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Mach and Pitel fight off challengers at Mt. Hood Classic
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With more than 10,000 feet of climbing on tap, the 92-mile Wy’East Road Race was supposed be the day for riders to shake up the overall GC of the 2009 Pacific Power Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.
But little changed in the overall after stage 3 as OUCH-Maxxis rider Chris Baldwin, who started the day 15 seconds down on race leader Paul Mach, failed to detach the Bissell rider from his wheel after several blistering attacks in the final kilometers. Trek-Red Truck’s Rob Britton won the stage in 4:07:31, just one second ahead of Baldwin and Mach.
In the women’s race, ValueAct Capital’s Leah Goldstein missed an opportunity to gain back the two seconds on race leader Edwige Pitel (Sorella Forte), finishing three seconds behind the French rider and slipping to 11 seconds back on GC after time bonuses. Portland pro mountain biker Sue Butler (MonaVie-Cannondale) won the stage in 5:03:49.
Baldwin, Mach throw down on Mt. Hood’s slopes
The men’s race started off in typical fashion with a break of four forming early as the group descended from the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort, where the race started, and began a series of climbs, rollers and descents that took riders through the arid desert region in the valleys below.
Rio Grande Racing’s Brad Bingham joined Hagens-Berman rider Adrian Hegyvary, Adam Switters (Giant California-Specialized) and Kevin Rowe (Bob’s Bicycles) in a break that stayed away for most of the race. Bingham exited early when he suffered a serious mechanical, the catastrophic failure of his drive train.
Mach’s Bissell teammates Omer Kem, Graham Howard and Burke Swindelhurst controlled the front of the race for most of the day, allowing the break to grow to nearly four minutes before slowly winding it back in.
Switter attacked his two remaining break companions and made a solo bid for the win, but just as with the Stage 1 Cooper Spur Circuit race, the day-long break was swallowed up in the final kilometers, which featured a steep pitch to the finish back at Mt. Hood Meadows.
That’s when OUCH-Maxxis notched things up, Sending Roman Kilun to the front to try and set up for Baldwin for the eventual attack on Mach.
But the Bissell rider matched Baldwin pedal stroke for pedal stroke, bringing Britton, Corey Collier (Rio Grande) and prologue winner Mike Olheiser (warp9bikes.com-tristar) along for the ride.
Baldwin attempted several more unsuccessful attacks in the closing kilometers before Britton jumped the bird-dogging pair of leaders and held the gap to the line for the win.
Britton said he knew Mach and Baldwin would be marking each other, and so he marked them.
“Baldwin had his teammate Roman (Kilun) hit it, and then he countered,” Britton said. “There were just the three of us, or four going, and so I tried to stick it and play it smart and conservative for the end. I botched the time trial yesterday, but today my legs were there at the end.”
Mach now leads Baldwin by just 13 seconds heading into Sunday’s Stage 4 Downtown Hood River Criterium. Warp9’s Olheiser is in third at 2:08, Britton has slotted into fourth on GC, at 2:09 and Mach’s teammate Morgan Schmitt, who was involved in a nasty crash but still managed to finish eighth on the stage, is fifth on GC, at 2:28.
Mach said he had a pretty straight forward job in the stage.
“Two guys spent 80 miles on the front,” he said of teammates Kem and Howard who did the hard work on the front for the race leader. “Once it started going hard I just sat on Baldwin. I felt kind of bad, but that’s the game.”
Baldwin agreed with that assessment but also offered praise for his Bissell rival.
“I’m really impressed with (Mach),” Baldwin said. “He’s an up-and-coming superstar. But when there’s only one threat in the race, me, all he has to do is sit on one guy.”
Baldwin’s chances to unseat Mach also suffered a blow when Teammate John Chodroff, who finished third in Friday’s time trial and started the day sitting fifth overall, crashed out of the race in a post-feed-zone melee that took down a dozen or more riders.
“I didn’t have anyone to keep the pace high so I could attack off a high pace,” Baldwin said. “It was basically me on the front with me attacking myself, which is never a good scenario. I still give Mach credit because I felt phenomenal. I’ve felt better every day as the race has gone on. I felt almost, like at the top of my game today, and I couldn’t get rid of him.”
But Baldwin also said he hasn’t given up, pinning his hopes on getting away in the criterium and bringing back the seconds needed to take the lead.
“It’s a five-day race,” he said. “And it’s not over. It’s been a great week. This race is phenomenal. This is true American west. You know, classic mountainous racing.”
Goldstein, ValueAct can’t wear down Pitel
In the women’s race, ValueAct Capital’s three-rider team failed to wear down the isolated Pitel over the 92 mile slugfest. But it wasn’t for lack of trying.
Pitel chased down ValueAct’s consistent attacking until Martina Patella, the team’s designated sprinter and criterium specialist, snapped the elastic and escaped for about 40 kilometers to the base of the day’s long, gradual climb to the finish. Patella, however started the day seven minutes down and didn’t pose much threat to Pitel’s overall lead, so the seasoned French rider was content to let the ValueAct speedster hang off the front.
That’s when Butler, who said she’s using the race as training for the B.C. Bike Race June 27, decided the group wasn’t riding fast enough for her taste and decided to give it a go on her own with about 12 miles to go. Butler’s gap grew to as much as two minutes before attacks in the group, mostly by Goldtsein trying to dislodge Pitel, began eating away at her lead.
With the chasers closing quickly over the last steep, kilometer, Butler dug deep to hang on for the win by 29 seconds over Pitel, Gillian Moody (Total Restoration Cycling Team) and Alisha Welsh (PCIM). Goldstein crossed the line three seconds later with Teri Sheasby (Bend Bike’n’Hike) and Veloforma’s Melissa McWhirter.
“It was windy, and I was pulling anyways in the wind,” Butler said of her opportunistic move. “We were going so slow. So I was like, ‘I might as well go off the front.’ I can’t win the race, I might as well win a stage.”
Pitel now has an 11 second lead over Goldstein, who has just Sunday’s criterium to bring back the time and earn her fourth Mt. Hood Classic title. Goldstein said it was big mistake not to take the jersey from Pitel during the stage.
“I think we should have attacked more on the climbs,” Goldstein said. “We had too much juice left at the end there, you know. I think we finished standing upright too much, whereas, last year, or two years ago, I collapsed at the finish, which is what I should have done today.”
Despite the mistake, Goldstein said she’s not through fighting.
“I’m gonna do my best tomorrow in the crit’,” she said. “I mean Jeannie (Longo) got me last year with two seconds and she got the time bonus. So I’m gonna try. I’m not a crit’ rider, but I’ll try to be one tomorrow. I’ll pretend I’m Nina (Patella) tomorrow.”
But Patella said there will be no pretending necessary.
“Leah Doesn’t like crits,” Patella said. “But she’s a good crit rider.”
Pitel however, said she has very little experience with the uniquely American style of racing.
“It’s something very unusual for me,” she said. “Because in France we never have any criteriums. So I’m not very used to it. But I don’t mind the full-speed racing.”
Goldstein also isn’t counting on Pitel’s relative criterium inexperience.
“People said Jeannie (Longo) can’t ride a crit’, and then she got third,” Goldstein said. “They can ride. She’s beaten Jeannie. We Googled her, and she’s got quite the résumé. It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow. She’s strong. She’s very strong; racin’ a long time.”
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