Results and Reports for July 15-16

United States

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Niwot Criterium - NRC event
The Park Ridge Cycling Classic
La Mirada GP

Niwot Criterium - NRC event

Niwot, Colorado, July 16, 2000

By John Alsedek, cyclingnews.com correspondent

Held in the cozy hamlet of Niwot, Colorado, today's Niwot Criterium, a National Racing Calendar event, proved to be a lesson in the adage 'strength in numbers', as AutoTrader.com and Mercury largely dominated the action on the highly-technical, 1.1-mile course. Benefitting from the lack of opposition (Timex, Charles Schwab, Saturn (men), and Shaklee all passed on the event) while most of the other major teams only fielded small squads, both teams were able to dictate the pace and send riders up the road largely at will. However, there were riders in both events hoping to beat the odds.

In the one-hour women's event, it was Jenny Eyerman (Jane Cosmetics) hoping to be the spoiler: the winner of the first prime in each of the day's earlier races had gone on to take the victory in their respective events, and Eyerman won the opening prime. However, with five riders in the 30-woman field, it didn't take long for AutoTrader.com to take command, as they launched attack after attack. At around the midway point, Andrea Ratkovic got clear, gaining a maximum of eight seconds before being reeled in by a chase led by Saturn representatives Julie Hanson and Suzanne Sonye, as well as the Colorado-based Lakewood Racing team. Then, after Tiffany Pezzulo (Proteus.com) nailed down a cash prime, AutoTrader.com made the move that decided the race, as Pam Schuster attacked hard with just fifteen minutes remaining and never looked back.

With three teammates clogging up the front of the field (Ratkovic crashed in a turn just after Schuster broke away - fortunately, she wasn't seriously injured), Schuster was never challenged. She went on to win by 30 seconds over Sarah Konrad (Lakewood Racing), whose last-lap flyer was just enough to get her across the line ahead of Elita's Karen Dunne and a hard-charging bunch. Afterwards, showing that she may have lost some skin, but not an ounce of class, Ratkovic refused to accept a merchandise prime she had won, instead asking that it be donated to a rider from one of the amateur teams. It was a nice touch for a race that had largely been all AutoTrader.com.

By contrast, nobody was giving away anything in the men's race, which ended up with seven Mercury riders in the top ten. Not surprising, given that the thirteen cyclists in white and sea-foam green (including team director John Wordin) outnumbered the rest of the pro teams in the race combined. The Green Wave wasted no time, as Chris Horner attacked on the very first lap, and was never again seen by the field, except at a distance.

After just four laps, Horner had over fifteen seconds on the pack, and the race looked like it was already in serious peril. So, Anton Villatoro (7 UP/Colorado Cyclist) did the only thing to be done: he attacked. With Mercury riders Jamie Drew and Henk Vogels in tow, Villatoro bridged up to Horner, and the quartet soon increased their lead to 25 seconds over an active but disorganized peloton, being led by U.S. Postal Service's Christian Van de Velde and the ageless Alan McCormack.

At first, the three Mercury riders seemed willing to largely ignore Villatoro and concentrate on increasing their lead, but it was a situation that wouldn't last long. Standard operating procedure in these sort of circumstances is to force the odd man out to respond to attack after attack, till he can no longer respond, so Villatoro made a pre-emptive strike of his own, attacking the trio as they were passing a group of lapped riders. Only Vogels was able to respond, and he quite rightly sat on Villatoro until Drew and Horner were able to rejoin. Then the Mercury team got down to business, forcing Villatoro to counter one move after another or else lose any chance of victory.

After bringing back several attacks, Villatoro decided to save his efforts for the sprint for second. It was ultimately the day's first animator, Chris Horner, who managed to solo in to victory, seven seconds ahead of Villatoro, who took the sprint for second. To cap off Mercury's day, Zinger winner Scott Moninger - obviously none the worse for wear - came across the line with teammate Kirk Willett for fifth and sixth, respectively, at 40 seconds back. In addition, new recruit Baden Cooke beat out Navigators' speedster Vassili Davidenko for the field sprint ten seconds later.

Results

Women - 28.6 mi/46.1 km

1. Pam Schuster (USA) AutoTrader.com            59.16
2. Sarah Konrad (USA) Lakewood Racing            0.30
3. Karen Dunne (USA) Elita              
4. Bridget Evans (USA) unattached
5. Beth Leasure (USA) AST
6. Suzanne Sonye (USA) Saturn
7. Allie Warfel (USA) DeFeet
8. Anke Erlank (RSA) AutoTrader.com
9. Tiffany Pezzulo (USA) Proteus.com
10. Jenny Eyerman (USA) Jane Cosmetics

