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USA Cycling Pro championships - CN
USA, September 1-3, 2006
Main Page Results & report Race Details Previous Race
Race 2 - September 3: USA professional road race championships, 194.6 km
Complete live report
22:22 EDT
Welcome to coverage of the USPRO road
race championships from Greenville, South Carolina. Race coverage will begin
just before the actual start of the race (scheduled for 12:30pm EST).
12:25 EDT
Good morning. The USPRO championships
road race will be starting in eight minutes. The front line of the race is being
called up at this time. Defending champion Chris Wherry (Toyota United), Mark
McCormack (Colavita), Scott Moninger (Health Net/Maxxis), Danny Pate (TIAA Cref),
Levi Leipheimer (Goerelsteiner), David Zabriski (CSC), George Hincapie (Discovery
Channel) all got the call up.
12:28 EDT
The race will be run on a circuit
on the roads around Greenville for a total distance of 194km. During each lap,
the riders make an extended climb up Paris Mountain which should make this a
race of attrition.
12:29 EDT
There are 102 starters in the race.
12:30 EDT
The race is underway beneath severely
overcast skies, humid, muggy air and temperatures in the upper seventies.
12:32 EDT
North American editor Mark Zaleswki
and race photographer Jon Devich previewed the racecourse yesterday. They report
that the climb in a leg-burner with a varying pitch including several sectoins
of steep pitches.
USA Cycling Pro championships - CN, Greenville, SC, USA
road racecourse
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12:34 EDT 3km/191.6km to go
The pressure is immediately
on as the field strings out with the early efforts.
12:39 EDT 6km/188.6km to go
A group of seven
are attempting to get off the front. They have about 50 meters.
12:42 EDT 8km/186.6km to go
At this point in
the race the terrain is semi-urban; completely flat. The riders will take a
hard right turn at about 12 kilometers and immediately start climbing Paris
Mountain. The climb is twisty and steep and approximately three kilometers long.
The toughest part is the last few hundred meters which jump form the seven percent
average at the bottom to over ten percent in places.
The seven have
been absorbed and now a group of four are attempting to get away; with several
other riders trying to bridge across.
12:43 EDT
The riders climb approximately 1,000
feet per lap.
12:45 EDT 10km/184.6km to go
The group is five
kilometers from teh King of the Mountain line at the top of Paris Mountain.
12:46 EDT 11.8km/182.8km to go
There are spectators
in front of their houses watching the race go by. The group is all together
at the base of the climb
12:48 EDT
The group has made the right turn
into the base of Paris Mountian. There are poeple standing beside the road at
the bottom of the climb.
Mark Zalewski is riding in Mavic II - he
wants to thank them for their support.
12:52 EDT 15km/179.6km to go
Tim Johnson (Health
Net) has put on an attack about halfway up the climb.
12:53 EDT 16km/178.6km to go
Pace is being set
behind by TIAA Cref and Toyota United team members with one kilometer to the
KOM.
12:55 EDT 16km/178.6km to go
The crowds thicken
toward the top of the climb; many waving American flags.
12:57 EDT 17km/177.6km to go
Johnson came back
to the group and a TIAA Cref rider (Craig Lewis, a local rider) takes a flyer
with 200 meters to got to the KOM.
12:59 EDT 18km/176.6km to go
Lucas Euser (TIAA
Cref) took the KOM.
The field is essentially strung out on the very
fist climb. Immediately following the climb, the riders negotiate a hairpin
turn and descend as steeply as the ascended.
13:01 EDT 20km/174.6km to go
It appears that
the field split into a lead group of approximately forty riders, leaving sixty
riders trying to catch.
13:03 EDT 23km/171.6km to go
The major brand
name Pro Tour riders - Zabriskie, Hincapie and Leipheimer - are all present.
