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RACE REPORTS: SEA OTTER CLASSIC: BISSELL AND TIBCO DOMINATE AS LEIPHEIMER CRASHES PARTY
Road Bike Action
April 19, 2009
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Leipheimer shows his strength and spoils Bissell's party
(Photo: Yuzura Sunada)
Some of the best domestic teams in the nation descended on Monterey, California this weekend for the Sea Otter Classic. With a criterium, road race and circuit race all on the schedule there were plenty of opportunities for riders to make their mark. For the most the Bissell and TIBCO teams dominated the weekend, but a surprise appearance by Levi Leipheimer spoiled Bissell's chance for a sweep of the weekend's events. Road Bike Action was there to witness all the action,
Men’s Criterium: Bissell Team Time Trials To Victory
Pro road racing got underway today at the Sea Otter Classic with the return of criterium racing. 62 pro men and 27 pro women rolled to the start in races lasting 60 minutes and 50 minutes respectively over a 1.2-mile course with punishing climbs, hairpin turns and bullying crosswinds. Six racers battled to the end for the win in the women's race while team leader, Jacques-Maynes, informed Bissell’s Morgan Schmitt, in a lead group with teammates Kirk O’Bee and Ben Jacques-Maynes, that he would win late in the last lap. Bissell fielded the largest team in today's crit and succeeded taking an early command of the race.
A hard, fast start to the men's race broke up the pack almost instantly and racers were swiftly jettisoned from competition. Within 15 minutes, the race split into three parts, beginning with a calculated move from Bissell. Five riders maneuvered a flawless attack and sprinted up the road with a racer from Land Rover-Orbea in tow. Bissell wasted no time shucking Land Rover-Orbea but sacrificed two of their own to send Schmitt, O'Bee, and Jacques-Maynes to the front where they stayed for the duration of the race.
"We eased up a bit more to ride tempo but the start was brutal," Schmitt continued. "We just had to get the gap and make sure no one could cross." Crit racing never looked so effortless as it did with each pass of the Bissell trio, which sustained a 42-second gap between them and the chase group from race midpoint all the way through to the end.
Women’s Criterium: Benjamin Scores Victory
Palo Alto-based team TIBCO took up their place at the front to control the field at the start until a restless 17-year-old Coryn Rivera (Metro VW) punched up the pace with an attack 20 minutes into the race. TIBCO responded with a charge of its own from Joanne Kiesanowski who brought four other racers with her. The break of six containing Kelly Benjamin (Colavita/Sutter Home), Liza Rachetto (DFT/Treads), Jenn Halladay (Bob's), and Kathryn Donovan (Kahala Lagran) surged at each other in efforts to decide the race until a charge by Rivera in the final 500 meters was fiercely countered by Benjamin and Kiesanowski, who failed to block Benjamin's win.
"I was coming in support of the new crit and to open up my legs to race for the weekend," Benjamin said. "I was outnumbered and knew I wouldn't be very aggressive so I just saved it for the end. I waited 'til the last minute and it was kind of like a slingshot where I was able to cross from the outside and finish strong."
While Benjamin's Colavita/Sutter Home teammates cheered from the sidelines, Benjamin set a winning trend for her teammates to follow up with in tomorrow's road race.
Men’s Road Race: Leipheimer Shows Form Heading Into Giro
Levi Leipheimer picked up a close victory Friday at the 2009 Sea Otter Classic road race in a competition that he deemed to be a "training run." The Santa Rosa resident was racing on his own without the benefit of his world-beating Astana team, but still, he had the superior fitness and experience to pull ahead of the otherwise dominant Bissell Pro Cycling team at the top of a long, steep Ford Ord grade that marked the finish line.
Levi Leipheimer
Leipheimer decided early on that he was going to approach the Sea Otter road race as a robust training event in preparation for the summer race season and, in pre-race comments, did not give himself much of a chance to win against the combined strength and cunning of the well-oiled Bissell boys, a commanding group of athletes who swept Thursday's Sea Otter criterium.
"This is home for me. I came up through the ranks doing these local races and I appreciate them. And I wanted to keep a light spring training schedule. So, this is what I call free training – to get out there and battle with these guys. And it was tough," said the three-time Tour of California champion after winning his first Sea Otter road race title. "I'm just really enjoying springtime in California," added Leipheimer, who is widely considered to be one of the top five riders in the world.
And indeed Friday was a spectacular one for a bicycle race. Refreshingly warm, with a slight coastal breeze to cool down the riders who might otherwise have overheated on the winding, hill studded 69-mile course that looped through the verdant sage and oak forests of the Fort Ord backcountry, the weather sparkled, but the star was clearly Leipheimer.
