- HOT TOPICS:
- An American start for the Giro? •
- 2010 Routes: Giro | California | TdF •
- LA doc guilty on all counts
McCook takes third in a row; Vogels, Bessette retain lead at Nature Valley
The image of McGuire Pro Cycling’s Dave McCook surging across the finish line, arms raised triumphantly in the air, was repeated — again — at the Nature Valley Grand Prix as the 34-year-old sprint veteran made it three-for-three Saturday, piloting his red Jamis Comet across the finish line in Red Wing, Minnesota, ahead of Emile Abraham (Monex) and Erik Saunders (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports.)
From a spectator’s standpoint, Saturday’s sprint finish was as exciting a finish as one could ask for, as the field closed in on a three-man breakaway of Eric Wohlberg (Sierra Nevada), Erik Saunders (Ofoto-Lombardi Sports) and Evan Eiken (Ridge Mortgage Services) in the final 150-meter straightaway of an 80-mile rolling road race.
A tentative peloton, led by the Navigators Insurance squad of overall race leader Henk Vogels, had closed the door on any breakaways across the wide-open roads of southeastern Minnesota until the trio escaped in the final 15 miles, opening a gap that extended to 1:15. “We were committed,” Wohlberg said. “We invested a half-hour of wide-open riding, so we were just trying to get to the line.”
But the sprinters’ teams of Health Net-Maxxis and McGuire had different plans, and came to the front to help Navigators Insurance reel in the escape.
“We got some help from McGuire,” said Navigators director Franky Van Haesebroucke. “But for me, I think it’s normal. We were talking to Dave [McCook], and he agreed. He knew he could win a stage again. That was perfect for us. I think Health Net played poker a bit. They were chasing, but only in the last 4km. They’ve had bad luck with a good sprinter, Dan Schmatz, the past few days, so I was expecting them to come out there at the end. It was a bit of a poker game.”
It was a tenuous final kilometer into the town of Red Wing, as the gap quickly plummeted. Crossing a bridge over the Mississippi River into the final right-hand turn, the differential was hovering just under ten seconds.
“When you’re committed to that move, you’ve got to ride it to the line,” Wohlberg said, “and that’s what we did.” But it wasn’t to be, as McCook came around Abraham’s wheel, powering to the line with enough to throw his arms in the air for the third time in as many days; Saunders finished third. It was an impressive show of force from Saunders, after taking pulls in the break for the final half-hour for racing.
“It was our goal today to take it to them and not be intimidated,” Saunders said. “To try and attack and take whatever opportunity to gain time and put guys in trouble however we could do it. There are four of us within one minute: Jackson Stewart is 33 seconds down, I’m at 58, [Tim] Larkin’s at around a minute, [Andy] Bajadali is at 40-something seconds back. We’re four guys that are threatening. I think as far as teams go, we’re in probably the best position of any team.”
Whatever he’s been eating for breakfast this week, it’s been a winning recipe for McCook, who has won every race other than the opening time trial, gaining 1:30 in time bonuses.
“I can’t tell you how many people that have been coming up to me and told me, ‘You should have tried in the time trial,’” said McCook, who finished 152nd in the time trial, 2:03 back. “I didn’t have the gear, I didn’t have time trial bars, I didn’t have a disc wheel. I just rode tempo, with the idea of coming here and winning stages, and hopefully we’d have two guys to win GC, which would be Mike [Taylor] and Roman [Kilun]. As it turns out, I’m riding so well, yeah, maybe I should have gone a little harder, but on the other hand, I can’t complain about winning three stages.”
It’s been a long, hard road for McCook, who shone in the late-90s but had been off the domestic radar over the past few years after a knee injury in 2002 left him in pain and without a team. Riding for the first-year pro team McGuire, he’s found form he had only hoped he might rediscover.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from other than the heart,” McCook. “I’m so excited to have a great team, a great sponsor. I’m riding from the heart. I love my sport. It’s unbelievable when you’re riding this well. There are no words to describe it.”
Many in the women’s field were left searching for words to describe the snafu in the final 500 meters of their race, after a mix-up approaching the final right-hand turn saw approximately 20 riders momentarily veer off course, disrupting an imminent field sprint.
The situation occurred when a police officer directing traffic at the caravan run off mistakenly directed the lead commissaire’s vehicle off course as it approached the bridge over the Mississippi River to a side street. The lead moto followed the commissaire, and Quark’s 19-year-old French Canadian Audrey Lemieux — heading the field in the final kilometer — followed suit, causing a split as riders that knew better were forced to choose between taking the right turn or intersecting into riders to their left that inadvertently followed Lemieux.
Those to the left side of the road made it through, and Colavita Olive Oil’s Joanne Kiesanowski bested race leader Lyne Bessette (Quark) in the sprint, with RONA’s Andrea Hannos taking third. With 30 seconds up for grabs for the winner and 20 seconds for second place, the results moved Kiesanowski into second overall, 11 seconds down.