13:04 EDT 24km/170.6km to go
The officials are
saying that there are only fifteen riders in the lead group, not forty as previously
reported. The gap has grown such that official vehicles have moved into the
gap between groups - which usually means a gap of about a minute.
13:05 EDT 25km/169.6km to go
The leaders are
moving at 45 to 50 miles per hour on the last section of the descent.
13:07 EDT
The gap has been reported; 30 seconds.
Hincapie is taking turns at the front to drive the advantage.
13:10 EDT 29km/165.6km to go
Chris Wherry, Justin
England, Scott Moninger, George Hincapie, Neil Shirley, Leipheimer are all in
the lead group. Zabriskie is not in the break. They currently have 24 seconds.
13:14 EDT 32km/162.6km to go
The gap is coming
down. Only ten seconds now thorugh the flat section of the course.
13:14 EDT 34km/160.6km to go
The break held the
ten second lead through the start/finish.
13:15 EDT 34km/160.6km to go
One rider (Phillip
Gaimon, VMG Racing) has crashed in a turn but was able to get right back up
on his bike.
13:16 EDT 36km/158.6km to go
Through the start/finish
line, the group is all together.
13:17 EDT
After the fifth lap, the riders will
do three, three-kilometer finishing laps.
13:22 EDT 36km/158.6km to go
There has been a
split at the back of the field with a two minute gap back to a group of maybe
thirty riders. This proves that Paris Mountian will be very selective in this
race. If the field loses a third of it's numbers every time up the climb, we'll
be left with a small group by the last lap.
13:24 EDT 40km/154.6km to go
The main group is
all together at the front. We asked Jason McCartney is he was going to try and
go off the front on one of his patented suicide attackes but he said he's too
fried from the season to try.
13:25 EDT
We also talked to george Hincapie
yesterday. He says he's been looking forward to the race. "I do Paris Mountain
all the time, so it's my favourite. Going up for sure. I know it like it is
my backyard, because it is my backyard."
13:26 EDT 41km/153.6km to go
The temperatures
have risen to 85-degrees F.
13:32 EDT
Speaking of Hincapie; the tall American
Pro Tour rider went on a recon ride yesterday with other Pro Tour riders Dave
Zabriskie (Team CSC) and Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) - showing them the course
for Sunday's USPRO road championship.
Hincapie said that the ride
was just a friendly pre-race ride and that there are not any formal plans to
work together tomorrow, but he did acknowledge that tomorrow will be a tough
for them. "We are definitely outnumbered but we all want the jersey so much,"
he said at a pre-race event in downtown Greenville. He also gave his preference
for how tomorrow should go. "We haven't had our meeting yet, but hope that there
isn't a big breakaway without me in it!"
13:33 EDT 44km/150.6km to go
there is a two rider
break leading into the second time up Paris Mountian.
13:35 EDT 45km/149.6km to go
Approaching five-kilometers
to the KOM, two-kilometers from the start of the climb, and the two riders were
absorbed back into the group.
13:37 EDT
The riders are at the base of the
climb for the second time.
13:38 EDT
Antonio Cruz (Toyota United) is setting
pace. Zabriskie and Leipheimer are right behind him. As is Jason McCartney.
13:42 EDT
The pack is single file up the climb.
13:42 EDT
Here's some more information on the
selection: 57 riders got the same time which means the filed was cut almost
in half in one lap.
13:43 EDT 49km/145.6km to go
Zabriskie and Leipheimer
are setting tempo at the front.
13:45 EDT 51km/143.6km to go
At one kilometer
to the KOM, there are eight riders with a gap over the rest of the strung-out
field.
13:48 EDT 51km/143.6km to go
Over the top of
the climb its Werry, Baldwin, England, Swindlehurst, Zajicek, Hincapiue, Leipheimer
in the front followed by a second group (Moninger, Jaques-Maynes, King, and
Euser) at 20 seconds.
