Gateway Cup - NE

St Louis, Missouri, USA, September 3-6, 2004

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Stage 3 - September 5: Giro della Montagna

Lieswyn grabs another; Hannos too

By John Musselman, www.stlbiking.com

Up next was the Giro Della Montagna or locally known as the "Tour of the Hill". The course is your basic 4 left turns but there's nothing run of the mill about this highly Italian-flavored neighborhood packed with fabulous restaurants on nearly every turn. Races started later in the day giving the residents a chance to exit church and set up their BBQs and parties in their yards. The entire neighborhood enjoyed the role their European counterparts enjoy at every race. Tim Ranken, The Gateway Cup Race Director, always has a kid's race for the locals. 147 kids entered the race divided into age and bike categories. Need I say more?

Racers had used the extra time between races to revitalize themselves. Speeds were crazy fast even in the heat. After only about 10 laps a crash on the back corner caused nearly half the field to get entangled and fall in mass. Half the field received a free lap and where able to get back in the race. None of these racers were to racing for prize money at the end of the race. The most experienced and faster racers were in front of the crash.

One racer broke away from the field and several teams sent one of their own to bring them back into the field. They never returned. One team after another sent riders to bridge up to the breakaway group when they realized this group had made a clean break from the field. At this point the speeds only increased. The field tried to work together to shorten the lead but their attempts failed. The four-member attack team was working together by necessity since each team had only one member in the front group. The foursome represented some of the best riders at the race such as Wes Hartman (Team Mack), Garrett Peltonen (Endeavour Cycling ), John Lieswyn (Health Net/Maxxis) and Young Bryan Smith (Pista Elite). They were waiting for one another or to blink. By the halfway point in this event it was evident that this strong breakaway group of four were not to be caught by the field. None of the four had a team member in the group. They had to work together or perish. No help was going to arrive and this experience paid off for John Lieswyn as he accelerated toward the victory. away from or to help it was clear that the Health Net team Just a short while into the race a crash on the back corner .

The Giro's women's race was a repeat of the Greentree Park Criterium. Canadian Andrea Hannos fought off Genesis Scuba's Kerry Kori for a second day in a row. Local rider Heather Brice captured third place. Points for the overall were mounting and there was just one more race to earn more points.

Results

Pro/1/2 Men 
 
1 John Lieswyn
2 Wes Hartman
3 Garrett Peltonen
4 Bryan Smith
5 Brian Jensen
6 Mat Stephens
7 Reed Mumford
8 Brad Huff
9 Frank Pipp
10 John Puffer
11 Dan Schmatz
12 Paul Nilsen
13 Joshua Carter
14 Peter Knoop
15 Bryce Jones
16 Ryan Nenninger
17 Shadd Smith
 
Pro/1/2/3 Women 
 
1 Andrea Hannos
2 Kori Kelly
3 Heather Brice
4 Carrie Cash
5 Anne Meyer
6 Molly Vetter
7 Sarah Tillotson
8 Mindi Martin
9 Miranda Quigley
10 Carla Farrell