Men - 39.6 mi/63.8 km

1. Chris Horner (USA) Mercury                 1.14.21
2. Anton Villatoro (USA) 7 UP/Colorado Cyclist   0.07
3. Jamie Drew (Aus) Mercury             
4. Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury
5. Scott Moninger (USA) Mercury                  0.40
6. Kirk Willett (USA) Mercury
7. Baden Cooke (Aus) Mercury                     0.50
8. Vassili Davidenko (Ukr) Navigators  
9. Alan McCormack (USA) unattached
10. Will Frischkorn (USA) Mercury

The Park Ridge Cycling Classic

Park Ridge, NJ, July 16, 2000

The Park Ridge Cycling Classic is an annual criterium held in the small town of Park Ridge, New Jersey. The big money draws an international caliber field. Last year, the race saw the Navigator Pro Team and Shaklee Pro Team well represented, as well as individuals from the Saturn Pro Team and riders from New Zealand. Last year's winner, Mark Walters was not at the event but this year's event was won in the same style.

The course is .9 miles long with a steep 1/4 mile climb at 20% grade. The hill is so steep that there is KOM at the top of the hill (from which the winner of the competition wins a Festina watch). This is regarded by many as the hardest course per mile of riding. The pros did 26 laps.

At the start of the race, all the big guns lined up - there were the three McCormack brothers from Saturn, as well as Graeme Miller from Shaklee, and Kevin Monahan from Team 7-UP. The race got underway and the action started off fast. About a quarter of the way through the race, the first attack was made by none other than Frank McCormack. He put the hammer down through the back stretch of the course right before the climb and nobody was able to follow. Everytime he came up the climb, he was in the big ring, while everyone else was hurting in the 39x23. He had about 15-20 seconds on the main field, which then grew to 30-50 seconds.

Two other riders managed to leap off the front of the pack. John Kelly, riding for the NY based Kissena team, jumped out of the pack and was trailing F. McCormack by about 20 seconds. Another 10 seconds behind Kelly was the youngest of the McCormacks, Shawn. Second in the Elite National's, this youngster has a lot of talent (which means pro teams, be on the watch).

The race remained this way for a while as Frank opened up the gap between him and the peloton. Unfortunately, Kelly suffered two flats during the course of the race. The first time, his rear wheel went flat. He quickly went for the free lap and jumped back in behind Frank but ahead of Shawn. Dismally, his front wheel went flat a couple laps later and he decided to just wait for the pack to come by instead of jumping into 2nd place. However, as this was happening, the third and final move of the day went. Mark McCormack pulled away from the field on the climb to narrow in on what he thought was fourth place. Not knowing that John Kelly was back in the pack and that Frank had already won by lapping the field, Mark was fighting for third.

F. McCormack sat on the back of the race with about 5 to go when he decided that enough was enough. The pace must have been too slow because that is when McCormack headed to the front of the pack on the hill and attacked up the right side. Nobody could follow! Frank then began his quest to put a second lap on the field. Unfortunately, there were not enough laps in the race to do so. However, he did catch brothers Shawn and Mark on his attempt to lap the field again. With about 2 laps to go, the announcer told the three McCormacks that they were on the way to break the course record and if they did, they would take home and extra $500. Upon hearing this, the trio worked even harder.

Meanwhile, the peloton was feeling the effects of the hill as when they came by the finish line, all had signs of fatigue and pain in their faces while the pack was completely strung out. Many of the teams missed the break (7-UP, Navigators, Shaklee, Ideal Tile). However, the one rider brave enough to make another move was John Kelly. With about 3 laps to go, Kelly rolled over the front on the homestretch downhill and stayed away from the pack which was about 15 seconds behind Kelly.

On the final lap, two of the McCormacks had crested the hill. The first rider to pass the finish line for a well deserved victory was Frank McCormack. He had spent about 3/4 of the race on his own, taking home a Festina Watch and a boat load of money. The second rider to cross the line was Shawn McCormack, who had made the daring escape from the pack 5 laps into the race. The third place finisher was Mark McCormack, who put the hammer down on the back stretch in order for Frank to beat the course record. A brave effort by the McCormacks led to a 1-2-3 sweep, or so they thought. Fourth across the line was a courageous John Kelly, who was later awarded second place.

Results

(Unofficial)
1. Frank McCormack (USA) Saturn
2. John Kelly (USA) Kissena
3. Shawn McCormack (USA) CCB/Volkswagen
4. Mark McCormack (USA) Saturn

La Mirada GP

July 16, 2000

Results

1. Greg Medinilla (USA) NetZero
2. Antonio Cruz (USA) Saturn
3. Jamie Paolinetti (USA) NetZero
4. Scott Cochran (USA) Jelly Belly's
5. Jesus Zarate (USA) Mercury
6. Chris Walker (USA) NetZero
7. Ryan Lane (USA) NetZero
8. Michael Johnson (USA) NetZero
9. Jim White (USA) Dare
10. Frank Sarate (USA) Simple Green
11. Martin Church (USA) NetZero