March 13/06 11:25 am - Central Valley Classic: Stages 2 & 3 report and (some) results

Posted by Editoress on 03/13/06
 

Central Valley Classic
Report by Kirsten Robbins

Kearney Circuit Race - Saturday, March 11th

The Victory Brewing Cycling Team wins the Kearney Road Race with an unmatched lead out and an explosive sprint.

The women gathered to the start line in undesirable weather conditions where discussions of a reduced race took place. The teams agreed that due to the cold, rain, and hail the race would be shortened from six laps to five. The circuit was a 24 km and flat, finishing in the Kearney Park.

There were many unsuccessful attacks during the race but the field stayed together until the finish. The race was also marred with flat tires and crashes. Victory Brewing's Leigh Hobson and Team Lipton's Laura Van Gilder were forced to stop their race due to a crash on the second to last lap.

The Victory Brewing Cycling Team planned a perfectly executed lead out for Laura Yoisten beginning with approximately three kilometers to go. With the train tight, communicative, and intact, Yoisten was dropped off with 250 meters to the finish line. "The team was amazing and I felt like I didn't have to do a thing except sprint," says Yoisten. Victory Brewing placed three riders in the top ten with Yoisten winning the race, Franges taking fourth, and Lyons ninth.

Yoisten has accumulated enough point to move her into third place in the overall omnium behind Webcor's Christine Thornburn and Team Liptons's Kristin Armstrong.

CPT-Colnago Report

In cold and windy conditions, Lisa Sweeney placed third in the 75-mile Kerney circuit race, part of the three-day Central Valley Classic in the Fresno area. Sweeney's third place marked Colorado Premier Training-Colnago's first NRC podium in the team's inaugural year.

The previous day's time-trial results were not what was hoped for, so the team was motivated for a day of good representation and to leave their first mark on the 2006 circuit. Miranda Duff, Molly Hummel, Mary Schuette, Nicky Wangsgard and Sweeney took the start, and the strategy of the day was to match all other teams in number and speed. The team certainly did that, placing Duff, Hummel, Wangsgard and Sweeney in the final selection.

Sweeney picked the fast line into the chicane at 300 meters to go, and was beat by two -- Laura Yoisten (Victory Brewing) and an unmarked Colavita Cooking Light rider. The 24-year-old neopro attributed her comfort in the inclement conditions to living and training in British Columbia, where she often trains in cold, wet conditions. "The sprint was more a sprint of saavy rather than pure speed. Nicky told me that the real race was to the park entrance, and so that's what I focused o, and it paid off."

Pro 1/2 Women

1. Laura Yoisten Victory Brewing Team)
2. Sarah Tillotson (Colavita/Cooking Light Cycling Team)
3. Lisa Sweeney (CPT-COLNAGO)
4. Lauren Franges (Victory Brewing Team)
5. ?
6. Kori Seehafer (Team Lipton)
7. Kristin Armstrong (Team Lipton)
8. Brooke Miller (PABW Powered by TIBCO)
9. Christine Thorburn (Webcor Platinum)
10. Brenda Lyons (Victory Brewing Team)
11. Christina Becker (Tmobile)
12. Dotsie Bausch (Colavita/Cooking Light Cycling Team)
13. Rebecca Larson (Cycle Science)
14. Taitt Sato (McGuire Cycling Team)
15. Felicia Gomez (Webcor Platinum)
16. Audrey Lemieux (Colavita/Cooking Light Cycling Team)
17. Kristin DRUMM (PROMAN/Paradigm)
18. Kimberly Anderson (Tmobile)
19. Laura Bowles (Victory Brewing Team)
29. Betina Hold (Webcor Platinum)
37. Moriah MacGregor (Dizzy Chicks)
39. Kirsten Robbins (Victory Brewing Team)
47. Sue Palmer-Komar (Colavita/Cooking Light Cycling)


Pro Men
1. Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly)
2. Gord Fraser (Health Net)
3. Alberto Tiberio (Health Net)
4. Sterling Magnell (toyota-united pro cycling team)
5. Brice Jones (Jelly Belly)
6. Alejandro Acton (TARGETRAINING)
7. Viktor Rapinski (Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter Home Pro Cycling Team)
8. Ken Hanson (BMC Racing Team)
9. Mike Sayers (Health Net)
10. ?
11. Mark Mccormack (Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter Home Pro Cycling Team)
12. Frank Pipp (TARGETRAINING)
13. Daniel Schmatz (KODAKGALLERY/SIERRA NEVADA)
14. Andrew Randell (Symmetrics)
15. Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics Cycling)
16. Edward King (Priority Health)
17. ?
18. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team)
19. Glen Mitchel (Priority Health)
20. Emile Abraham (AEG - TOSHIBA - JetNetwork)
26. Jake Erker (Symmetrics Cycling)
31. Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics Cycling)
38. Tim Johnson (Health Net)
56. Ryan Mckenzie (Broadmark/Hagens-Berman)
DNF. Marsh Cooper (Symmetrics Cycling)
DNF. Svein Tuft (Symmetrics Cycling)
DNF. Christian Meier (Symmetrics Cycling)
DNF. Brad Fairall (Symmetrics Cycling)
DNS. Jeff Sherstobitoff (Symmetrics Cycling)


Tower District Criterium - Sunday, March 12th
Courtesy Victory Brewing

The final stage of the Central Valley Classic brought all riders lined up to begin a furious race for points. After yesterdays road race, Webcor's Christine Thornburn, Lipton's Kristin Armstrong, and Victory Brewing's Laura Yoisten were in first, second, and third respectively for the overall omnium. The points accumulated in the Towers District Criterium, was to decide the winner of the overall.

The circuit was technical with the addition of a 180 U-turn just after the start/finish line. The pace of the race was fast as riders were trying to break away from the field. Both Webcor and Lipton put forth their efforts to try to get their rider's off the front but Victory Brewing would only be content to have the race come down to a field sprint.

During the final five laps of the race Victory Brewing began to establish their lead out train for Yoisten. With three laps remaining the blue train was linked tight and no one was able to interrupt their momentum. Coming out of the final corner Victory Brewing sewed up first, second, and third places on the podium with Lauren Franges, Laura Yoisten, and Laura Bowles.

"I am very pleased with they way our team has come together to race. Our goal was to set a tempo for the team from the start and our goal now is to keep it going. We had a great race this weekend and we will be focused on building our team and our strengths further," says Director Mike Tamayo.

Yoisten gathered enough points during the criterium to win the overall omnium, just one point ahead of Webcor's Christine Thornburn. Lauren Franges also gained enough points to move her into third place for the overall omnium.

Final results not available