13:51 EDT
It appears that Paris Mountain is
too much for Dave Zabriskie. He lost contact with the lead group on the first
climb. On the second, he positioned himself at the front of the field but once
the leaders rolled over the top of the climb, he was no longer with them.
13:54 EDT
The lead group of eight riders has
thirty-five seconds on the chase on the descent.
13:56 EDT
Chris Wheery, who is in the lead group
with teammate Chris Baldwin, said yesterday "I think the game plan is survival
-- it's a really difficult course. Definitely a race of attrition. I thought
it might be a tactical race but you got Levi and George going up the climb fast
one time and it will be a small group. And a small group could definitely ride
to the finish.
Baldwin will probably be my wing man, he's obviously
got good form. He will be there to help out the most."
It might drive
him a little tomorrow -- I don't think he slept a whole lot last night, a bruised
ego."
13:58 EDT 59km/135.6km to go
There are thirteen
riders twenty-five seconds from the break. Navigators riders Zajicek and Swindlehurst
are setting pace in the break.
14:03 EDT
The gap is 30 seconds to the chase
and 1:20 back to the full field. The lead includes the defending national champion
(Wherry) with a teammate, as well as American Pro Tour brand-name riders George
Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer.
14:09 EDT 71km/123.6km to go
The leaders have
made it through the start/finish line intact and head out for their third lap.
14:12 EDT 72km/122.6km to go
We still don't have
any information about the riders in the four-man chase group but it has closed
to ten seconds and contains at least one TIAA Cref rider (Danny Pate).
14:13 EDT
The main group is now over two minutes
down. If the two groups at the front come together, there will be twelve riders
who can climb Paris Mountain well working together. The selection for the head
of this race may have been made at this point.
14:16 EDT 75km/119.6km to go
The chase has caught
the break. The pace has softened slightly as the leaders try to refuel on the
lead-up to the third time over Paris Maountian.
14:16 EDT
Riders who are just now making it
through the start/finish line, five minutes after the leaders went through,
are being pulled from the racecourse.
14:20 EDT
The main group now consists of approximately
32 riders at 2:10 behind the leaders.
14:23 EDT 79km/115.6km to go
The first chase
group, of four riders, were all members of the TIAA Cref team (Euser, Caldwell,
Pate and Frischkorn). Navigators are setting the pace in the lead group.
14:24 EDT 80km/114.6km to go
The lead group has
picked up all the riders that were stuck behind the chase but ahead of the main
group and is now 22 riders strong. 32 riders are in the main group.
14:25 EDT 81km/113.6km to go
Leipheimer is on
the radio and has a hand in the air. The Discovery car is coming up. He missed
two feed handoffs so maybe he's looking for food and water.
14:27 EDT
It's interesting that the Discovery
car, which is driven by Viatcheslav Ekimov, is feeding Leipheimer. There is
a rumour floating through the race caravan that Hincapie, Leipheimer and Zabriskie
were all tuned to the same radio frequency. But as late as last night, Hincapie
was still denying that the three would be working together in the race.
14:28 EDT
There are still a handful of riders
between the two groups, including Health Net's climber Scott Moninger - who
just won the Tour of Utah stage race.
14:32 EDT 84km/110.6km to go
The leaders have
made the turn onto the Paris Mountain climb for the third time.
14:33 EDT 84km/110.6km to go
Toyota United are
setting the pace.
14:36 EDT 85.5km/109.1km to go
The lead group
is sticking together with one kilometer to the KOM.
14:37 EDT 86km/108.6km to go
England and Stockburger
are the Toyota United riders setting the pace. Chris Baldwin seems to have fallen
off the back.
14:38 EDT 87km/107.6km to go
Andrew Badjadali
(Jelly Belly) has moved to the front with 500 meters to the KOM
14:39 EDT
Leipheimer has moved to the front.
14:41 EDT
With the leaders cresting Paris Mountain,
the main field still has one kilometer to go wchih means the lead may have extended
to more than three minutes now.
