Webcor and RONA in charge at Redlands
Heading into this year’s U.S. road racing season, it was pretty clear that there were only one or two teams that could be called powerhouse squads. For the rest, the addition of some seasoned professionals gave them credibility, but they would have to step it up at the races to show that they belonged in the upper echelon of U.S. teams. The Webcor Builders team clearly fell in that second group, but at least on the first road stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic in Southern California, they showed that they’re ready to make that step.
Webcor successfully defended Chris Horner’s yellow race leader’s jersey on the new 85.8-mile Crestline road race on Wednesday, with Horner beating Jittery Joe’s climber Cesar Grajales to the line. Meanwhile, on a day marred by a pair of big pile-ups, prologue runner-up David Zabriskie of U.S. Postal Service crashed out of the race.
In the women’s race, prologue winner Geneviève Jeanson (RONA) also made it two-for-two, beating Quark’s Lyne Bessette and Webcor’s Christine Thorburn over the tough finishing climb in the San Bernardino mountains.
Despite the crashes, the debut of the Crestline race was a success, with tough crosswinds on the flat high-desert roads making for an exciting opening act that set the stage for a shoot-out to the mountain finish in Crestline.
In the men’s race, the race blew apart early after making a right turn onto the fast, straight, slightly downhill Sheep Creek Road. With several of the stronger teams including Health Net-Maxxis, Jelly Belly-Aramark and Colavita Olive Oil going to the front to drive the pace, the 200-man field quickly broke apart into several groups. Complicating matters was a bad crash just after the turn onto Sheep Creek, taking down Horner teammate Ted Huang among others.
With chaos, and several echelons, behind them, four riders jumped away from the lead group at the day’s first sprint hot spot – Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis), Mike Sayers (Health Net-Maxxis), Gordon McCauley (Monex) and Juan Jose Haedo (Colavita Olive Oil) – and they were soon joined by Tim Larkin (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports), Mark McCormack (Colavita Olive Oil) and Trent Klasna (Sierra Nevada).
Behind, the main pack reassembled, with Webcor dutifully taking up the chase at the front. Horner’s team did the job, keeping the breakaway’s lead to no more than 2:05 over the next 90 miles, despite more firepower bridging across to the leaders in the form of one rider from Endeavour and two more Health Net riders – John Lieswyn and Scott Moninger. By the start of the final climb, the gap was under a minute, and Horner’s work began.
On the steep, twisty mountain climb, Horner began to pick off the breakaway riders, while Grajales was able keep the race leader in site. Horner had a slight gap over the top, but the Colombian Jittery Joe’s rider was able to latch onto his wheel before the short 3km descent to the finish line. At the finish in Crestline, Horner easily took the his second stage win in two days, ahead of Grajales, with Ben Brooks (Jelly Belly) riding to a solid third-place finish ahead of breakaway survivors Klasna and Moninger.
After the race, Horner couldn’t say enough about his team. "They were incredible. Absolutely incredible. We had six guys left after the second feed zone bringing me and Justin [England] completely fresh into the last climb," he said. "Look at the break. Three guys from Health Net, Trent Klasna and Mark McCormack. Those are five of the best guys in the country, and my guys got it to 30 seconds on the climb."
When asked if his team could keep it up on Thursday’s stage 2 to Oak Glen and in the days to follow, Horner said, "I don’t know. This team is as new to me as it is to you. I think they rode fantastic, and the thing is, now I’ll have a four-minute lead on a good portion of the field. We don’t have to keep it up like that. If the right guys go up the road, we can give them four minutes. Honestly, we could give them five to seven minutes before Oak Glen and I could pull back two or three on Oak Glen."
Despite Horner’s cushion and his good form, he and his team will be in for a tough fight with the Oak Glen mountaintop finish and the tough Panorama Point circuit race coming up over the next two days.
"The only way we can beat [Horner] is if all the teams keep attacking him," said Jelly Belly’s Brooks. "So far his team’s shown that they’re up to the task, but there’s still another four days yet to go."
Jeanson in charge
Compared with the men’s race, the opening parts of the 53-mile women’s race to Crestline was relatively tame, with all of the favorites content to bide their time until the final climb. That final climb, though, showed that several women may be close enough to Jeanson to give her a challenge for the rest of the week.
Early on, though, Jeanson had an easy ride. "I found myself during the whole race, in the middle of the pack. I wasn’t even nervous. That’s usual for me. All the other races I was always at the front," she said.
For most, it was no surprise that the whole day came down to the last climb. "There were a couple of attacks that tried," said Quark’s Bessette, "but it was pretty windy, and a lot of people still seemed sleepy. On a course like this, a lot of people will just wait for the finish."
As expected, Jeanson launched her move on the steep part of the climb, but she didn’t seem to be head-and-shoulders above the rest of the field, at least not yet.
"It was a hard climb and I had trouble getting into a good rhythm at first," said Jeanson. "Lyne looked super strong and Magali [Lefloch] also looked super strong, and Christine Thorburn. I was looking behind, looking for them."
On the climb, Thorburn held on briefly. "I managed to get on Geneviève’s wheel," she said. "I tried to hold her wheel as long as possible."
Near the top, Thorburn got dropped, and there was a small reshuffling, with Bessette moving into second place, while Thorburn stayed ahead of other climbers such as Karen Bockel (TDS), Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis Scuba) and Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile).
And despite Jeanson’s second victory in two days, other teams can still see opportunities in the day’s ahead. "I don’t think she was unstoppable today, like I expected," said T-Mobile’s Armstrong. "I think it’s very doable, and I think we all have strong teams out there."
Thursday’s Oak Glen stage will be similar to today’s, with relatively flat roads leading up to the 3-mile climb to the summit finish. It will be 80.2 miles for the women, 106.7 for the men.
RACE NOTE: Zabriskie crashed hard 70 miles into the race, trying to avoid a pothole in the road. He was down on the ground for several minutes and was taken to a local hospital. According to U.S. Postal manager Dan Osipow, Zabriskie had no broken bones, but suffered facial lacerations and severe road rash on the right side of his body. Zabriskie missed most of the 2003 season after being hit by a car in a training accident in May.
"Seeing him prone in bed, wrapped in gauze, it was pretty tough to take considering where he came back from," said Osipow. "If there’s anything good, it’s that there’s no broken bones."
Several others went down in the accident, including Jelly Belly’s Mariano Friedick, who suffered a broken collarbone and will be out of action for several weeks.Men:
1. Chris Horner, Webcor, in 3:10:06
2. Cesar Grajales (Col), Jittery Joe’s, s.t.
3. Ben Brooks (Aus), Jelly Belly-Aramark, at 0:49
4. Trent Klasna, Sierra Nevada
5. Scott Moninger, Health Net-Maxxis
Women:
1. Geneviève Jeanson (Can), RONA
2. Lyne Bessette (Can), Quark
3. Christine Thorburn, Webcor
4. Karen Bockel, TDS
5. Sue Palmer-Komar, Genesis Scuba
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