June 7/11 8:38 am - Mt Hood Classic: Women's Stage 3, 4 and Final GC

Posted by Editoress on 06/7/11
 

Armstrong wins, Huges 2nd overall, Shaw 4th

After four days of racing around the Columbia River Gorge and surrounding mountains, the dual between Olympians Kristin Armstrong and Clara Hughes came down to the last 500 meters of the 2011 Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

The two riders started the stage tied in the overall competition, both 13 seconds behind Armstrong’s Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty-12 teammate Alison Starnes. But Sunday’s “queen” stage Three Summits Road Race on the flanks of Mt. Hood was a truly epic climbing and descending bonanza that eventually separated Armstrong and Hughes from the rest of the field by several minutes.

Metromint’s Molly Van Houweling and Keller Rohrback’s Tricia Bailey started the fireworks early with a breakaway that eventually gained 2:40 on the quickly disintegrating field. But by the time the race had reached the top of the third Summit Armstrong and Hughes had swallowed up the riders in front and were on their own.

Armstrong held a better hand and exploited the advantage of having Starnes in the leader’s jersey and teammate Kristin McGrath chasing behind. She made Hughes (Pactimo Cycling Team) do all the work on the front as the pair headed toward the finish at Cooper Spur Ski Area. Hughes said she understood and respected Armstrong’s tactics.

“She’s experienced, and she’s an awesome racer, there’s no way she’s going to pull with me,” Hughes realized as the two got away and built a workable advantage. “I respect that, and so I essentially gave her a 50 km leadout to the finish. I thought that if I sat up, then Kristin McGrath would catch us and it would be really frustrating.”

Hughes did gain a slight advantage over Armstrong as the pair descended through the twisting one-lane forest service roads and onto the valley floor about 20 km from the finish. But Armstrong regained contact and continued to follow Hughes, attacking in the last 500 meters of the steeply pitched mostly gravel road leading to the finish in the ski area’s parking lot. Armstrong said she considered attacking earlier but thought better of it.

“She’s just so strong right now,” she said of Hughes. I didn’t kid myself and pretend that I’m going to make five attacks on her and try to ride away. When you want to give 110 percent, you want to put everything in one basket, because you don’t want to do five efforts at 90 percent. So I knew that whole time I’d just sit on her and be patient. I had ridden the finishing climb before the race, and normally I don’t like top wait until the end, but I knew it was steep and it was dirt. And I like the dirt, and I like steepness.”

Armstrong had plenty of time to think about the plan as the pair rode to the finish. But her well-thought-out plan almost came to an end in some of the dusty gravel approaching the end.

“I got in the soft dirt and thought I was going to bite it,” Armstrong said. “(Hughes) told me later she thought I was going to go down, too.”

But she didn’t. Instead she gained 16 seconds on her Canadian rival at the finish. Starnes came in more than eight minutes later for sixth on the day, ceding the overall win to her team captain and second to Hughes.

McGrath crossed the line 2:55 after Armstrong. Rhae Shaw (Keller Rohrback) finished fourth, 3:57 back. Alisa Welsh (Peanut Butter & Co.-Twenty 12) was fifth at 7:31. The top five in GC mirrored the day’s results, with exception of Starnes hanging on for fifth place in front of Pactimo’s Jade Wilcoxson.
Courtesy Mt. Hood Cycling Classic