June 18/11 21:47 pm - Nature Valley GP: Women Stage 5, Kirchmann wins report and results

Posted by Editoress on 06/18/11
 

Neben Takes Race Lead as Kirchmann Wins Stage

It was a battle of a pair of former world time trial champions Saturday at the Menomonie Road Race as Amber Neben (HTC-Highroad) took over the yellow race leader’s jersey from Kristin Armstrong (Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12) at the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

Rising star Leah Kirchmann (Colavita Forno D'Asolo presented by Cooking Light) took the stage win and rode aggressively enough to claim three classification jerseys: the Tria Orthopaedic Best Young Rider, Wheaties Fuel Sprint, and Sport Beans Queen of the Hills.

Neben will start Sunday's Stillwater Criterium with a 21-second lead over Erinne Willock (Team TIBCO/To The Top), 38 seconds over third-placed Leah Kirchmann (Colavita/Forno d'Asolo presented by Cooking Light), and 52 seconds over Armstrong, who slid to fourth.

The atmosphere was reverent, but competitive, at the start of the race, as riders lined up with memories of Friday's crash-cancelled stage still top of mind. Rolling out of the neutral start, Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 controlled the pace and set out to protect Armstrong’s jersey.

At first, it looked like a repeat of Thursday’s Cannon Falls race was on, with all early attacks being brought back. But within the first 14 miles the decisive break that would change the complexion of the race was launched.

Figuring in the break were: Inga Cilvinatte (Diadora-Pasta Zara-Manhattan), Kirchmann, Megan Guarnier and Samantha Schneider (Team TIBCO/To The Top), Ally Stacher (HTC-Highroad), Anna Barensfeld (Missing Link Coaching Systems presented by Specialized), and Tayler Wiles (Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12). The escapees quickly grew their lead to a minute.

“Immediately on the feed zone climb (at Star Hill), we were able to get her (Armstrong) isolated,” Neben said about her team’s strategy. “It was once I was able to get across to the break that I thought we would have a chance. There were enough numbers in the break to ride with me. It came down to the length of the day, and we were motivated at the front to keep going.”

Wiles dropped off the pace at the third Queen of the Hills competition and returned to the peloton to support Armstrong, who was beginning to slip out of the overall lead.

”It was really aggressive today,“ Willock said. ”We had two girls up in the break, and Joelle (Numainville) drove it hard over the top of the third KOH, and it was over the third KOH that I bridged across."

”Before Erinne and Amber were in the break, I was the leader of the group and we all worked pretty evenly to keep it away," Kirchmann said. ”But as soon as they got there, I wasn’t leading the race anymore so I could save my legs for the sprint."

The seven entered the finishing circuits with a 33-second lead that increased to 45 seconds, then stretched to more than a minute, thanks to Neben and teammate Stacher working to extend the lead over the hilly four-mile finishing circuits. Back in the second group, Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 was doing the majority of the chasing.

”I knew there was a chance to move up onto the podium on GC, and that was our goal,“ explained Willock. ”Leah didn’t do any work all day, and that’s fine, and that’s the way the game goes.“

Jade Wilcoxon (Nature Valley Grand Prix Pro Ride) retains the Nature Valley Top Amateur jersey, while Willock was awarded the Freewheel Bike Most Aggressive Rider jersey.
by Cynthia Lou, Nature Valley Grand Prix

Shake up at NVGP lands Most Aggressive Willock on the podium and in 2nd overall.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix experienced a major shake-up in the overall standings by the end of Stage 5 today, and Team TIBCO/To the Top was a big part of it.

“The Team was aggressive and on top of everything all day,” said Team Directeur Sportif/manager Lisa Hunt. The end result was putting three riders in the decisive eight-rider break that determined the stage win, and the top of the overall standings. Erinne Willock took 3rd on the stage and jumped up from 8th to 2nd overall behind Amber Neben (HTC), who finished 2nd on the stage. Samantha Schneider and Megan Guarnier were both in the front group with Willock, who also earned Most Aggressive Rider for her efforts today.

The overall standings were ripe for a shake-up a day after a third of the peloton – including race leader Kristin Armstrong – got caught up in a last-lap crash in the Uptown Minneapolis Criterium. Today’s hilly, 76-mile course in rural Wisconsin did its part to break up the race.

The first separation occurred on the first QoM, just 13 miles into the stage, with Guarnier off the front in a small move. A reshuffling after that move came back led to the beginnings of the decisive move, when Guarnier and Schneider joined a small group off the front that worked cohesively enough to open a two-minute gap on the main bunch. The gap came down on the second QoM at about the 32-mile mark after cohesion in the break broke down.

However, the move re-animated when Neben jumped out of the main pack on the second QoM and bridged up. On the third QoM at mile 40, Willock made her move and bridged up to a small group that was chasing Neben and Leah Kirchman (Colavita), who had opened a gap on the third climb of the day. They stayed off for nearly 3 miles before the two groups integrated and the winning move had solidified.

When the front group reached the finishing circuits, the gap was at 0:35. But by the time they hit the line for the final circuit, the gap was out to over a minute on the peloton, which was being led by the Peanut Butter & Company team of race leader Armstrong.

“On the last lap, basically Ally (Stacher, HTC), Amber, Erinne and I kept rotating,” Schneider said. “I took the last pull for a couple straight-aways, keeping it as fast as I could. Once I was done, Erinne attacked shortly before the last corner before the line. She got passed in the sprint but held onto third. We weren’t concerned with place, really. We just wanted to increase the gap as much as possible on that last lap.”

That gap ended up at 1:13 to the main bunch, more than enough to make a change at the top of the standings.

“It really was a great ride by everyone today,” said Team Captain Meredith Miller. “The fact that we had three in the break was really awesome. Megan and Sam buried themselves to keep the break away for Erinne.”

Kirchmann got the win and a 0:12 time bonus, while Neben and Willock got 0:08 and 0:06 respectively. Heading into tomorrow’s final stage, Willock sits 0:21 behind Neben, while Kirchmann jumped to 3rd overall at 0:38. Armstrong dropped to 4th overall at 0:52.

“We looked like the strongest team because we had two of the seven in the initial move and then we had three,” Joanne Kiesanowski added. “It was awesome that we really got it together today. We have our work cut out for us tomorrow as well.”

Tomorrow is a mere 45 km, but it includes numerous trips up super-steep Chilkoot Hill.

“It’s going to be a hard race tomorrow,” Miller said. “Kristin is not going to just give up. We’re going to have to think tactically about what we can do. We’re in a tough position with HTC having Amber, Ally and Evie (Stevens) high up in the overall. There’s a lot of racing still left. It’s going to be a hard day. We’re going to have to do everything we can to be there for Erinne.”

Report courtesy TIBCO/To the Top

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