Wendy's International Cycling Classic - NE

Ohio, USA, July 25-30, 2000

Stage 2 - July 26: Easton Town Center Criterium, 80/56 km M/W

Report - Men

Mercury's Gord Fraser won today's criterium stage of the Wendy's Classic. With the victory (the team's 73rd of the season) and the time bonuses, Fraser took the overall lead with teammate and today's 3rd place finisher Henk Vogels in 2nd Overall.

Andrea Ratkovic's report

Well, well, well, did the AutoTrader.com women have an interesting day today. It was supposed to be a 35-mile crit., but the officials and such ran a tad behind on set-up procedures, so we were delayed 30 minutes, and our crit. was cut to 40 minutes plus 6 laps. All was going well with our usual aggressiveness. Elita was very active as well, and some of the P&G gals were getting their groove on. In fact at one time I attacked and was joined by Cheryl Binney of P&G, Sarah Ulmer of Elita, and Laura Van Gilder of Schwab. I worked the break hard and thought it might stick since I knew that the sprinter chicks would be going for Saturn points and time bonuses. Of course I'd go for them as well; however, a chase ensued, and we were brought back after about 2 laps. There were a few other short-lived breaks too that either Anke, Julie, or Pam initiated. Marjon was jamming and totally got off by herself which she said was no fun (there was a decent headwind/crosswind on half of the course), but she kept right on going until Elita lead the chase and caught her. It was really great to see so much racing.

Now, on to the "interesting" part for the AutoTrader.com team. Tina flatted with 5 laps to go which meant no more free laps. She had a terrible time controlling her bike and had over a mile to go before she reached the pit, so Anke and I stayed back and made her stop so that I could change out her rear wheel with mine. If any of us had been thinking clearly I would just have given her my bike! However, we were all rather frazzled by the whole scenario, and even Julie volunteered to give up her wheel which I was adamantly against since she's been riding like Wonder Woman lately. Come to find out it was a wise decision since Julie the speedster ended up getting second. Yeah Julie! Meanwhile Anke and Tina are doing the 2-woman team trial thing trying to catch the pack and limit their losses. I rode to the pit and got a bike change which was fit for Julie, so I raced the last 4 laps with my knees hitting my eyebrows! I did get a lot of sympathy claps, though, from the crowd which was really nice. I just smiled and kept plugging away. I didn't get last either as I past another unfortunate cyclist with a rear flat on the last lap. So, that's the story.

Report courtesy of racereport@vcnet.com

Results

Men

1. Gord Fraser (Can) Mercury
...
3. Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury

General classification after stage 2:

1. Gord Fraser (Can) Mercury
2. Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury

Women

1. Karen Dunne (USA) Elita
2. Julie Young (USA) AutoTrader.com
3. Laura VanGilder (USA) Charles Schwab

Teamwork challenge jersey:

1. Sarah Ulmer (NZl) Elita