Protests were filed by RONA’s team director Jim Williams and Victory Brewing’s Mike Tamayo, both of whom saw their team’s respective hopes muddled in the mix-up: For RONA the mistake meant Katrina Grove, second on GC coming into the stage at three seconds down, missed an opportunity for time bonuses in the sprint; for Victory Brewing, the opportunity to clinch the points jersey for Gina Grain hung in the balance.
“Audrey went with the caravan,” Grove said. “Two-thirds of the front group went right. People couldn’t go straight. Gina Grain got screwed. Half the sprinters got screwed. Everyone at the right or front got screwed. I’m not saying that [Audrey] did it on purpose, she was just following the caravan, but it sucks to lose out on time bonuses after being led astray by Lyne Bessette’s teammate. She just followed the caravan vehicles, but it was out and back, so we’d already seen the course. It just sucks. We’re stoked for Andrea, she got third, but if it had been different it could have been a win.”
But after discussing the situation with both Grain and race officials, Victory Brewing’s Tamayo withdrew his team’s protest, conceding, “The rules do say it’s every rider’s responsibility to know the course.”
As it turned out, with Grain’s seventh place finish and a tally of 16 points amassed over the day’s five intermediate sprints, she leads Hannos by six points heading into the final Stillwater criterium stage, a day with a maximum of 15 points up for grabs.
“The girls led out for five [intermediate] sprints today,” Tamayo said. “It just means we have to race harder tomorrow.”
After Friday’s criterium was neutralized due to thunderstorms, stage winner Kiesanowski, the New Zealand national road and points race champion, had heard enough complaining.
“One person turned right and they just played follow the leader,” Kiesanowski said. “If you know the course you would know it’s a long straightaway. We weren’t going to turn right on a little straightaway. Team mangers can’t keep changing the rules just because it doesn’t suit them. For example last night, I wanted to race, that was pretty silly not racing. There was a really good crowd there, it wasn’t even raining for our race, it was just puddles, big deal. I was pretty annoyed. The crit suited me, and I could have gotten a lot of time bonuses. There was a one-minute time bonuses up for grabs. If I had gotten the bonuses I could have taken the leader’s jersey. What is with bike racing these days? It’s going soft.”
It was also a bad luck day for other premier riders, for varying reasons: Genesis Scuba’s Laura Van Gilder, fourth on GC coming into the stage at 20 seconds back. Van Gilder flatted with over 10 miles to go, and was misdirected after a slow wheel change, losing contact with the lead group for good and finishing 11 minutes down alongside teammate Maggie Shirley, who had waited back for Van Gilder, and New Zealander Sarah Ulmer (TDS-Schwalbe), whose chain had broken.
Had Van Gilder been able to finish with the field, she would have been a favorite to take the sprint and 30-second time bonus, which would likely have put her in the race lead.
“Try as we might we weren’t able to get back on,” Van Gilder said. “It was a slow process to get the wheel changed. It was a bad point on the course, some rollers coming up, and then we got misdirected while we were chasing back on. At that point I had to make some bike adjustments, and I knew my day was over.”
Sunday’s stage
The notorious 1.3-mile Stillwater criterium is one of the most feared criteriums on the North American circuit, renowned for the steep and narrow Chilkoot Hill and its average grade of 18 percent; 39x25 rear chain rings are recommended.
It’s not a course ideal for a strongman like Vogels, admits Van Haesebroucke. “Henk has a lot of power in his legs,” he said. “I’m a bit worried. He’s coming back from far [from an ankle-shattering crash at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic on June 28, 2003, that also left him with a broken vertebra]. One day, two days, it’s okay. This is four days, so we’re going to see how it works out. We’re already really happy with where he’s come from; in January he couldn’t ride his bike. Tomorrow we’ll see. We have some good climbers in Burke Swindlehurst and Phil Zajicek, but it’s all depending on Henk. I think we have a chance.”
When asked for his predictions, Wohlberg flashed his trademark smile. “It’s going to be on tomorrow,” the Canadian time trial specialist said. “If we’re going down, we’re going down swinging. We’re here to make a good effort and put on a show. Henk Vogels is one tough monkey, that’s for sure. I’ve never seen anyone suffer so much like Henk does. It looks like his form is on the upswing right now, which is good to see. He had such a hurtful injury last year, so it’s good to see him back. I just wish we didn’t have to race him.”
For Health Net, a team that has remarkably seen no podium time so far at the NVGP, Sunday is a final opportunity for redemption; John Lieswyn won the overall in 2002 and finished third overall last year. “You watch, it’s going to be all Jason McCartney, Jason Lokkesmoe and John Lieswyn,” said Schmatz. “It’s not a good course for a guy built like Henk and myself.”