14:41 EDT 88.5km/106.1km to go
Badjadali took
the KOM.
14:47 EDT
Seventeen riders made it over the
climb together. According to the race announcers, the fastest rider made it
up Paris Mountain in 9:09 on the first lap. The pace seemed more sensible on
the third lap and the leaders climb was 9:47.
The main group is still
holding at 2:15.
14:50 EDT
Riders are attacking the lead group
through the flatter section of the race. Nothing has stuck so far.
14:52 EDT 97km/97.6km to go
Zabriskie has abandoned
the USA Cycling professional road race championship.
14:59 EDT 99km/95.6km to go
The race has blown
up so much the officials have moved their radio communications cars ahead of
the main group (usually one car stays back with the group and one stays up with
the leaders - but they can only be so far apart for radion communications to
work so...).
Moving the car up says they are no longer attending
to the main group. Our reporter riding in the Mavic nuetral support car says
the riders have been told they are still in the race. But there is a time cut
of five minutes per lap so we may see the field get cut in half once more as
the riders come through the start/finish.
15:01 EDT 101km/93.6km to go
The gap to the main
group is over four minutes.
The leaders are one kilometer from the
start/finish.
15:04 EDT
The leaders are still working well
together, in single file. The conventional wisdom now calls for them to set
a brisk tempo the fourth time up Paris Mountain to shed any remaining dead weight
then stay together to fight it out the final time up the climb. Whatever group
sticks together then will have the three finishing circuits to go man-to-man
for the championship.
We'll see if this group of riders will follow
conventional wisdom of create a fresh havoc of their own.
15:05 EDT 107km/87.6km to go
Two riders are attempting
to break away through the start/finish line. Will Frischkorn and Michael Creed
of TIAA Cref.
15:06 EDT
So there goes conventional wisdom
right.
15:07 EDT 106.2km/88.4km to go
The two TIAA Cref
riders have fifteen seconds.
15:09 EDT
Michael Creed, who rode for the Discovery
Channel team in 2005, looked supr strong in the Tour of Utah one month ago.
In fact, he was so comfortable on one of the extended climbing days that he
was able to freely move forward and backwards through the group to pick up and
support his younger teammates when ordered to do so by Sport Director Jonathan
Vaughters.
15:10 EDT
The TIAA Cref move lets Danny Pate
sit in the remains of the lead group and do no work on the fourth climb over
Paris Mountain.
15:22 EDT 117km/77.6km to go
Five kilomters to
the KOM for the two leaders. The gap is 50 seconds. they recieved water from
nuetral support because the riders team cars have not been able to come up into
the gap. Our reporter handed the two riders their bottles and says they didn't
even bother to drink them; they pured them straight over their heads.
15:23 EDT 118.5km/76.1km to go
The gap is at
one minute at the bottom of the climb. The TIAA Cref car has moved forward.
15:25 EDT
Frischkorn is now by himself setting
a steady tempo. Toyota United is setting tempo on the front of the lead group.
15:27 EDT 119km/75.6km to go
Navigators and Toyota
United are setting pace in the lead chase group. Hincapie and Leipheimer are
sitting in.
15:27 EDT 119.5km/75.1km to go
Creed has fallen
all the way back to the chase group.
15:29 EDT
The gap back to the main group is
almost six minutes back at this point. the group containing Scott Moninger has
drifted back and been absorbed as well. Which leaves a very select group on
this fourth climb up Paris Mountain.
15:31 EDT 121km/73.6km to go
The gap to Frischkorn
is coming down now; less than 20 seconds. The leaders are halfway up the climb.
15:32 EDT 121.3km/73.3km to go
Frischkorn is
now in the group but still sitting on the front setting tempo. There is one
kilometer remaining in the climb.
15:34 EDT 122km/72.6km to go
Badjadali took the
KOM once again and the lead group is together over the top of the climb.
