February 24/09 10:00 am - Team TIBCO Sweep at Snelling Road Race

Posted by Editoress on 02/24/09
 

Snelling Road Race February 21st, Henderson County Park, Snelling, CA
Team TIBCO press release

With a month before the NRC series starts in Redlands, CA at the end of March, Team TIBCO went into the five-lap, 50-mile Snelling Road Race this past Saturday looking to hone team tactics and, as Brooke Miller noted, make the race hard.

Did they ever.

"We didn't plan on attacking much during the first lap," Miller said. "But the attacks started going almost immediately. A Touchstone rider took off, and then we countered-attacked with one after another for the first five miles. One small break would get caught and another would go almost immediately."

But what happened to stop the attacks almost never happens, especially against one of the strongest women's fields you'll find at a local race.

Teammates Miller, Kat Carroll and Alison Starnes took off, with Liza Rachetto (Los Gatos) in tow and got a gap. In succession, TIBCO teammates Meredith Miller, Amber Rais and Lauren Tamayo put in what Brooke Miller called "heroic efforts" to bridge up to their group.

"Barely one lap in and we were all up there," Brooke Miller said. "It was huge! It was a strong field too. We had to work incredibly hard to get everyone up there. We got the break going and the others bridged up. I'm really proud of everyone. We were all in shocked disbelief of how well we raced."

With TIBCO's seventh team member, Stacy Sims back in the peloton patrolling the front and watching for any bridging attempts, the other six set about doing a team time trial to stay away, with Rachetto sitting in.

The chasing field kept the gap under control for a while, but when the elastic snapped, the gap went out.

"It was a ridiculously hard race," Brooke Miller said. "There was a nice headwind when we attacked. We had to echelon in the cross winds and by the last lap the rollers were starting to sting. Everyone rode so hard, it was difficult to hang on at times."

The only real drama in the closing laps came when Rachetto took a flyer with 8 km to go. "We were all a bit surprised, I think," Brooke Miller said. "We reeled her in, then we sent Alison Starnes and Meredith on hard attacks leading into the sprint to make her pay!"

Tamayo, fresh off her hard-earned 2nd place at the Amgen Tour of California Women's Criterium, took the win – followed by Carroll, Brooke Miller, Rais and Starnes. Rachetto slotted in at 6th, with Meredith Miller taking 7th.

The main field came in more than four minutes later. The TIBCO-driven break had not only overtaken one of the men's fields during the race, they even lapped a couple of riders from their own field who were dropped on the first lap – this on a 10-mile circuit.

"We didn't go into the race trying to beat up on everyone," Brooke Miller said. "We were just doing our thing. It was definitely an unusual local race. I remember when we started out as a local team, these were big races for us. Going from an underdog to the team everyone's afraid of in such a short time is really cool."

Next up for the "locals" will be the Merco races in Merced, CA this coming weekend.

Cat 1/2 Women (Field of 41)
1 Lauren Tamayo (Team Tibco)
2 Katharine Carroll (Team TIBCO)
3 Brooke Miller (Team TIBCO)
4 Amber Rais (Team TIBCO)
5 Alison Starnes (Dolce Vita Cycling)
6 Liza Rachetto (Team TIBCO)
7 Meredith Miller (Team TIBCO)
8 Karla Kingsley (Team SugarCRM)
9 Jane Robertson (Ind)
10 Lauren Hecht (Webcor/Alto Velo)
11 Jenna Kowalski (Unattached)
12 Laurie Furman (Hopkins Honda/ Code 3 Racing)
13 Rebecca Rising (Central Valley Cycling)
14 Jane Despas (Klein Real Estate)
15 Olivia Dillon (Touchstone Climbing)
16 Amanda Seigle (Metromint Cycling)
17 Anna Davenport (Village Peddler)
18 Carol Irving (Touchstone Climbing)
19 Cara Gillis (Organic Athlete)
20 Patricia Ross (Touchstone Climbing)
21 Samantha Taylor (CRC/Poggio)
22 Hanan Alves-Hyde (Proman Racing)
23 Anny Henry (Unattached)
24 Stacy Sims (Team TIBCO)
25 Kimberly Fong (SugarCRM)
26 Yukie Nakamura (Unattached)
27 Erin Dunn (Easton/SugarCRM/Specialized)
28 Vanessa Drigo (Ind)
29 Lauraleen Fenech (Bici Sport)
30 Aimee Baker (Protech Racing)
31 Emily Thurston (Ind)
32 Trudy Bjornsen (davis bike club)
33 Elis Bradshaw (Metromint Cycling)
34 Marina Koshevoyo (Ind)
35 Erika Donald (Velo Bella)
DNP Susannah Breen (wells fargo racing team)
DNP Annie Malouin (Tri-State Velo/Amorosso)
DNP Mary Elizabeth Maroon (Vanderkitten)
DNP Christine Wehlburg (National Capital Velo Club/Ino)
DNP Linda Locke (Velo Bella)
DNP Jennifer Greenberg (Punk Rock Cycling)

