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Tour de Gastown - NE
Canada, July 19, 2006
A successful defence and a new winner at Gastown
The 2006 edition of the Tour de Gastown saw one champion retain their title and one new champion crowned in front of a crowd estimated at 40,000. Gina Grain (Colavita) won the bunch sprint in the women's race to retain her title, while Australian Hilton Clarke (Navigators) scored one of the biggest victories of his career with a solo win.
The 30 lap women's race saw plenty of attacks, with the New Zealand Jazz Apple team particularly aggressive. However, Grain, her team mate Audrey Lemieux and mountain bike legend Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) were able to shut down any serious attempts to open a gap on the field. Grain gave an indication of her fitness when she took the Crowd Prime - a mid-race sprint where the cash prize depends upon donations from the spectators lining the course.
After Grain took the prime she dropped back into the pack to rest up for the final sprint, which she won easily, passing Alexandra Wrubleski (H&R Block) in the last 75 metres to coast across the line with her arms in the air. "This is an amazing win for me" said Grain. "I've been going to the hospital for the last three days to get IV antibiotic treatments for an infection in my arm, so I really didn't know how I was going. The crowd prime was a bit of a test of my legs, and at that point I knew I was strong enough to win the whole thing."
The men's race was ripped apart with less than a third of the 50 laps completed, when a group of 12 riders broke away from the field. The group contained defending champion Gord Fraser (Health Net presented by Maxxis), and two top riders from the local Symmetrics team - national time trial champion Svein Tuft and national criterium champion Cam Evans. However, it was another Symmetrics rider, Brad Fairal, who rode away from the group with two others. Fairall was joined by Fraser's team mate Kirk O'Bee and Hilton Clarke and the trio, representing the three top teams in the race, were allowed to roll away. "I was working for Svein" explained Fairall, "but when I looked around after a turn at the front we had a gap."
Initially, the lead hovered at 20-25 seconds over the rest of the breakaway, but as that group slowed and was reabsorbed by the field, the frontrunners began to extend their lead and eventually lapped the field with 13 laps remaining. The rules in a situation like this saw the field sprint for fourth place at three laps to go - with Fairall's team mate Andrew Pinfold winning the bunch sprint - while the three leaders finished the final three laps alone on the course.
Clarke attacked just prior to the penultimate lap, opening up a gap that he was able to maintain to the finish line, while Fairall outsprinted O'Bee for second. O'Bee was riding on a flat tire for the final five laps, which certainly limited his ability to respond to Clarke's attack. "I was feeling pretty good" explained Clarke, "and I know how good a sprinter Kirk usually is, since we used to be team mates. So, I didn't want to get in a situation where I had to sprint against him and decided to try and get away. I think the other two looked at each other a bit when I went, so that gave me a chance to open the gap." Second place Fairall said, "I've had silver at the national championships before, but this is special, this is Gastown."
