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O'Neill and Bausch continue to dominate Mt. Hood

Published: Jun. 2, 2006

Hood River, Oregon -- If there's a chink in Nathan O'Neill's armorthus far at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, it's not easy to spot.On Friday near Hood River, Ore., the Health Net rider -- a burly manfor climbing purposes -- climbed with the first group and sprintedfor second place earning a 10-second time bonus and thus tightening hisgrip on the general classification.How discouraging it must be to discover that one of the best time trialistsin the world can stay with the best climbers at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classicon a 95-mile day when the course features 9,000 feet of elevation gain.But if O'Neill is wearing armor, Navigator's Phil Zajicek mayhave found the can opener. Zajicek out sprinted O'Neill in the last50 meters to take the stage win and a 15-second time bonus that vaultedhim from seventh to second place on general classification, just14 seconds behind the Commonwealth Games time trial champion."I felt awesome today," said Zajicek. "I was thinking about winningfrom the start."Despite the elevation gain of Friday's stage, the school of thoughtrelating to the course was, it does not favor small climbers. The pitchesaren't steep. In fact, most of the climbing was contested over highway-graderoads, so to some, O'Neill's performance wasn't too surprising.For many, Zajicek's performance marks him as a favorite along with O'Neill'steammate Scott Moninger for the overall given the last day of the Mt. HoodCycling Classic features several storied climbs, steep pitches and 7,500feet of elevation gain in just 75 miles.Dotsie Bausch of the Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling team displayedher ability to go up hill on the same course as the men, just shorter.The women raced 56 miles Friday. Bausch won a hotly contested sprint,earning 15 bonus seconds and extending her lead over Alison Powers of theRio Grande/Sports Garage team. Powers was second, earning her a 10-secondtime bonus towards the overall.Within the men's and women's fields, the sense of urgency to race wasnot great. The weather at the start was regarded by some as horrid -- 55degrees with a light drizzle that coated the roads and lasted throughoutthe day. The already tricky eight-mile descent, which was the first obstacleto greet the racers, proved nearly as divisive as the climb. After a fewmiles of the downhill, riders in both fields were gapped off the back.In the men's race three big groups formed with several smaller groups fightingto catch back on before the entire race came back together.It was on the descent that the first break got clear. Adrian Hegyvaryof Recycled Cycles and Chuck Coyle of Vitamin Cottage established a leadof 2 minutes 47 seconds after 36 miles of racing. According to Hegyvary'steam manager Robert Trombley, the tactic was to establish a break withHegyvary in it so his Recycled Cycles squad, comprised of regional talentmostly from the Seattle area, would not have to involved itself in a chase.The plan worked... sort of. Recycled Cycles was definitely notinvolved in a chase effort, but then again neither was anyone else. Onthree of the five laps raced, the field stopped for agreed-upon naturebreaks, after which the pace in the flats and the lower slopes of the climbwas languid at best. It wasn't until one lap to race that the break wasfinally caught. The pair did scoop up all the KOM points on the day withHegyvary taking the lead in that category.On the last lap that the fireworks started. Navigator's Burke Swindlehurstlaunched an attack with about two miles of uphill left before the finish.Swindlehurst was retrieved by Moninger with about one mile to race. Moningerthen set tempo with O'Neill on his wheel. O'Neill jumped with about 500meters to race but Zajicek overhauled him, taking the win by a bikelength.The women's race stayed tightly bunched for most of the day, the exceptionsbeing when Leah Goldstein of the Symmetrics team was hunting for QOM pointsand on the descent when the slick roads made for tricky cornering. It wasthe final time over the last miles of the climb that things heated up.Brooke Ourada of the Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling team attacked withtwo miles to race. The gap was bridged by Powers with Bausch, Goldsteinand Alisha Lion (Webcor Platinum) on her wheel. All five girls tried theirhand at a winning move, but it came down to the final 100 meters when Bauschnarrowly defeated Powers and Lions at the finish.For Bausch is was a nervous day in the leader's jersey, not so muchdue to the competition, but because of the slick roads and lack of teamfire power within the peloton."Everyone was very complacent today because of the wet roads," Bauschsaid. "People were getting dropped by five minutes on the descent but werestill catching back on so there wasn't any real point in driving it hard.If I had my entire team here we would have drove it to the climb 10 milesout."Saturday is a double stage day for both the men and women with a 10-miletime trial in the morning and a criterium in the evening. Sunday shouldprove decisive as both the men and women race 75 miles with 7,500feet of climbing, much of it very steep with several technical descents.
STAGE TWO RESULTS MEN
1) Phil Zajicek, Navigators
2) Nathan O'Neill, Health Net
3) Scott Moninger, Health Net
4) Morgan Schmitt, Broadmark
5) Christian Meier, SymmetricsGC RESULTS MEN
1) Nathan O'Neill, Health Net (0:00:00)
2) Phil Zajicek, Navigators (0:00:14)
3) Ryan Trebon, AEG-Tobisha-Jetnetwork-Kona (0:00:19)
3) Andrew Pinfold, Symmetrics Cycling (0:00:26)
4) Ian McKissick, Recycled Cycles / Raleigh (0:00:26)
5)Russell Stevenson, Benaroya Research Cycling Team (0:00:27)WOMEN STAGE TWO RESULTS
1) Dotsie Bausch, Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling Team
2) Alison Powers, Rio Grande/Sports Garage
3) Alisha Lion, Webcor-Platinum
4) Mara Abbott, Rio Grande/Sports Garage
5) Leah Goldstein, SymmetricsWOMEN GC RESULTS
1) Dotsie Bausch, Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling Team (0:00:00)
2) Alison Powers, Rio Grande/Sports Garage (0:00:12)
3) Alisha Lion, Webcor-Platinum (0:00:45)
4) Leah Goldstein, Symmetrics (0:00:56)
5) Brook Ourada, Rio Grande/Sports Garage (0:01:04)