Cat Pro/1/2 Men (Field 119)
1 Jackson Stewart (BMC Pro Cycling Team)
2 Danny Finneran (Unattached)
3 Daniel Holloway (Garmin/Hollowesko Partners)
4 Tyler Brandt (HDR p/b Lombardi Sports)
5 Blake Anton (HDR p/b Lombardi Sports)
6 Keck Baker (Battley-Harley Davidson/Sonoma)
7 Colby Elliot (Chico Corsa Cycling Team)
8 Randy Bramblett (BPG/Montano Velo)
9 Lucas Binder (ZteaM)
10 Jd Bergmann (BPG)
11 Max Jenkins (Ind)
12 Ryan Eastman (All Sport-Team Swift)
13 Evan Huffman (HDR p/b Lombardi Sports)
14 Unknown Rider (-------)
15 Brandon Trafton (Central Valley Cycling)
16 Lee Shuemake (Pacific State Bank Cycling Tea)
17 Todd Hennings (Pacific State Bank Cycling Tea)
18 Timothy Farnham (Bissell Pro Cycling)
19 Ryan Ramos (Unattached)
20 James Badia (Webcor/Alto Velo)
21 Benjamin Lyon (Arete Racing)
22 Peter Graf (Wells Fargo Racing Team)
23 Mack Chew (McGuire Cycling Team)
24 Justin Laue (ZteaM)
25 Ryan Parnes (Webcor/Alto Velo)
26 John Wilk (Sierra Pacific Racing)
27 David Levine (Synergy-Taleo)
28 Dirk Copeland (California Giant -Specialized)
29 Eric Fischer (SAFEWAY/Bicycle Plus)
30 Justin England (California Giant -Specialized)
31 Robert Pasco (SAFEWAY/Bicycle Plus)
32 Dan Martin (SAFEWAY/Bicycle Plus)
33 Joseph Binder (ZteaM)
34 Chris Turner (Above Category Racing)
35 Joel Robertson (Sierra Pacific Racing)
36 Peter Cazalet (Webcor/Alto Velo)
37 Michael Margraf (SAFEWAY/Bicycle Plus)
38 Steven Ricchiazzi (Team Tailwinds)
39 Evan Pickett (Metromint Cycling on Marin Bik)
40 Ryan Prsha (Webcor/Alto Velo)
41 Vince Owens (HDR p/b Lombardi Sports)
42 Charlie Avis (Team Specialized Racing Junior)
43 Will Riffelmacher (Olympic Club)
44 Ian Tuttle (Above Category Racing)
45 Nick Agate (California Giant -Specialized)
46 Shaun Harless (Above Category Racing)
47 Gregory White (Kovarus/ABTA)
48 Bo Hebenstreit (Webcor/Alto Velo)
49 Brian Choi (Stuzio.com)
50 Brian Percival (Metromint Cycling)
51 Gregory Gambetta (SAFEWAY/Bicycle Plus)
52 Patrick Briggs (California Giant -Specialized)
53 Chris Stastny (Davis Bike Club)
54 Dan Bryant (Ind)
55 John Staroba (Team NorCal Bike Sport)
56 Sean Passage (Unattached)
57 Neil Harrington (Webcor/Alto Velo)
58 Art Rand (Spokesman Bicycles)
59 Zachary Wick (Davis Bike Club)
60 Paul Mach (Bissell Pro Cycling)
61 Zack Sober (Wells Fargo Racing Team)
62 Eric Easterling (Sierra Pacific Racing)
