2nd Saturn Cycling Classic - NEBoulder, USA, August 11, 2001Main page & start list Live report Results
Vaughters wins drawn out battleBy Rob Karman, cyclingnews.com correspondent Local favourite Jonathan Vaughters won the 2nd Annual Saturn Cycling Classic over 140 miles of rough mountain terrain in a time of 6:50:58, almost a half hour faster than last year's winning time. Riding for the composite Handle Bar and Grill team, the Credit Agricole rider had tough competition from Mercury's Chris Horner and only slipped away from him on the final finish circuit through the town of Breckenridge. Starting in the city of Boulder, CO at an elevation of 5390 feet, the race was animated by an early break of 8 riders that formed only 5 miles into the race on the early slopes of the category 2 Wondervu climb. Most of the major teams were represented and the gap quickly grew to just over 7 minutes by the summit of the category 3 Golden Gate Road climb. A quick descent into the gambling town of Black Hawk saw Kirk O'Bee take the sprint through town which meant he just had to finish within the time cut for a $5000 bonus. O'Bee would manage to hold on to finish 14th for a nice paycheck. Out of Black Hawk the riders ascended the aptly named Oh My God Road. Steep pitches of up to 20% followed by a treacherous dirt descent that was not for the faint of heart. A hard right turn at the bottom brought the leaders out on the frontage road to interstate 70 though Idaho Springs and up to Georgetown. The gradual pitch allowed a large regrouping of the shattered field while Jeff Hartmann (Trek/VW, New Belgium Beer) decided to go it alone off the front of the early break. A chase group of 7 including 3 Saturns and 2 Mercurys pulled back the tiring remnants of the break and by the base of the Hors Categorie Guanella Pass it was Hartmann forging ahead on his own with a group of 11 close on his heels. Almost as soon as the road turned upward the anticipated attack came. Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) accelerated and was quickly marked by Chris Horner (Mercury). Horner then counter attacked and left them all struggling behind him while he seemingly floated up the dirt climb right past Hartmann and on to the 11,671 foot summit. Down below, Vaughters rode in the 2nd chase group with last year's winner Scott Moninger (Mercury) on his wheel. Halfway up the mountain the climbing specialist from Denver decided to test out his form, unsure of how he would fare. The acceleration exploded those around him and by the summit he had brought back Swindlehurst and was closing in on Horner. All of the top three took a cue from Moninger's victory strategy last year and switched to mtn bikes for the descent, though more for a safety and resting advantage than a quest for speed. In fact, Floyd Landis (Mercury) was actually catching the leaders on his road bike with an awe inspiring display of bike handling skills. At the bottom of the descent it was Horner with a slight advantage over Vaughters, Swindlehurst, and Michael Barry (Saturn). That trio soon swallowed up Horner as they headed west on Highway 285 toward the 2nd category climb of Kenosha pass. Horner would not work in the group though as he had teammates Chris Wherry and Floyd Landis chasing not too far behind. Wherry left Landis behind on the rolling, windy road between Kenosha and Red Hill passes to join the four leaders and shift the odds in favor of Mercury. Within seconds of Wherry joining the break, Horner tried an attack, but it was short lived as Vaughters was quick to respond. The now 5 strong lead group rode steadily together over the category 4 Red Hill Pass and it looked like the race would come down to a climber's showdown on the category 2 Hoosier Pass, the final climb of the day, but it was not to be. Vaughters attacked on the gentle down slope leading into the town of Fairplay and Horner was the only one who could respond. A hard right and they were turning north toward the continental divide. Up the gentle lower slopes of Hoosier pass they worked together building a lead over the other three and all the way up to the 11,547 foot summit they matched each other pedal stroke for pedal stroke. No sudden accelerations, just a constant steady pace that no one else could match. Down the other side they sped toward the ski town of Breckenridge spinning out their biggest gears. After 140 miles, 7 mountain passes, 2 bumpy dirt descents, and 14,000 vertical feet of climbing, the outcome of the race came down to a one lap sprint around the same course the women had raced a criterium on just minutes earlier. With a brand new car on the line, Vaughters made his move in turn two of the crit course and got a gap that he held to the finish, arms raised in victory.
