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Rochester Omnium - 2.2
New York, USA, August 8-10, 2008
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage
Stage 3 - August 10: Rochester Road Race, 101 mi
Cruz brings his A-game to the finale; Rollin claims yellow
By Kirsten Robbins in Rochester, New York
Tony Cruz (BMC) used his strength and experience to take the stage three victory ahead of his mid-race break companions Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) and Michael Grabinger (Successful Living). Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1) rolled home in fourth place after some tremendous teamwork.
Cruz, a six year veteran of US Postal/Discovery Channel team, put his substantial skills to the test and emerged with a stage victory, both the sprint and mountain classification wins and a general classification podium. Cruz claimed second place overall behind Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United).
"The stage win is the most important for me," said Cruz, who broke his collarbone in the early season. "I needed the wins for myself more than anything. Especially to show the younger guys that I'm not here for a free ride to finish off my career - I'm serious and passionate about racing and winning."
Rollin finished the three stages with a total of 60 points, ahead of Cruz's 48 and third placed Ryan Roth (Team Race Pro) with 36 points.
"Racing in Rochester was more than a pleasure for me," said Rollin. "It was great to have all my boys there to help me win today."
While the yellow jersey sat safely in the main bunch that rolled in more than nine minutes back, the leaders entered the start of two finishing circuits ready to contest a sprint. Cruz was blasted by multiple attacks from the four-time Ukrainian Olympian Kobzarenko. Each blow to the legs forced Cruz to chase harder while Wilson and Grabinger sat back and waited for their opportunity at victory.
It was apparent that Cruz was not going to give in and in the final kilometres the four riders' cat and mouse game turned into a match sprint led by Cruz.
"I rode the finish at the front, kept them in the gutter and looked over my shoulder to make sure everyone was in check," said Cruz, delighted to prove he is still seriously in the game after 16 years of racing.
How it unfolded
The newly added road race took place on a 161-kilometre course that wove through the Finger Lakes region of northwestern New York. The peloton contended three sprint spots and two KOM climbs before entering two 10-kilometre finishing circuits. A smaller field of some 90 riders lined up for the Stage 3 road race, after many riders were time cut from the previous night's criterium.
Rolling hills and an active peloton posed a challenge heading into the first of the KOM climb, located at 28-kilometres atop Liberty Pole road. A large break away separated from the field 15-kilometres before the first of two significant climbs.
The 14 riders included Cruz, Wilson, Grabinger and Kobzarenko along with David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast), Davide Frattini and Kyle Wamsley (Colavita-Sutter Home), Ivan Dominguez and Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United), Mark Walters (Team Race Pro), Mark Hekman (Toshiba), Sheldon Deeny (Empire), Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living) and Jonathan Erdelye (Rite Aid).
None of the 14 were a threat to Rollin's points-based lead in the overall general classification. As a result the main bunch sat back and let the riders gain a sizeable advantage, which reached a maximum of 12 minutes.
Cruz stretched his legs at the base of the five-kilometer ascent. His effort started a series of alternating attacks that led to a four-rider split. "The original break was not working well together and I knew I could climb better than all those guys so I decided to just go," said Cruz.
Team Type 1 team-mates Wilson and Kobzarenko drove the tempo over the top of the climb, shattering what was left of the large group. "There were too many sprinters in the bunch so we knew we had to get rid of them before the finish - on the climbs," said Wilson.
Cruz and Grabinger quickly followed leading pair and the four riders set off on what turned into the winning move, gaining an instant three minutes on the remaining chase group of 10.
"The four of us worked like clockwork together and we gained so much time, so fast," said Cruz. "There were still more hills ahead so it was to our advantage to work together."
On route to his victory on the finishing circuits, Cruz picked up full points in the three sprint competitions and two KOM ascents. The cagey rider solidified his lead in both competitions, claiming the green jersey and the polka dot jersey.
The 10 rider chase group rolled onto the finishing circuits more than six minutes behind the leaders, ready to race their own race. Each rider launched an attack vying to pick up the remaining omnium points at the line.
Veilleux was the most threatening rider in the chase group. He held the highest number of points and was the most marked of the bunch. The French-Canadian tried several times to break away from the field along with covering attacks that might swallow up the points in the end.
After a game of cat and mouse, Deeny jumped the group with three-kilometre to go when there was a lull in the field and rode in for fifth place.
