July 16/99 4:20 am - Cascade Cycling Classic Stages 1 & 2, Milwaukee Superweek Point Standings

Posted by Editor on 07/16/99
 

Cascade Cycling Classic - Bend Oregon July 14-18

Stage 1 Deschutes Brewery Bachelor ESB Road Race 110 miles

The 1999 Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon Cascade Cycling Classic was near domination by the Mercury cycling team. The green and white-clad riders swept three of the top four places in the 111-mile Deschutes Brewery Bachelor ESB Road Race as Floyd Landis finished alone save for teammate David Clinger. Taking advantage of having six riders in the definitive 16-strong early breakaway that formed, the Mercury men sealed the day's stage victory on the descent back into Bend, Oregon. The only team to mount a challenge to the Mercury might was the Navigators team that placed Russian national runner-up, Vasiliy Davidenko third, 28 seconds behind Landis and Clinger.

The Deschutes Brewery Bachelor ESB Road Race starts with a 19-mile climb up Century Drive to Mt. Bachelor ski lodge. Unlike last year's early aggression by 1998 Classic winner, Lance Armstrong, the field stayed together until the first King of the Mountains spring at mile 14. There, the field swept away early solo leader, Victor Ayala (Team Xtreme) and surged away to the second K.O.M. at mile 18. What happened next was described by Chris Baldwin of the Navigators as "a series of attacks. We wanted to have someone with every Mercury rider. Dave [Clinger] and I were the last two to get on the break."The break was a group of sixteen heavy with Mercury and Navigators teammates (ten total!) but without USPro Champion, Marty Jemison. The Postal Service rider had apparently initiated the final surges that led to the breakaway forming but, in the words of one rider, "missed the boat." A cross-wind at the top of Century Drive discouraged the peleton from organizing a chase, and an initial gap of 51 seconds was established after a fast descent.

Realizing their favorable numbers, Mercury quickly drove the break clear of the field. With the twisting road and thickly wooded terrain, the now cooperating leaders, including 1998 amateur champ Patrick Heaney and Nutra-Fig's Dominique Perras, ballooned their lead to 4 1/2-minutes within ten miles; the finish would see Jemison and the rest more than thirteen minutes down.The lead group continued to hammer away until the Sparks Lake climb. The ascent is not even 1,000 feet, but coming after eighty-two miles of hard riding, it is always an important selection. Soon after starting the climb, Mercury's Clinger started an unassisted acceleration that reduced the lead group to six--Clinger, Landis and Scott Moninger for Mercury versus Navigators' Davidenko, Brendon Vesty and Mark Walters. Then, apparently not letting up after capturing the 3rd and final King of the Mountains points, Moninger powered up and over Mt. Bachelor, forcing the Navigators' hand.Moninger had a gap of twenty-nine seconds at the top of Mt. Bachelor but looked unlikely to hold that on the upcoming 19-mile descent. But then a strange turn of events put the day and possibly the week into the hand of Mercury.

A small roller that broke up the downward sweep into Bend also was the sudden and spectacular blow-up of Navigators' Mark Walters. Moaning audibly, Walters' distress caused teammate, New Zealander Brendon Vesty, to sit up momentarily. First Clinger and then Landis jumped away with only Davidenko to cover. Moninger was alerted to this change in events and waited for his teammates. Davidenko, veteran of such classics as Milan-San Remo and Tirreno-Adriatico, grimly hung on, knowing what was coming next.

What did come was a series of vicious attacks ten kilometers from the line that saw Landis and Clinger finish clear. Clinger, who had to take a bike change due to derailleur-in-the-spokes trouble, admitted that Mercury "had a plan." The twenty-one year old said that "se have three or four riders climbing really well and knew we could cover all of the moves." With three of the top four, Mercury could now dictate all of the moves.

