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Stewart surprises field at Lancaster
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Jackson Stewart (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada) scored a breakthrough win at Sunday’s Lancaster Classic ahead of Toyota-United’s J.J. Haedo and Navigators’ former U23 world champion Sergey Lagutin. With the win at Lancaster, Stewart becomes the leader of the newly-created Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, which continues with the Redding Classic on Thursday and the Philadelphia International Championship on Sunday.
Contested over 13 laps of its traditional 6.5 kilometer circuit from the town’s historic downtown to the Lancaster County Central Park, Lancaster is known as one of the toughest one-day races on the U.S. circuit. And with just three miles remaining, it seemed a group of strongmen would divide the spoils amongst themselves. A dangerous move by Ivan Stevic and Ivan Dominguez (both Toyota-United), Caleb Manion (Jelly Belly), Lagutin, and Health Net’s big Aussie Karl Menzies looked to be the last straw in an aggressive race, but a plunging descent in the last half-mile gave the peloton enough momentum to erase their slim 8-second lead.
After the catch and a strong leadoff pull from Scott Zwizanski (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada), Stewart was set to be the final lead out for his squad’s Canadian sprinter, Martin Gilbert. But as the shattered remnants of the peloton steamed up the circuit’s final sharp rise, Stewart found himself staring down the barrel of a career win.
“I got a gap on Gilbert and Gilbert just let the gap go, and I just held it all the way to the line,” said a surprised Stewart. “I looked back once and though ‘I’m going to make it!”
Haedo had pulled domestique duty earlier in the race, but was called on put his sprint to work once Dominguez was reeled in. The Argentinean set to work to close the gap to Stewart, but hit a bump in the road, upsetting his rhythm and giving Stewart enough room for a salute at the line.
“If I’d been standing up, I’d have crashed for sure,” said Haedo, who salvaged enough speed to take a tenacious Lagutin in a photo-finish for second place.
Several short-lived early attacks gave way to the main break of the day on lap 6, containing Tony Cruz (Toyota-United), Kirk O’Bee (HealthNet), Jonathan Page (Colavita), Caleb Manion (Jelly Belly), Zwizanski, Mark Walters (Navigators), and Mike Friedman (TIAA-CREF). With the right representation and plenty of strong roleurs, the move organized and worked out to a maximum gap of 1:20 by lap 9 of the 6.5-mile circuit.
A series of abortive chase groups trimmed the gap a bit, but when CSC put two men fresh off its winning Giro d’ Italia team on the front, the move was clearly in trouble. Bobby Julich and Andrea Peron teamed up to bring the gap from 1:05 to nearly nothing in the space of a lap. By the time the break sat up at the start of the eleventh lap, the chase had decimated the peloton, which now numbered just 40-odd survivors.
With the deck reshuffled, attacks began anew, with Italian Facci Mauro (Barloworld) trying his chances on a sharp climb just past the course’s twisting trip through the Lancaster County Central Park. He was joined by Navigator’s Ukrainian Valeny Kobzarenko, who dispensed with Mauro and forged an 8-second gap on his own.
Kobzarenko was reeled in with just two laps remaining, and it was time for Navigators’ other Ukranian strongman, Lagutin, set to work. He followed an attack by Diego Montoya (Columbian National), along with Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) and Davide Frattini (Colavita). While the rest were quickly reabsorbed, Lagutin forged his own 20-second gap by the time the race entered the park for the final time. His gap shrank to nine seconds through the park, where he was joined by Stevic and Manion. The three were quickly reeled in, and Kobrazenko found the strength to counter again, but the punch had gone out of second half of the Ukranian 1-2.
Lagutin, however, still had some punch left, joining Stevic, Dominguez, Manion, and Menzies in the final counter of the day, and continuing to hold on at the front as the KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada train rolled through. Despite his daylong aggression, the former U23 world champion conceded only a fraction of a wheel to Haedo on the line.
But after a race that saw the peloton single-file for much of the day, nobody had the legs left to deny Stewart a huge win for both himself and his squad.
“I’m still in shock,” said Stewart a half-hour after crossing the line. “There are all these races you think you can win, and you’re in the break, and you get like fifth or second. I was just getting really down because I had two seconds and a fourth in races, and they’re all just so close. And those are small races, ones that I deemed I should be able to win, and to win something this big—it’s just a huge step. It’s awesome.”
Commonwealth Bank Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Lancaster, PAMen
1. Jackson Stewart, KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada, 84.5 miles in 3:09:20(26.78mph)
2. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG), Toyota-United
3. Sergey Lagutin (UKR), Navigators Insurance
4. Hilton Clarke (AUS), Navigators Insurance
5. Richard Faltus (CZE), Sparkasse
6. Danny Pate, TIAA-CREF
7. Emile Abraham (TRI), AEG-Toshiba-Jetnetworks
8. Alex Candelario, Jelly Belly
9. Mark McCormack, Colavita
10. Ben Brooks, Navigators Insurance, all s.t.
Women
1. Ina Teutenberg (G), T-Mobile, 54:21
2. Gina Grain, Colavita Cooking Light
3. Laura Van Gilder, Team Lipton
4. Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Verducci Breakaway Racing
5. Shannon Hutchison-Krupat, Aaron's USA
6. Brenda Lyons, Victory Brewing
7. Laura Yoisten, Victory Brewing
8. Annette Beutler, Aaron's USA
9. Tina Pic, Colavita Cooking Light
10. Lara Kroepsch, Team Lipton, all s.t.
