the International’s lineup features recent World Cup overall winner Nicole Cooke (Ausra Gruodis-Safi), former world champion Diana Ziliute (Acca Due O) and Judith Arndt (Nürnberger). Riding as contenders under the same logo as the event’s title sponsor are former U.S. national champions Dede Barry and Mari Holden.
Although many of the top names took an easy day Saturday, riding with their teams along the majestic Northern California coast, a majority of pro riders gave their legs a test at the San Rafael Classic, a downtown criterium held under stifling heat 15 miles north of “The City.” The event, now in its sixth year, is touted by race director Wil Matthews as a “women’s marquee event,” which was run after the men’s.
Notably absent from San Rafael’s start line was last year’s San Francisco Grand Prix winner Charles Dionne (Saturn). Dionne, whose season has been marred with three severe crashes, is suffering from quadriceps pain, and while planning on making the start line Sunday, is not expecting to defend his title.
“I love this course so much,” the Canadian said. “I want to believe that I can race tomorrow, but it’s just not possible. I want so badly to race, but I’m afraid my season is over.” Dionne added that an appearance at the upcoming world championships, hosted in his homeland, is very unlikely.
Meanwhile, Dionne’s teammate Chris Horner — 2003 NRC points leader — is singing a different tune. Horner spent all of San Rafael’s 90-minute criterium at the front of the field, and is ready to claim victory.
“I’m here to win,” said the affable Horner, after placing 12th in the event won by teammate Viktor Rapinski, ahead of a splintered twelve-man breakaway sprint containing teammates Horner and Eric Wohlberg, Navigators’ Chris Wherry, Ciaran Power, Kirk O’Bee and Mark Walters, Health Net’s Mike Sayers, Schroeder Iron’s Miguel Meza and Jacob Erker, 7UP-Maxxis’s John Lieswyn, Sierra Nevada-Clif Bar’s Ben Jacques-Maynes and Colavita Bolla’s Nathan Russell.
Riding a surprisingly aggressive race, Horner was taken down in a final lap tangle with Navigators Irish powerhouse Ciaran Power, but shrugged off both the crash and his impressive effort.
“I just steered it into the hay bales,” Horner said. “Powers and I clipped bars, and it was a split-second decision to go into the bales instead of the ground, but I’m fine. It was good for me to go out and test the legs today. When you’ve got the form, there’s nothing a 90-minute crit can take away from you.”
Like Horner, Sayers — second at San Rafael for the third time — felt his all-out effort the day before the country’s toughest bike race was necessary. “I hadn’t ridden a bike in three days,” said Sayers. “Gord [Fraser] and I have been training our asses off in Tucson for the past month, but haven’t ridden in a few days, and I was feeling a bit blocked in the first half of the race. I needed to go all-out to clear the legs. I’ll have plenty left for tomorrow.”
Last year’s winner Fraser went down in a crash with Prime Alliance’s John Peters mid-way through the race and was visibly shaken up, finishing in the main group.
The women’s race was won by 37-year-old Sue Palmer-Komar [Genesis Scuba] after spending the second-half of the 60-minute race away on a solo break. As temperatures approached 100 degrees, and with Palmer-Komar’s teammates Iona Wynter and Candice Blickem sitting at the front of the pack ready for a counterattack, the women’s field made little effort to track down Palmer-Komar, who nearly lapped the field, finishing 45 seconds ahead.
“My team director told me to make one token attack,” Palmer-Komar laughed, adding she’s not known to be a crit racer. “I was just trying to set it up for my teammates, and I kept looking over my shoulder, but they never came after me.”
Diet Rite’s Kori Kelly slipped away from the field, finishing alone in second.
T-Mobile’s Kim Anderson and Stacey Peters explained that with four trips over the brutal Fillmore Street climb awaiting them on Sunday, a win at San Rafael was a lesser priority for much of the women’s field that included Arndt but neither Cooke nor Ziliute.
“[Saturn crit specialist] Ina [Teutenberg] wasn’t feeling well, and we were saving our legs for tomorrow,” said Anderson. “Once Sue was gone, the field pretty much let her go.”
Also not feeling well this week is Armstrong, the event’s main attraction. Armstrong passed on a press conference with Mayor Willie Brown at City Hall on Friday, reportedly due to a 102-degree fever and vomiting attributed to an illness contracted from his children. Teammate Christian Vande Velde reported that the team rode together Saturday afternoon, and that Armstrong is feeling better.
“I think he’s fine now,” Vande Velde said. “He was riding well. I think [Friday] he just didn’t feel much like talking.”
Either way, Armstrong and Vande Velde are rumored to ride in support of teammate Viatcheslav Ekimov, winner of last month’s Tour of Holland, as payback for Ekimov’s support role at July’s Tour.
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