Home » Top Stories » Road »

Bessette and Horner tops at Oak Glen

By Bryan Jew, VeloNews Managing Editor
Published: Mar. 25, 2004
Bessette makes her move
Bessette makes her move
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Webcor. Jittery Joe’s. Jelly Belly. For the second day in a row, those were the three teams represented on the men’s podium at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, as Chris Horner won for the third day in a row and extended his overall race lead. Meanwhile, the women’s race tightened up, as Lyne Bessette took the stage victory on Oak Glen and cut deeply into Geneviève Jeanson’s race lead.

For the second day, Horner’s Webcor squad held in check the efforts of the big-budget Health Net-Maxxis team to put the pressure on Horner. As they did on Wednesday’s Crestline stage, Health Net banked on the strategy of putting a G.C. threat into the day’s breakaway and trying to wear down Horner’s troops by forcing them to chase.

The 107-mile Oak Glen race plays out in similar fashion year after year: an early break stays out for much of the day on the flat and rolling roads of Riverside and San Bernardino; the break gets caught just before the six-mile climb to the Oak Glen finish; and the final battle between the climbers ensues.

Moninger and Pate
Moninger and Pate
Photo: Casey B. Gibson
Moninger and Pate
Moninger and Pate
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

On Thursday, Health Net upped the ante by placing Scott Moninger (fifth overall to start the day) and Danny Pate into the move that began 20 miles into the race, on the palm-lined Victoria Ave. in Riverside. The two Health Net riders were joined by Caleb Manion (Jelly Belly-Aramark), Eric Wohlberg (Sierra Nevada), Aaron Olson (Colavita Olive Oil), Jacob Erker (Seasilver) and Frank Pipp (Team Endeavour), to set the tone for the day.

While Webcor was all alone at the front on Wednesday, on Thursday’s stage 2 it got a helping hand from Jittery Joe’s, which added three riders to the tempo to help preserve the second-place position of Cesar Grajales. That helped in limiting the breakaway to a maximum lead of 2:30, and also drew the ire of the Health Net team.

"Everyone’s riding for Horner to win. People don’t want to try to win. People are content to race for second place," said Health Net director Jeff Corbett in reference to Jittery Joe’s tactics.

However, those tactics got Jittery Joe’s right where they wanted to be: the base of the Oak Glen climb with Grajales ready to challenge Horner and the breakaway virtually absorbed.

Unfortunately, the Colombian found himself in bad position when Horner went to the front to pick up the pace. "I had to work really hard that first 2km to get Horner’s wheel. The group was in single file and I was trying to pass everybody," said Grajales.

Up front, Horner was riding right in the gutter to try to shake the rest of the group off his wheel, but when he saw Grajales, he eased up just a bit.

"I pulled over, gave him some draft, because I want to keep him there," said Horner. "I want him to be second on G.C. [Jittery Joe’s] is motivated to help work on the front like you saw today, so it’s in my best interest to have him with me."

...and Horner wins on his own - again.
...and Horner wins on his own - again.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson
...and Horner wins on his own - again.
...and Horner wins on his own - again.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Grajales hung onto Horner’s wheel for most of the climb, finally faltering with about 2km to go. "From there, it was just drive it as hard as I can and get as much time on everyone as possible. But it was imperative to keep Cesar with me, and away from the others. Imperative to have his team second on G.C. Two, three [Jittery Joe’s] guys rolling on the front, along with five Webcor, that’s a huge difference."

Behind, yesterday’s third-place finisher Ben Brooks faltered a bit on the climb, but his Jelly Belly teammate Adam Bergman stepped to the fore in the final kilometer, riding away from a group that included John Lieswyn (Health Net), Liam Killeen (IMPSport), Daniele Frattini (Monex), Jurgen Van Den Broeck (U.S. Postal Service), Glen Mitchell (Sierra Nevada) and Tim Larkin (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports).

After the race, Jittery Joe’s director Micah Rice defended his team’s tactics.

"[Health Net] is unhappy because they’re not second, that’s what it comes down to. Horner is just in a league of his own right now. In our book, second place is going to be almost as good as a win. It’s so hard to beat Horner, he’s such a talented rider," said Rice. "You saw Horner won again. It’s not like we didn’t want to beat him. We would have loved to beat him. He just went up the road and Cesar couldn’t hold onto his wheel."

"Horner’s team is just doing a great job," said Sierra Nevada’s Trent Klasna, who began the day in fifth place but dropped back on Oak Glen. "They [Health Net] are unhappy because they have a new team that’s supposed to be winning races."

Bessette tops Oak Glen
As in the men’s race, the women’s contest would come down to a drag race amongst the climbers to the top of Oak Glen, despite a number of attacks throughout the lead-up to the climb, notable by the TDS-Schwalbe team which tried repeatedly to shake things up, and by Quark, which tried late in the stage to put some pressure on Jeanson’s RONA team.

As soon as the climb began, though, a familiar group separated itself from the rest: Jeanson, Bessette, Christine Thorburn (Webcor), Sue Palmer-Komar (Genesis Scuba) and Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile). Jeanson drove the break, but never made a decisive attack.

"We let Geneviève set tempo for two-thirds of the climb," said Thorburn. "I’m not sure when Sue and Kristin got dropped … my job was to focus on the wheel in front of me."

When the raced reached the closing two kilometers, though, that wheel was Bessette’s, and not Jeanson’s.

"I saved my legs for the last climb. The wind was good, it was a head/cross, and I was hiding, hiding, hiding, and when I saw some weakness, I decided to go," said Bessette.

Bessette stepped on the gas, and only Thorburn was able to follow. "If [Jeanson] could have gone, she would have gone right away," said Thorburn.

Instead, Jeanson had to fight to limit her losses, while Bessette attacked again in the final 300 meters to shed Thorburn. "I felt good today, and I knew I could do it," said Bessette.

Even on yesterday’s climb to Crestline, Bessette knew that Jeanson would be vulnerable this week, and she took advantage on Oak Glen. "When somebody’s usually attacking you at the bottom of a climb, and then she doesn’t do it, there’s something different. You have to be aware of your opponent. People know when I’m suffering. They know me. It’s the same thing," she said.

"Lyne was just stronger than me today, and she did the right move and I couldn’t follow," said Jeanson. "I’m disappointed because my team did an awesome job today patrolling the front and I feel that I didn’t do my job, that was to win the race, but I’ll try to pay them back."

After losing about 50 seconds to Bessette on the climb and another handful in time bonuses, Jeanson saw her overall lead shrink to just under 20 seconds, which should make for interesting racing on Friday’s Panorama Point circuit and Sunday’s Sunset circuit, two difficult races where a lot of time can be gained or lost.

Photo Gallery