15:37 EDT
Badjadali is leading the descent by
ten seconds. Frank Pipp (Tragettraining.com) is next. The rest of the lead group
is strung out behind them.
15:40 EDT
According to the race announcers,
the fourth climb was completed in 10:13 by the leaders. that's a full minute
slower than the first time. It will be interesting to see how fast they take
the last lap.
15:41 EDT 128km/66.6km to go
Eight riders are
together off the front now and moving fast.
15:43 EDT
race radio is reporting that the spread
between the first and last rider on the road is 8:42.
15:48 EDT 135km/59.6km to go
Zajicek and Swindlehurst
are setting tempo with Levi Leipheimer behind.
15:50 EDT 136km/58.6km to go
Ben Jaques-Maynes
and Blake Caldwell have fallen of the pace of the lead group.
16:01 EDT 142km/52.6km to go
Nine riders remain
in the lead group. Zajicek and Swindlehurst are the only remaining teammates
as the race moves into it's final full-sized lap. Hincapie and Leipheimer are
still there. Wherry is still there. Badjadali is still there. Blake Cadwell
is also there.
16:05 EDT
Leipheimer said yesterday that he
believed the first rider over the final climb might be able to establish an
advantage on the downhill and stay away. "I think because the descent is not
fast and technical it will be easier to get away. You can jump away because
you have to pedal it and nobody is going to want to pedal the downhill. Otherwise,
if it's a fast downhill you can't really go faster than the next guy."
The leaders are five kilometers from the base of their final ascent of Paris
Mountain.
16:06 EDT 145km/49.6km to go
Average speed of
the race is 25.2mph at this stage of the race.
16:08 EDT 146km/48.6km to go
Leipheimer is back
at the Discovery team car fetching a bottle to top off his fluids for the final
climb.
16:10 EDT 147km/47.6km to go
I mis-spoke earlier
about the make-up of the final group. Danny Pate has made the selection so now
both Navigators and TIAA Cref have teammates in the lead group guys.
There are only thirty riders left in the race; a 70% attrition rate.
16:16 EDT
The riders are almost to the base
of Paris Mountian. Leipheimer is testing with a surge but the group is staying
close.
16:20 EDT 155km/39.6km to go
Leipheimer is leading
the group on the climb.
16:21 EDT 155.5km/39.1km to go
Leipheimer's pace
is having a huge impact. Caldwell has dropped off the back. Badjadali is at
the back.
16:22 EDT
Jaques-Maynes was also dropped.
16:22 EDT
Zajicek and Swindlehurst are trying
to hold Leipheimer's wheel but Zajicek is struggling.
16:23 EDT 156km/38.6km to go
Danny Pate is sticking
with Badjadali, dangling behind Leipheimer. Hincapie is right behind Leipheimer
now.
16:24 EDT
Leipheimer, Hincapie and Pate have
about fifteen meeters on the Badjadali, Wherry group.
16:24 EDT
Caldwell and Jaques-Maynes have fallen
to oevr a minute behind.
16:25 EDT
Hincapie has attacked with 600 meters
to go to the KOM.
16:26 EDT 157.5km/37.1km to go
The four lead
riders are over the KOM.
16:30 EDT
Hincapie is on the descent and drilling
the pace to keep his gap alive. Leipheimer is sitting on his group of Pate and
Badjadali, leaving them to pull his future teammate back.
16:32 EDT 160km/34.6km to go
Badjadali and Leipheimer
have caught on to Hincapie. Pate has been dropped.
16:33 EDT
Badjadali is at such a disadvantage
at this point; the two Pro Tour riders can take turns to wear him down and leave
the sprint for the national championships for themselves.
16:35 EDT
The front of the race is off the bottom
of the climb and heading for the three final finishing circuits.
16:37 EDT
Hincapie attacks and Leipheimer sits
on Badjadali's wheel. Their tactics seem to answer the speculation of whether
these two riders are colluding or not.