Results
Men's race 1 Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) 2 Bradley Fairall (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 3 Kirk O'Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) 4 Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 5 Gord Fraser (Health Net presented by Maxxis) 6 Vassili Davidenko (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) 7 Ciaran Power (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) 8 Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 9 Trent Wilson (Jittery Joe's) 10 Chad Nikolz (Broadmark Capital/Hagens Berman LLP) 11 Philippe Abbott (Ital Pasta / Transport Belmire C.C.) 12 Dave Richter (Ital Pasta/Transport Belmire C.C.) 13 Peter Sanowar (Ital Pasta / Transport Belmire C.C.) 14 Jacob Erker (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 15 Roman Kilun (Health Net presented by Maxxis) 16 Dan Martin (Safeway / G.A. Communications) 17 Jonny Sundt (AxleyUSA.com Cycling Team) 18 Siro Camponogara (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) 19 Jeff Hopkins (Jittery Joe's) 20 Andrew Randell (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 21 Ryan Roth (Team R.A.C.E.) 22 Cameron Evans (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 23 Ryan Anderson (Avia West) 24 Scott Laliberte (GS Campione) 25 Nick Rowe (Espoirs Laval) 26 Svein Tuft (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 27 Morgan Schmitt (Broadmark Capital / Hagens Berman LLP) 28 Maurice Worsfold (Team Coastal) 29 Chris Teufel (Byrne Specialty Gas) 30 Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain - Business Objects) 31 Justin Lillie (Boston Scientific Cycling) 32 Andreas Hestler (Rocky Mountain - Business Objects) 33 Nick Clayville (Broadmark Capital / Hagens Berman LLP) 34 Cameron Hughes (Ital Pasta / Transport Belmire C.C.) 35 Chris Worsfold (Team Coastal) 36 Matt Guse (Team R.A.C.E.) 37 Dan MacDonald (unattached) 38 Jackson Buehler (TREK - Red Truck Ale) 39 Brandon Chrichton (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 40 Jamie Sparling (Bicisport Gruppo Sportivo) 41 Oleg Grishkin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) 42 Kirk Carlsen (Team Rubicon / Gleukos) 43 Michael Sayers (Health Net presented by Maxxis) 44 Marsh Cooper (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 45 Will Routley (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 46 Ryan Hopping (ERTC Redbike) 47 Per Strom (Bicisport Gruppo Sportivo) 48 Jesse james Collins (Bicisport Gruppo Sportivo) 49 Tim Abercrombie (Escape Velocity / DEVO) 50 Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net presented by Maxxis) 51 Derek McMaster (Ital Pasta / Transport Belmire C.C.) 52 Christian Meier (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 53 Fraser Hayes (Aviawest-Vega) 54 Braden Bingham (Team CenturyTel) 55 Roy Pickavance (Team CenturyTel) 56 Craig De gier (GS Campione) 57 Scott Slater (Masi Adobe) 58 Kevin Noiles (Masi Adobe) 59 Jeff Schiller (Team R.A.C.E.) 60 Jay Hawranik (GS Campione) 61 Andrew Thompson (Trek New Zealand) 62 Dan Schmit (TREK - Red Truck Ale) 63 Kevin Calhoun (Rocky Mountain - Different Bikes) 64 Daniel Maggiacomo (Ital Pasta/Transport Belmire C.C.) 65 Nick Friesen (Pedalhead Road Works) 66 Dave Vukets (Team R.A.C.E.) 67 John Tolkamp (Escape Velocity / DEVO) 68 Brett Boniface (IRC Cameron Law) 69 Damien Waugh (Masi Adobe) 70 Robin White (Avia West) 71 Ryan Smith (Total Restoration) 72 Chris Squire (Escape Velocity / DEVO) 73 Daniel Neyens (Broadmark Capital/Hagens Berman LLP) 74 Sean Williams (Total Restoration) 75 Dan Wood (ERTC Redbike) 76 Allen Krughoff (Team CenturyTel) 77 Ed Makarchuk (KHS Bicycles Canada) 78 John Perkins (GS Campione) 79 Adam Curry (Broadmark Capital / Hagens Berman LLP) 80 Taylor Shelden (Team CenturyTel) 81 Conor Hurley (Boston Scientific Cycling) 82 Brad Slater (Masi Adobe) 83 Philip Burgess (Masi Adobe) 84 Bradley Marquardt (Broadmark Capital / Hagens Berman LLP) 85 Murray Solem (GS Campione) 86 Jonathan Gormick (Steed Cycles / SRAM / RCBDS) 87 Richard Speer (Team Rubicon/Gleukos) 88 Ryan Clarke (Team Coastal) 89 Sven Sturm (TREK - Red Truck Ale) 90 Taylor Kneuven (Broadmark Capital/Hagens Berman LLP) 91 Jeff Ain (Escape Velocity / DEVO) 92 Matthew Walker (Gigabike/La-Z-Boy) DNF Owen Gue (Broadmark Capital / Hagens Berman LLP) DNF Brian Hall (Broadmark Capital / Hagens Berman LLP) DNF Jordan Guenette (Masi Adobe) DNF Jim Tsilemos (Team Coastal) DNF Ron Klopfer (Team Coastal) DNF Aaron Tuckerman (Team Rubicon / Gleukos) DNF Logan Hunn (Team Rubicon / Gleukos) DNF Cory Forrest (Total Restoration) DNF Tim Sherstobitoff (Total Restoration) DNF Dan Skinner (Total Restoration) DNF Ryan McNamara (Gigabike/La-Z-Boy) DNF Marcel Aarden (Gigabike/La-Z-Boy) DNF Dave Brooks (Gigabike/La-Z-Boy) DNF Garth White (TREK - Red Truck Ale) DNF Axel Bergman (Escape Velocity / DEVO) DNF Matthew Hall (Team CenturyTel) DNF Brian Vaughan (Boston Scientific Cycling) DNF Harley Borlee (H&R Block) DNF Scott Malone (Steed Cycles / SRAM / RCBDS) DNF Mike Hainsworth (Dewars Scotch) DNF Simon Craig (Spoke N Motion) DNF Brian Nelson (First Rate Mortgage) DNF Daniel Carruthers (Hansaton Hearing Systems) DNF Shaun Adamson (Juventus) DNF David Dunnison (Team Coastal) DNF Jack Okuniewicz (CVC - Central Vancouver Cycling) DNF Mike Elliston (CVC - Central Vancouver Cycling) Women's Race: 48 starters, 36 finishers 1 Gina Grain (Colavita Cooking Light) 2 Alexandra Wrubleski (H&R Block) 3 Alison Testroete (CMC/Bow Cycle) 4 Joelle Numainville (Team Biovail) 5 Lisa Sweeney (Colorado Premier Training - Colnago) 6 Mandy Poitras (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 7 Sarah Uhl (Home Depot Center Team) 8 Marni Hambleton (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 9 Carissa Wilkes (Jazz Apple Cycling Team) 10 Lieselot Decroix (Velo Bella - Kona Road Team) 11 Stacey Spencer (TREK - Red Truck Ale) 12 Sarah Stewart (Wedgewood Cycling Team) 13 Serena Sheridan (Jazz Apple Cycling Team) 14 Jennifer Lee (GS Campione) 15 Leah Goldstein (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 16 Michelle Hyland (Jazz Apple Cycling Team) 17 Laura Brown (CMC/Bow Cycle) 18 Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain - Business Objects) 19 Barb Zimich (Team Coastal) 20 Maria Lee (Symmetrics Cycling Team) 21 Lisa Tasa (Chapman Land Surveying Racing) 22 Anna Tratnyek (Terry Precision) 23 Leah Guloien (Sugoi / Giant) 24 Lee Darling (Team Coastal) 25 Jen Chapman (Velo Bella - Kona Road Team) 26 Susan Smith (A.C. Lyon Vaise) 27 Claire Cameron (GS Campione) 28 Kristine Brynjolfson (Team Coastal) 29 Brei Gudsell (Jazz Apple Cycling Team) 30 Audrey Lemieux (Colavita Cooking Light) 31 Hiroko Shimada (Velo Bella - Kona Road Team) 32 Sarah Kerlin (Velo Bella - Kona Road Team) 33 Rosara Joseph (Jazz Apple Cycling Team) DNF Jane Ziegler (Velo Bella - Kona Road Team) DNF Kele Murdin (Velo Bella - Kona Road Team) DNF Lauren Koedyk (Jazz Apple Cycling Team) DNF Natasha Kuzmak (Synergy Racing) DNF Tanya Bagnell (ERTC) DNF Amara Boursaw (Gregg's Trek VW) DNF Marisa Russell (Landis/Trek/VW) DNF Norrene Godfrey (Team Rubicon / Gleukos) DNF Christy Love (Sugoi / Giant)