Stage 1 Results
1 10 Floyd Landis Mercury 4:08:30
2 7 David Clinger Mercury s.t.
3 15 Vasiliy Davidenko Navigators 0:28
4 11 Scott Moninger Mercury s.t..
5 30 Antonio Cruz L‚Equipe Cheval 1:14
6 65 Patrick Heaney G.S. Lombardis
7 12 Thurlow Rogers Mercury
8 20 Mark Walters Navigators
9 13 Jesus Zarate Mercury
10 14 Chris Baldwin Navigators
11 19 Brendon Vesty Navigators
12 75 Dominique Perras Nutra-Fig
13 96 John D. Hunt G.S. Lombardis
14 55 Mark Southard Pacific Financial all s.t.
15 2 Ron Schmeer Nutra-Fig 3:09
16 9 Roy Knickman Mercury 3:09
17 40 Chris Humbert Net.Now/Cisco 13:07
18 93 Adam Livingston Nutra-Fig 13:07
19 5 Aaron Olson Nutra-Fig 13:10
20 31 Timothy Larkin L‚Equipe Cheval 13:52


TEAM GC

1 Mercury 12:25:58
2 Navigators 02:28
3 Nutra-Fig 17:02
4 L‚Equipe Cheval 29:35
5 Pacific Financial 32:38
6 Net.Now/Cisco 42:33
7 Reno Wheelmen 44:23
8 Alto Velo/MCR 44:23
9 Wizards of the Coast 44:23
10 Davis Bike Club 46:21
11 Safeway/Saturn 46:21


KOM
rider name points

19 Brendon Vesty 17
10 Floyd Landis 9
11 Scott Moninger 7


Stage 2 Pacific Power Road Race 106 miles 6000 vertical feet

by Jason Mohr

Scott Moninger of the Mercury cycling team captured the second stage of the 1999 Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon Cascade Cycling Classic with a last kilometer attack on the slopes of Mt. Bachelor, just south of Bend, Oregon. The Mercury team set tempo for the main field all day and, with Moninger's victory, now have the top three individuals in the Classic. Easrly breakaways on the 106-mile Pacific Power Road Race were erased on the final of two twelve-mile climbs by the withering attacks of Moninger and his teammates, David Clinger and Floyd Landis. Landis leads the overall race by seven seconds with four stages to go. The most aggressive team of the day had to be the Nutra-Fig squad who were active with all of the early moves. The move that stuck for over 65 miles of the twice covered circuit around a spectacular, snow-clad Mt. Bachelor was started by the Fig's Alex Gardner and local Wizards of the Coast's Luke Mauritsen. The two were joined ten miles later by Navigators' Eliot Hubbard and another Nutra-Fig rider, Jason Van Marle. Working efficiently, the foursome had a maximum lead of nearly four and one-half minutes at the base of the Sunriver Cut-off climb. Not bothering to contest the two King of the Mountains' sprint spots, the leaders managed to hold on to a two minute gap despite the 3,000-feet of climbing that ended their first go-around. But the steady tempo of the always-at-the-front Mercury doomed the break with twenty-five miles to go.

The pacemaking for Mercury was done primarily by veteran Roy Knickman and junior phenom, Will Frishkorn. "I think Roy set tempo for, like, fifty miles out there," remarked grateful race leader, Landis. This pace-making was tested once again by the Nutra-Fig team as the duo of Jamul Hahn and Donald Reeb attacked with Abel Eisentraut (of frame-making family fame), and attempted to go away before the final haul up Sunriver Cut-off. But the relentless Mercury-driven pack allowed the antagonists only seven miles of freedom and swarmed over them at the base of the climb.

Owing to Mercury's steady hand and the fact that this year's weather was not the road-tar melting 100-degrees that the Classic saw in 1998, a large group of around twenty riders approached the third King of the Mountains' sprint. Riders had been spitting out the back evdery time the pitch steepened or Mercury dialed up the pace in response to various attacks. After a big effort was made by Navigators' Mark Walters to win the KOM, the race finally became very aggressive. The leader's and King of the Mountain's jerseys were particularly active, with overall leader Landis and KOM leader Brendon Vesty (Navigators) trading attacks as the riders reached the wide, four-lane Century Drive for the final three mile push up to the finish. The frontmen continued to attack/counter which pared down the number of survivors. The field shrunk to nine soon after Patrick Heaney (GS Lombardi) eked out a 30-meter gap and was dragged back. Within the final kilometer, Moninger unleashed his stage winning move that no one could or would follow--although Navigators' Vasiliy Davidenko did try. The twice runner-up at Cascade and last year's circuit race winner Moninger had twelve seconds in hand by the finish. Davidenko would hang on to second place but lose a position in the overall standing, sliding back to fourth overall.

