July 13/08 9:37 am - Tour de Delta: Stage 1 report, photos and full results

Posted by Editoress on 07/13/08
 

Tour de Delta Delta BC

Stage 1 (July 12th) : Lehigh Cement Criterium

Photos by Greg Descantes

Lost bags turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Cam Evans.

Evans original plans to race down at the Cascade Classic hit a snag when his luggage was lost on the way back from the Canadian Championships on Monday, making it too tight to get down to Oregon by Wednesday.

Instead Evans stayed home in nearby Tsawwassen and got into a three-rider break at the Lehigh Cement Criterium, using help from Symmetrics Pro Cycling teammate (and Canadian Olympian) Zach Bell to win a sprint out of the final turn and take the second-stage of the Tour de Delta.

“The airline lost my bags but it worked out for the best,” said Evans, who also beat out Bell and Matt Shriver of Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling to win a huge $2,060 Crowd Prime with four laps left. “I’m the hometown guy so it’s got a special place in my heart to win, especially the crit. Everyone comes out to watch and it’s not too often I get to race at home, so it’s really nice.”

After an hour of 900-meter laps through the streets of Ladner, Shriver didn’t stand much of a chance against two Symmetrics riders, especially when one is Evans, the 2007 Canadian Road Race champion, and the other is a Beijing-bound Bell, also defending Tour de Delta champion.

“You do the best you can when you have an Olympic sprinter and a national champion,” Shriver of Pocatello, Idaho, said after holding on to second place. “I just played it as smart as I could and there wasn’t much I could do. I tried to jump out but I was just trying to hang on there.”

Bell’s third-place finish, combined with his fifth place result in the Brenco Prologue on Friday night, gave him the overall leader’s jersey heading into the White Spot Road Race on Sunday morning, and a chance to defend his Tour de Delta overall title for the locally based Symmetrics squad. On Saturday though, he was clearly working for Evans, the hometown boy.

“It’s always good to win in your hometown and I was fortunate enough last year to have all the guys work for me and I was able to take the crit, so I’m happy to work for Cam,” said Bell, who took the leader jersey from Symmetric teammate – and fellow Olympian – Svein Tuft, who dominated Friday’s Prologue. “It wasn’t really a question once we got in the move. We talked about it and I said `yeah I’ll work for you to the end here bud’. The ma thing is we wanted to keep the leader’s jersey among the team and we’re the hometown guys so we want to race really well here.”

For Bell, it also helped him get ready for the track in Beijing.

“Absolutely,” he said when asked if it helps. “It’s an hour-long race and that’s one of the reasons I was out there and real active and putting in the big efforts because that’s the kind of thing I’m going to be doing when I’m racing in Beijing. So I come to these races ready for that effort for sure.”

Cheerwine Pro Cycling’s Kelly Benjamin of Kansas City, Missouri, also took advantage of some help from teammate Sarah Bamberger to win the 36-minute women’s race, beating Australian Ruth Corset (Jazz Apple), who also won the Prologue Friday and will wear the leader’s jersey on Sunday. Langley’s Lisa Howard of Giant Bicycles/Team Whistler was third, while Bamberger dropped off in the final lap after leading out for Benjamin.

“It was kind of a blur,” said Benjamin. “Ruth went and she’s so strong, she really put in a great attack. My teammate was right on her, but I happened to be right on Sarah so I just followed wheels and then realized we had a big gap. Ruth pretty much drove it all the way and then Sarah took over and gave me an excellent lead up.”

Corset came from behind in the final lap to catch a three-rider break and keep her spot atop the overall standing, which bodes well going into the road race for the self-professed climber, who expressed surprise at her strong showing for a second-straight race after winning the Prologue.

“Yes I am looking forward to tomorrow. Tonight was a surprise, I certainly didn’t expect it,” said Corset. “I was waiting or the right moment to go at the end and my teammates did a real good job throughout the race.”

Corset is part of the Jazz Apple development team led by New Zealand cycling legend – and two-time Olympian – Susy Pryde. At 31, Corset is the oldest member on a young team, but the former tri-athlete only took up competitive cycling three years ago, leaving her daughters, aged four and six, in Australia with her husband for her first taste of international racing. She already won the Mt. Hamilton Road Race in San Jose on May 25.

After the Tour de Delta wraps up with the White Spot Road Race on Sunday, BC Superweek continues with the Tour de Gastown and Giro di Burnaby mid week before wrapping up with the historic three-race Tour de White Rock from July 18 through 20.