63 Nathaniel English (ZteaM)
64 Christopher Carey (McGuire Cycling Team)
65 Chris Coble (The Olympic Club)
66 Jonathan Eropkin (SAFEWAY/Bicycle Plus)
67 Unknown Rider
68 Dave Fuentes (Battley Cycles/Harley Davison/)
69 Aaron Beardsley (Team Clif Bar)
70 Rand Miller (Webcor/Alto Velo)
71 Unknown Rider
72 Keith Miller (California Giant -Specialized)
73 Adam Switters (Cal Giant/ Specialized)
74 Hormen Mijnen (Eemlund)
75 James Mattis (California Giant -Specialized)
76 Karta Atehortua (Ind)
77 Stephen Mccaw (Armstrong Assoc / FCI Lending)
78 Robert Macneill (Webcor/Alto Velo)
79 Nick Schaffner (Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racin)
80 Jesse Mendonca (HDR p/b Lombardi Sports)
81 Jesse Moore (California Giant -Specialized)
82 Josh Rennie (Team Clif Bar)
83 Mark Deterline (Wells Fargo Racing Team)
84 Paul Penn (BPG/Montano Velo)
85 Julian Martinez (California Giant -Specialized)
86 Sean Mcbride (HDR p/b Lombardi Sports)
87 Nathan Freed (Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racin)
88 Unknown Rider (-------)
89 Steve Holmes (Areta Racing)
90 John Zunino (Delta Velo)
91 Max Haines-Stiles (Metromint Cycling on Marin Bik)
DNP Billy Crane (Webcor/Alto Velo)
DNP Chris Crawford (Webcor/Alto Velo)
DNP Greg Davis (SugarCRM)
DNP Pablo Espinosa (Lenovo Cycling Team)
DNP Justin Fraga (Webcor / Alto Velo)
DNP Aaron Gallardo (Helens)
DNP Andres Gil (Pacific State Bank Cycling Tea)
DNP Andy Goessling (ZteaM)
DNP Greg Gomez (Webcor / Alto Velo)
DNP Bradford Goodson (Webcor/Alto Velo)
DNP John Hunt (California Giant -Specialized)
DNP Kevin Klein (KLEIN Real Estate)
DNP Jenson Lee (Ind)
DNP Logan Loader (BPG/Montano Velo)
DNP Eric Losak (VRC-MS Society)
DNP Tore Nauta (Webcor/Alto Velo)
DNP Eric Nitschke (HDR p/b Lombardi Sports)
DNP Thomas Novikoff (Webcor/Alto Velo)
DNP Luca Ortolani (Ind)
DNP Mark Santurbane (California Giant -Specialized)
DNP Jeff Williams (Webcor/Alto Velo)
DNP Alden Tanaka (TEAM CLIF BAR Cycling)
DNP Coby Horton (Sierra Pacific Racing)
DNP David Hunt (Pacific State Bank Cycling Tea)
DNP Anthony Merriett (Davis Bike Club)
DNP Michael Camarena (Action Sports/SSC Racing Team)
DNP Danny Rondon (Sierra Pacific)
DNP Chris Bauman (Ind)
DNP Doran Mori (TEAM CLIF BAR Cycling)
DNP Raffi Jilizian (Form Fitness)
DNP Shaun Locker (Ind)
DNP Robert Newman (Pacific State Bank Cycling Team)