 |
| Matt Gates overall Omnium winner and road race stage winner Superior Morgul May 18-20 2012 |
Criterium: The team decided to race for one goal only, the overall win. As such stage results did not matter, we needed to score points for our guys who could win the RR. The crit started under dry conditions, but the field knew they were in for the short in of the stick. Sure enough it went from dry to upper 40's and dumping rain. The field decimated under these conditions, with wet roads, wet corners, and very poor visibility. Boulder Orthopedics had by the largest team and controlled the field. They went for all the prime points and did a good job racking them up. As the race wound down Michael Gibson got away from the field for Boulder Orthopedics. He barely held on to win by 1 second, but Mix1 took control of the field sprint with Josh taking it and setting up our GC man Matt Gates for 3rd.
After the crit the omnium results were very close at the top and Boulder Orthopedics did a very good job of gaining prime points in the crit to make up for their TT. This made it basically a winner take all in the RR. Who ever won it had a good shot to win the overall.
Road race: Course conditions (fast) and GC standings made a break unlikely. Boulder Orthopedics (BO) had a strong presence and were looking for the one-two punch in a break. Each time up the wall there was a big surge, either by BO or other GC contenders trying to spit the race. The Mix1 crew of Matt S, Matt G, Marc, and Jim covered everything but nothing stuck as everyone fancied their chances. Coming in to bell lap another big push instigated by Jim nearly split the field but again everything came back together. At that point you could tell it was going to be a bunch finish. There was a lot of attacking on the last lap, but never the right combination. The Matts and Marc hung tough waiting for the last two hills, the Hump and the Wall. On the penultimate climb, no one attacked setting up a nervous approach to the Wall. Ken O'Donnell put in a huge attack 1.5k out, which is a long way out on that finish. Ken got a good gap , but then guys started to ramp up for the finish. Matt G found Marc's wheel at the base of the Wall and waited to start the sprint. It was a little nerve wracking, because an ill timed sprint can leave you dead 25M before the line and that a long ways to go on the Wall. After what seemed forever the final surge started. Matt G followed Marc until the start of the really steep section then started the sprint. The first kick got Matt G past Ken with only Michael Gibson from BO on his wheel. A second kick got Matt G clear for the win.
It was a great finish to the weekend which saw a Mix1 rider on the podium in every event: Matt S 3rd - TT, Josh 2nd - Crit, Matt G 3rd - Crit, Matt G 1st - RR.
No comments:
Post a Comment