STAGE 2 RESULTS

1. Scott Moninger Mercury 4:09:20
2. Vasiliy Davidenko Navigators at 0:12
3. Antonio Cruz L'Equipe Cheval
4. Patrick Heaney G.S. Lombardis
5. Floyd Landis Mercury all s.t.
6. John D. Hunt G.S. Lombardis 0:21
7 . David Clinger Mercury s.t.
8. Brendon Vesty Navigators 0:26
9. Mark Southard SCVC/Trek s.t.
10. Peter Mutuc SCVC/Trek 0:31
11. Mark Walters Navigators 1:17
12.Timothy Larkin L'Equipe Cheval
13. Chris Baldwin Navigators
14. Ron Schmeer Nutra-Fig
15. Marty Jemison USPS s.t.
16. Nick Hillyer Wizards of the Coast 1:19
17. Thurlow Rogers Mercury
18. Dominique Perras Nutra-Fig
19 22 Dario Falquier Alto Velo/MCR s.t.
20 25 James Mattis Alto Velo/MCR 1:49


TEAM GC STAGE 2

1. Mercury 12:25:58
2. Navigators at 03:48
3. Nutra-Fig 22:39
4. L'Equipe Cheval 39:29
5. Alto Velo/MCR 48:45
6. Wizards of the Coast 49:21
7. Net.Now/Cisco 50:25
8. Reno Wheelmen 52:04
9. Logie Velo 1:07:25
10. Pacific Financial 1:23:56
11. Safeway/Saturn 1:26:25

KOM RESULTS

1 19 Brendon Vesty 23pts
2 11 Scott Moninger 17
3 17 Elliot Hubbard 14

STAGE 2 GC

1. Floyd Landis Mercury 8:18:04
2. David Clinger Mercury at 0:07
3 . Scott Moninger Mercury 0:14
4. Vasiliy Davidenko Navigators 0:26
5.Antonio Cruz L'Equipe Cheval 1:14
6. Patrick Heaney G.S. Lombardis 1:14
7. John D. Hunt G.S. Lombardis 1:21
8. Brendon Vesty Navigators 1:26
9. Mark Southard Pacific Financial 1:26
10. Mark Walters Navigators 2:17
11. Chris Baldwin Navigators s.t.
12. Thurlow Rogers Mercury 2:19
13. Dominique Perras Nutra-Fig s.t.
14. Jesus Zarate Mercury 3:35
15. Ron Schmeer Nutra-Fig 4:12
16. Roy Knickman Mercury 11:21
17. Timothy Larkin L'Equipe Cheval 14:55
18. Marty Jemison USPS 14:55
19. Chris Humbert Net.Now/Cisco 14:57
20. Peter Mutuc SCVC/Trek 15:14

Milwaukee Superweek Point Standings after 5 of 15 races

Men's Pro 1/2
1. Harm Jansen Smartalk 69 pts.
2. Mike Barry Saturn 64 pts.3. Mike Sayers Mercury 53 pts.
4. John Lieswyn Shaklee 44 pts.
5. Pelle Kil Smartalk 41 pts.
6. Levi Lepheimer Saturn 35 pts.
7. Scott Mercer Navigators 33 pts.
8. Tim Lefebvre Ital Pasta 32 pts.
9. Mark McCormack Saturn 30 pts.
10. Gord Fraser Mercury 27 pts.

Women
1. Suzy Pride 85 pts.
2. Laura Van Gilder 81 pts.
3. Anna Wilson 76 pts.
4. Clara Hughes 74 pts.
5. Dede Demet 61 pts.