May 1/06 7:37 am - Fraser Wins Roswell Criterium... again

Posted by Editoress on 05/1/06
 

Fraser Repeats at Roswell Atlanta Georgia
Report courtesy Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis

Gord Fraser of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis took advantage of some smart tactics and exceptional work by his teammates ˆ in particular Kyle Gritters and Tim Johnson ˆ to win his second consecutive Historic Roswell Criterium.

Even getting a shot at the win seemed in doubt for much of the second half of the race when, with 45 minutes to go, four heavy hitters ˆ Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly), J.J. Haedo (Toyota-United), Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) and Viktor Rapinski (Colavita-Sutter Home) ˆ slipped off the front and opened a gap of 15 seconds. While the gap never got beyond that size, it stayed that way for much of the rest of the race. Johnson and Gritters chased desperately with the help of several other teams, including Jittery Joe's, Priority Health and KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada.

"A lot of teams were motivated to chase," Fraser said, "because they knew if the break got caught, it would take four of the top sprinters out of the finish since they would probably be spent from being in the break."

Fraser also benefited from the situation. As the gap finally came down slightly in the final laps, Rapinski attacked hard but was unable to gap his break-mates. From there, the break lost a bit of its impetus, and was finally caught on the backside of the final lap.

However, Toyota-United still had formidable sprinter Ivan Dominguez fresh for the finish. "I knew Toyota would take care of the lead-out for Ivan," Fraser explained. "So I found his wheel in the last lap and was able to come around him in the end."

Men

1. Gord Fraser (Can) Health Net pb Maxxis
2. Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Toyota-United
3. Jeff Hopkins (Aus) Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity

Women

1. Laura van Gilder (USA) Team Lipton
2. Tina Pic (USA) Colavita/Cooking Light
3. Kelly Benjamin (USA) Diet Cheerwine