June 3/06 9:17 am - Mt Hood Cycling Classic: Stage 3

Posted by Editoress on 06/3/06
 

Mt Hood Cycling Classic Hood River, Oregon
By Joe Zauner, Mt. Hood Cycling Classic media relations

If there's a chink in Nathan O'Neill's armor thus 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 man for climbing purposes -- climbed with the first group and sprinted for second place earning a 10-second time bonus and thus tightening his grip on the general classification.

How discouraging it must be to discover that one of the best time trialists in the world can stay with the best climbers at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic on 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 may have found the can opener. Zajicek out sprinted O'Neill in the last 50 meters to take the stage win and a 15-second time bonus that vaulted him from seventh to second place on general classification, just 14 seconds behind the Commonwealth Games time trial champion.

"I felt awesome today," said Zajicek. "I was thinking about winning from the start."

Despite the elevation gain of Friday's stage, the school of thought relating to the course was, it does not favor small climbers. The pitches aren't steep. In fact, most of the climbing was contested over highway-grade roads, 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's teammate Scott Moninger for the overall given the last day of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic features several storied climbs, steep pitches and 7,500 feet of elevation gain in just 75 miles.

Dotsie Bausch of the Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling team displayed her 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 the Rio Grande/Sports Garage team. Powers was second, earning her a 10-second time bonus towards the overall.

Within the men's and women's fields, the sense of urgency to race was not great. The weather at the start was regarded by some as horrid -- 55 degrees with a light drizzle that coated the roads and lasted throughout the day. The already tricky eight-mile descent, which was the first obstacle to greet the racers, proved nearly as divisive as the climb. After a few miles 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 fighting to catch back on before the entire race came back together.

It was on the descent that the first break got clear. Adrian Hegyvary of Recycled Cycles and Chuck Coyle of Vitamin Cottage established a lead of 2 minutes 47 seconds after 36 miles of racing. According to Hegyvary's team manager Robert Trombley, the tactic was to establish a break with Hegyvary in it so his Recycled Cycles squad, comprised of regional talent mostly from the Seattle area, would not have to involved itself in a chase.

The plan worked... sort of. Recycled Cycles was definitely not involved in a chase effort, but then again neither was anyone else. On three of the five laps raced, the field stopped for agreed-upon nature breaks, after which the pace in the flats and the lower slopes of the climb was languid at best. It wasn't until one lap to race that the break was finally caught. The pair did scoop up all the KOM points on the day with Hegyvary taking the lead in that category.

On the last lap that the fireworks started. Navigator's Burke Swindlehurst launched an attack with about two miles of uphill left before the finish. Swindlehurst was retrieved by Moninger with about one mile to race. Moninger then set tempo with O'Neill on his wheel. O'Neill jumped with about 500 meters to race but Zajicek overhauled him, taking the win by a bike length.

The women's race stayed tightly bunched for most of the day, the exceptions being when Leah Goldstein of the Symmetrics team was hunting for QOM points and on the descent when the slick roads made for tricky cornering. It was the final time over the last miles of the climb that things heated up.

Brooke Ourada of the Colavita/ Cooking Light Cycling team attacked with two miles to race. The gap was bridged by Powers with Bausch, Goldstein and Alisha Lion (Webcor Platinum) on her wheel. All five girls tried their hand at a winning move, but it came down to the final 100 meters when Bausch narrowly defeated Powers and Lions at the finish.

For Bausch is was a nervous day in the leader's jersey, not so much due to the competition, but because of the slick roads and lack of team fire power within the peloton.

"Everyone was very complacent today because of the wet roads," Bausch said. "People were getting dropped by five minutes on the descent but were still 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 miles out."

Saturday is a double stage day for both the men and women with a 10-mile time trial in the morning and a criterium in the evening. Sunday should prove decisive as both the men and women race 75 miles with 7,500 feet of climbing, much of it very steep with several technical descents.

Stage 3: Cooper Spur Circuit Race