Results
1 Antonio Cruz (BMC Racing Team) 4.04.20 (39.73 km/h) 2 Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) 3 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living) 4 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1) 0.08 5 Sheldon Deeny (Empire Cycling) 5.21 6 Kyle Wamsley (Colavita Sutter Home) 5.33 7 Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living) 5.45 8 Davide Frattini (Colavita Sutter Home) 9 David Veilleux (Kelly BenefitStrategies Medifast) 10 Mark Walters (Team Race Pro) 11 Mark Hekman (TOSHIBA-Santo) 6.31 12 Jonathan Erdelye (Rite Aid) 9.43 13 Charles Dionne (Successful Living) 9.58 14 Kevin Lacombe (Kelly BenefitStrategies Medifast) 15 Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team) 16 Alessandro Bazzana (Ciclo Werks) 17 Ryan Roth (Team Race Pro) 18 Jonathan Clarke (Toyota United) 19 Shawn Milne (Team Type 1) 20 Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team) 21 Luis Amaran Romero (Colavita Sutter Home) 9.59 22 Derrick St-John (Calyon Canada) 10.00 23 Dominique Rollin (Toyota United) 24 Peter Morse (Jet Fuel Coffee) 25 Matthew Johnson (Empire Cycling) 26 Tommy Nankervis (DLP Racing) 27 Robbie King (Rite Aid) 10.01 28 Charles Bryer (Ciclo Werks) 10.02 29 Jacob Rytlewski (Rite Aid) 10.03 30 Jackson Stewart (BMC Racing Team) 31 Brian Buchholz (Kelly BenefitStrategies Medifast) 10.04 32 Charlie Vives (Calyon Canada) 10.05 33 Matthew Bell (Calyon Canada) 34 Nathan Chown (Handlebars) 10.06 35 Brandon Throop 10.08 36 Bryson Bowers (Calyon Canada) 10.09 37 Emile Abraham (Team Type 1) 10.10 38 Yosvany Falcon (TOSHIBA-Santo) 10.13 39 Charles Coyle (Successful Living) 10.14 40 Mike Mathis (Empire Cycling) 10.26 41 Jason Skalski (Handlebars) 10.32 42 Michael Sayers (BMC Racing Team) 10.33 43 Richard Geng (Rite Aid) 44 Frank Travieso (TOSHIBA-Santo) 10.38 45 Daniel Vaillancourt (TOSHIBA-Santo) 10.42 46 Luca Damiani (Colavita Sutter Home) 47 Mark Pozniak (Team Race Pro) 10.56 48 Francois Parisien (Team Race Pro) 49 Henk Vogels (Toyota United) 11.06 50 Gustavo Artacho (Colavita Sutter Home) 11.14 51 Rob Wing (Sommerville Sports) 14.43 52 Eric Brownell (Sommerville Sports) 19.06 53 Kevin Hazzard (Calyon Canada) 20.40 54 Lucas Haedo (Colavita Sutter Home) 55 Alexander Brimer (Empire Cycling) Final general classification 1 Dominique Rollin Toyota United) 60 pts 2 Antonio Cruz (BMC Racing Team) 48 3 Ryan Roth (Team Race Pro) 40 4 David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies Medifast) 35 5 Mark Walters (Team Race Pro) 31 6 Jonathan Clarke (Toyota United) 31 7 Alessandro Bazzana (Successful Living) 30 8 Luis Amaran Romero (Colavita Sutter Home) 29 9 Mark Hekman (TOSHIBA-Santo) 28 10 Charles Dionne (Successful Living) 28 11 Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team) 27 12 Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living) 26 13 Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) 25 14 Shawn Milne (Team Type 1) 25 15 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living) 23 16 Davide Frattini (Colavita Sutter Home) 23 17 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1) 20 18 Sheldon Deeny (Empire Cycling) 20 19 Kevin Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies Medifast) 17 20 Charles Coyle (Successful Living) 16 21 Kyle Wamsley (Colavita Sutter Home) 15 22 Brian Buchholz (Kelly Benefit Strategies Medifast) 14 23 Matthew Johnson (Empire Cycling) 13 24 Jackson Stewart (BMC Racing Team) 12 25 Frank Travieso (TOSHIBA-Santo) 12 26 Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team) 11 27 Emile Abraham (Team Type 1) 9 28 Jonathan Erdelye (Rite Aid) 9 29 Francois Parisien (Team Race Pro) 6 30 Luca Damiani (Colavita Sutter Home) 2 31 Charles Bryer (Ciclo Werks) 2 32 Nathan Miller (BMC Racing Team) 1 33 Jacob Rytlewski (Rite Aid) 34 Robbie King (Rite Aid) 35 Derrick St-John (Jet Fuel Coffee) 36 Yosvany Falcon (TOSHIBA-Santo) 37 Michael Sayers (BMC Racing Team) 38 Peter Morse (Jet Fuel Coffee) 39 Tommy Nankervis (DLP Racing) 40 Charlie Vives (Calyon Canada) 41 Bryson Bowers (Jet Fuel Coffee) 42 Daniel Vaillancourt (TOSHIBA-Santo) 43 Matthew Bell (Calyon Canada) 44 Nathan Chown (Handlebars) 45 Mike Mathis (Empire Cycling) 46 Brandon Throop (MCT) 47 Gustavo Artacho (Colavita Sutter Home) 48 Richard Geng (Rite Aid) 49 Mark Pozniak (Team Race Pro) 50 Henk Vogels (Toyota United) 51 Rob Wing (Sommerville Sports) 52 Eric Brownell (Empire Cycling) 53 Lucas Haedo (Colavita Sutter Home) 54 Alexander Brimer (Empire Cycling) 55 Kevin Hazzard (Jet Fuel Coffee Sprints classification 1 Antonio Cruz (BMC Racing Team) 17 pts 2 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living Pro Cycling Team) 9 3 Charles Dionne (Successful Living Pro Cycling Team) 7 4 Mark Walters (Team Race Pro) 6 5 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1 ) 6 6 Martin Kohler (BMC Racing Team) 5 Moun tains classification 1 Antonio Cruz (BMC Racing Team) 11 pts 2 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living Pro Cycling Team) 3 Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) 4