Using a wealth of world-class experience and a simple strategy – to stick closely with the Bissell team throughout, and then fight it out on the last hill, Leipheimer was able to chase down a series of breakaways led by Bissell standouts Paul Mach and San Jose's Ben Jacques-Mayne, and yesterday's crit winner, Morgan Schmitt, who came in third in the road race.
"We had a pretty good day in the breakaways. We were trying to send as many guys up the road as possible to try and tire him out," said Mach, who wound up in second place after a spirited sprint up the two-mile long, eight percent grade to the finish. Leipheimer pedaled away to win by four seconds.
"We went pretty much into the bottom of the final hill together. Morgan went first, then Ben, and then I went and Levi was on my wheel. I tried to put in a dig at the end to see what would happen. But basically he (Leipheimer) just sat there, and then he passed me. He waited for a long time, and I guess that was payback for all of the pain that we put him through during the race," said Mach.
Women’s Road Race: Cromwell Goes Solo
Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita/Sutter Home) dominated the women's field of the Sea Otter Classic road race on Friday, winning by a wide margin after a successful solo breakout from a lively pack.
The 21-year-old, originally from Australia, and now racing out of Petaluma, paced a field that included including Team Tibco's Joanne Kiesanowski, who finished second for the second day in a row after missing out on first place by less than a bike length in Thursday's criterium.
The Colavita/Sutter Home team continued to own the middle spot of the Sea Otter Classic winners' podium with Cromwell's dominant win, adding to teammate Kelly Benjamin's dramatic victory the day prior.
Catherine Cheatley added a third place finish to Colavita/Sutter Home's haul - a remarkable feat considering that just three months prior she fractured her hip in a brutal velodrome accident.
The victorious team also placed riders in the fourth and fifth positions, giving Colavita/Sutter Home four of the top five spots in the 49-mile road race that wound through the hilly circuit of Fort Ord's backcountry.
The sprightly Cromwell took advantage of a gorgeously clear, warm California day, which was a change from blustery, rain-drenched Sea Otter Classics of recent vintage, to blaze ahead of the peloton on her own. It was a bold breakaway that paid victorious dividends for the rising velo-star.
"Today was like a perfect day almost. I am really excited, a win is a win, and it's always a good feeling," said Cromwell.
With a dominant team of strong riders to support her efforts, Cromwell found the running easy on the way to a thirty-four second victory.
Men’s Circuit Race: Andy Jacques-Maynes Solos To Victory
Dominating the SRAM Circuit Race at the Sea Otter Classic, Team Bissell used superior numbers and a balanced attack to take first, third, and fourth places and negate Tour de France star Levi Leipheimer (Astana), the winner of yesterday's road race.
Riding to a solo win was Bay Area native, Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), in a dramatic turnaround after struggling on the Laguna Seca circuit for the last two years, followed by Colavita/Sutter Home's Cuban Luis Amaran and Bissell's Jeremy Vennell, from New Zealand.
"We went head down and committed; we had nothing to lose. I was surprised the gap went out so quickly," Jacques-Maynes said of the trio's attack.
Despite cramping, his acceleration over the final climb secured the victory, while Amaran dropped Vennell on the back side of the racetrack in the final mile. Fourth place went to another Bissell rider, Kirk O'Bee, while Leipheimer led home the field for fifth.
"It was tough today; it's a punchy course that was hard for me to control," the three-time Tour of California winner described, adding of his Sea Otter experience, "it was good training and good to see that the event has grown so much."
Amaran was certainly the day's most aggressive rider, making the winning break after spending the first 20 laps of the 30-lap race in a six-rider breakaway that hovered between one and two minutes off the front.
Women’s Circuit Race: Third time a charm for Kiesanowski
After consecutive second place finishes in the first two days of road racing at the Sea Otter Classic, Team TIBCO's Joanne Kiesanowski broke through with a narrow victory over Colavita/Sutter Home's Catherine Cheatley in today's 50-mile SRAM Circuit Race.
The two New Zealand riders went clear of the pack on the second-to-last of 20 laps on the famed Laguna Seca racetrack when Cheatley followed Kiesanowski's attack over the top of the course's 300-foot climb.
With Colavita's sprinter Tina Pic lurking in the field, the burden was on Kiesanowski to drive the breakaway all the way to the finish where she out sprinted her compatriot. "Jo and I are old friends," Cheatley said after the race. "I knew she has a good sprint and I attacked the last time up the climb to take the sting out of her legs, but I made it close at the end."
Describing Team TIBCO's strategy, Kiesanowski said, "We had a race plan and we stuck to it. We stayed calm and didn't worry about attacking or not [over the first half of the race]. Then we started launching attacks at five to go to put Colavita under pressure." The strategy paid off for Kiesanowski and Team TIBCO, who prevented a Colavita/Sutter Home sweep of the Sea Otter Classic road races after the victories of Kelly Benjamin in Thursday's criterium and Tiffany Cromwell in Friday's road race.
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