ResultsMen - 225 km/140 miles1 Jonathan Vaughters (USA) Handle Bar & Grill 6.50.58 (32.95 km/h) 2 Chris Horner (USA) Mercury 0.03 3 Chris Wherry (USA) Mercury 2.36 4 Michael Barry (Can) Saturn 5 Burke Swindlehurst (USA) Navigators 3.57 6 Floyd Landis (USA) Mercury 9.02 7 Danny Pate (USA) Prime Alliance 11.40 8 Soren Petersen (Den) Saturn 12.42 9 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 10 Carl Swenson (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 12.46 11 Walker Ferguson (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 14.55 12 Jesus Zarate (Mex) Tecos Turbo 15.47 13 Trent Klasna (USA) Saturn 17.37 14 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Navigators 15 Brendon Vesty (NZl) Navigators 16 Scott Moninger (USA) Mercury 17 Travis Brown (USA) Trek/VW-New Belgium Beer 19.02 18 Arquimides Lam (Mex) Tecos Turbo 19 Skyler Reeves (USA) Tecos Turbo 20.39 20 Florencio Ramos (Mex) 20.41 21 Michael Tobin (USA) Jamba Juice 22 Dariusz Wojciechowski (Pol) Handle Bar & Grill 23 Nathan Busch (USA) Rio Grande/Monsoon Racing 24 Jeff Hartmann (USA) Trek/VW-New Belgium Beer 24 Matt De Canio (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 24 Andy Bajadali (USA) Excel Sports Boulder 24 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 24 Jose Castell (Luis Mex) Tecos Turbo 29 Chris Brennan (USA) Rio Grande/Monsoon Racing 30 John Osguthorpe (USA) NutraFig 31 Steven Perrins (USA) 32 Nico Toutenhoofd (USA) Excel Sports Boulder 32 Frank Mapel (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 32 Joel Alamillo (Mex) Tecos Turbo 35 Mark Southard (USA) Trek/VW-New Belgium Beer From this point on it is not known who completed the distance 36 Scott Price (USA) Landis/Trek/VW 36 Barkley Robinson (USA) Team Steamboat 38 Jon Stierwalt (USA) Celestial Seasonings 39 Shawn Mitchell (USA) NutraFig 40 Charlie Hayes (USA) Excel Sports Boulder 41 Andrew Miller (USA) Landis/Trek/VW 42 Zachery Vestal (USA) Jamba Juice 43 Ross Schnell (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 43 Pete Swenson (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 45 Juan Gabriel Sanchez (Mex) Tecos Turbo 46 Steve Crowley (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark 47 Jason Travis (USA) NutraFig 48 Mike Janelle (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 49 Mark Schwab (USA) Excel Sports Boulder 50 Andy Applegate (USA) Jamba Juice 51 Eric Schwartz (USA) Jamba Juice 52 Pete Vordenberg (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar 53 Brian Ellis (USA) Jamba Juice 54 Chris McGovern (USA) Zaxby's Cycling Team 55 Cody Waite (USA) Prime Alliance 56 Michael Larsen (USA) Prime Alliance 57 Gabriele Rompollo (Ita) Handle Bar & Grill 58 Dave Aschwandgen (USA) Trek/VW-New Belgium Beer 59 Brian Todeschini (USA) Celestial Seasonings 60 Ben Zambrana (USA) Team Steamboat 61 Ryan Starr (USA) Jamba Juice 62 Joby Siciliano (USA) Jamba Juice 63 Evan Ruzanski (USA) Trek/VW-New Belgium Beer 63 Andrew Clark (USA) Rio Grande/Monsoon Racing 65 Roger Cox (USA) Team Steamboat 66 Jeff Pink (USA) Rio Grande/Monsoon Racing 66 Kevin Nicol (USA) Celestial Seasonings 66 Thomas Cooke (USA) NutraFig 66 Steve Tibbitts (USA) NutraFig 70 Joey Pinkerton (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark 71 Ian Prichard (USA) Team Steamboat 72 Daniel Doornbos (USA) Landis/Trek/VW 73 Jim Mohan (USA) GS Ciao 74 Chris Munro (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark 75 Chris McGee (USA) Jamba Juice 76 Michael Scherer (USA) Prime Alliance 77 Alex Candelario (USA) Zaxby's Cycling Team 77 Billy Masterson (USA) Zaxby's Cycling Team 79 Nat Campbell (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark 80 Brand LeMaitre (USA) Jamba Juice 80 Joe Sternberg (USA) Team Steamboat 82 Dejan Smaic (USA) Celestial Seasonings 83 Richard Gangl (USA) Handle Bar & Grill 84 Devens Hamlen (USA) GS Ciao 84 Eric Nussbaumer (USA) GS Ciao Presumed DNF DNF Thomas Frischkorn (USA) Mercury DNF Phil Zajicek (USA) Mercury DNF Christopher Fisher (USA) Saturn Cycling Team DNF Harm Jansen (Ned) Saturn Cycling Team DNF Tim Johnson (USA) Saturn Cycling Team DNF Eric Jones (USA) Tokyo Joe's/Gatorade Energy Bar DNF Rishi Grewal (USA) Handle Bar & Grill DNF Chris Baldwin (USA) Navigators Cycling Team DNF Glen Mitchell (NZl) Navigators Cycling Team DNF Michael Creed (USA) Prime Alliance DNF Jeff Corbett (USA) 7-UP/Colorado Cyclist DNF Ryan Guay (USA) 7-UP/Colorado Cyclist DNF John Lieswyn (USA) 7-UP/Colorado Cyclist DNF Clark Sheehan (USA) 7-UP/Colorado Cyclist DNF Doug Ziewacz (USA) 7-UP/Colorado Cyclist DNF Dirk Friel (USA) Zaxby's Cycling Team DNF Mike Ley (USA) Zaxby's Cycling Team DNF Scott Weiss (USA) Zaxby's Cycling Team DNF Erik Kuhlman (USA) Landis/Trek/VW DNF Doug Loveday (USA) Landis/Trek/VW DNF Brian Hludzinski (USA) Jamba Juice DNF Dwight Hall (USA) Trek/VW-New Belgium Beer DNF Fred Gluck Jr. (USA) Excel Sports Boulder DNF Jonathon Hiedemann (USA) Rio Grande/Monsoon Racing DNF Jacob Rosenbarger (USA) Rio Grande/Monsoon Racing DNF Joe Taddeucci (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark DNF Jon Tarkington (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark DNF Frank Overton (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark DNF Marc Gullickson (USA) Vitamin Cottage/Morgal Bismark DNF Paul Colllins (USA) GS Ciao DNF Josh Harrod (USA) GS Ciao DNF Alan Butler (USA) NutraFig DNS John Talley (USA) Celestial Seasonings DNS Travis Baugh (USA) GS Ciao Starters: 117 Classified: 20Women's Miss & Out Criterium 1 Dede Demet-Barry (USA) Energy Bar/Olbas 2 Anke Erlank (RSA) Saturn 3 Sarah Konrad (USA) Boise Cascade 4 Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn 5 Anne Lannan (USA) 5 Anne Lannan (USA) 6 Beth Leasure (USA) 7 Brenda Black (USA) 8 Rebecca McClintock (USA) 9 Karen Bockel (USA) 10 Julie Boylan (USA) 11 Carla Flores (USA) 12 Leslie Lowery-Abate (USA) 13 Kerry Soraci-schmatz (USA) 14 Cheryl Binney (USA) 15 Amy Jamison (USA) 16 Gretchen Reeves (USA) 17 Emily Gloeckner (USA) 18 Kerry Barnholt (USA) 19 Stacey Spencer (Can) 20 Margell Abel (USA) 21 Kristin Downs (USA) 22 Susan Einberger (USA) 23 Leah Reeve (USA) DNF Kristy Scrymgeour (Aus) DNF Kimberly Bruckner (USA) DNF Suzanne Sonye (USA) DNF Kimberly Davidge (Can) DNF Gail Longenecker (USA)Men's Category 3 Criterium 1 Larry Smith (Centennial, CO) 2 Matthew Walp (Golden, CO) 3 Elias Bachmann (Boulder, CO) 4 Tim Faia (Frisco, CO) 5 John Seehafer (Louisville, CO) 6 Broc Thompson (Lafayette, CO) 7 Nick Traggis (Louisville, CO) 8 Mike Trecker (Aspen, CO) 9 Brian Bruggeman (El Jebel, CO) 10 JJ Rodman (Boulder , CO) 11 Emery Legg (Aurora, CO) 12 Patrick Owen (Denver, CO) 13 Luke Mason (Dillon, CO) 14 Greg Taft (Stevens Point, WI) 15 Steve Huyler (Frisco, CO) 16 Scott Bourque (Breckenridge, CO) 17 Frank Abate (Parker, CO) 18 Stephen Boston (Highlands Ranch, CO) 19 Mike Mitchell (Boulder, CO) 20 Evan Wasserman (Breckenridge, CO) 21 22 Micheal Parks (Denver, CO) 23 Tim Godby (Louisville, CO) 24 Jeff Leschner (Littleton, CO) 25 Ian MacGregor (Boulder, CO) 26 Hank Esperon (Avon , CO)Men's Category 4 Criterium 1 Josh Seldman (Colorado Springs, CO) 2 Roger Rains (Ft Collins, CO) 3 Mark Thompson (Breckenridge, CO) 4 Greg Ludke (Edwards, CO) 5 Barry Hanson (Dillon, CO) 6 Rick Hannah (Highlands Ranch, CO) 7 Hal Clark (Breckenridge, CO) 8 Jeff Cospolich (Breckenridge, CO) 9 Doug Manno (Denver, CO) 10 Paul Jamison (Dillon, CO) 11 12 13 Graham Bremner (Breckenridge, CO) 14 Marc Birdsill (Silverthorne, CO) 15 Lance Miller (Highlands Ranch, CO)Junior Men's Criterium 1 Scott Tietzel (Boulder, CO) 2 Allen Krughoff (Boulder, CO) 3 Mikkel Christensen (Evergreen, CO) 3 Ben Seltzer (Boulder, CO) 5 Ia MacGregor (Boulder, CO) 6 Tyson Lancaster (Tucson, AZ) 7 Brandon Weil (Boulder, CO) 8 Jason Short (Thornton, CO) 9 Peter Horn (Boulder, CO) 10 Ben Stewart (Vail, CO) 11 Braden Bringham (Vail, CO) 12 John Downs (Aurora, CO) 13 Kevin Soller (Breckenridge, CO) |