16:40 EDT 165km/29.6km to go
There are fourteen
minutes between the front and the back of the race on the road.
Leipheimer and Hincapie are taking turns attacking Badjadali. Impressively,
the Jelly Belly rider has been able to keep himself together and respond.
16:41 EDT
Race radio has just reported that
they are going to have the main group sprint this time through the start/finish
for their final position in the race so the leaders can have an open course
with no lapped traffic to fight for the jersey.
16:43 EDT
The final circuits are approximately
6.5km per lap.
16:45 EDT
Badjadali is sticking with the two
Pro Tour riders still as the gap to the three chasers grows to 25 seconds.
16:48 EDT
A light rain is starting to fall over
the racecourse. There are several technical turns in the final circuits and
Hincapie has been taking aggressive lines. He'll have to be a little more careful
to keep the rubber side down.
16:51 EDT 173.6km/21km to go
Things are still
the same as the rain builds, making the roads dangerous for the final 20km.
16:55 EDT 174.6km/20km to go
The leaders are
through the start/finish line and get a gthree-laps-to-go card.
The
next six chasers will also see three-to-go. The main group, which only contains
something like fifteen riders, will be scored on their place across the line
this first time and pulled from the racecourse.
Which means only
approximately 25 riders of 102 will officially finish. That's a 75% attrition
rate. Since the cash payout for this race is 25 riders deep, there are just
enought racers left so that all the prize checks get used.
16:57 EDT 175.6km/19km to go
Hincapie and Leipheimer
seem to be taking a break from trying to shake Badjadali. They may be waiting
to have another crack at him in the final lap.
16:57 EDT
And no sooner do I say that than Hincapie
takes a flyer and has established a small gap.
16:59 EDT 176.6km/18km to go
Badjadali is burying
himself to try and make contact.
17:02 EDT 180.6km/14km to go
The leaders are
through the start/finish and heading out for their second of the final three
laps. Hincapie is still off on his own. Leipheimer is now chasing at 20 seconds.
Badjadali has now fallen back to the chase group.
17:02 EDT 181.6km/13km to go
The rain has stopped
but the roads are still wet.
17:04 EDT 184.6km/10km to go
George is three-kilometers
from starting his final lap. He still has a lead. He can see Leipheimer at a
turn he is on.
17:05 EDT
Hincapie is seated and driving.
17:06 EDT 186.1km/8.5km to go
Hincapie keeps
checking over his shoulder but his lead is holding. Leipheimer is also seated
and driving himself.
17:06 EDT 187.1km/7.5km to go
Leipheimer is gainig
ground, only five seonds behind now.
17:07 EDT 187.6km/7km to go
Hincapie and Leipheimer
are together at the start/finish line.
17:07 EDT 188.1km/6.5km to go
Leipheimer looks
over at Hincapie and says something then goes to the front.
17:08 EDT
Both riders are in the drops of their
handelbars. Hincapie pulls through.
17:11 EDT 189.1km/5.5km to go
The two leaders
are on the final lap. Badjadali came through the start/finish line alone. Pate
was chasing. The main group has completed their sprint and are now clear of
the course.
17:12 EDT 191.1km/3.5km to go
Hincapie and Leipheimer
are still trading the lead. they are into the feed zone, about three kilometers
from the finish.
17:13 EDT 191.6km/3km to go
Hincpaie takes a
pull with his hands draped over the bars in time trial mode. The two riders
are shifting around on the road, tryig to find the dry patches.
17:13 EDT
Badjadali is still holding third on
the road.
17:14 EDT 192.1km/2.5km to go
Hincpaie and Leipheimer
are side by side and talking. About what, we could only guess. When to sprint
maybe?
17:14 EDT 192.6km/2km to go
Whether to sprint
at all.
17:15 EDT 193.1km/1.5km to go
Badjadali was caught
by Danny Pate. Pate immediately attacked and is now third on the road.
17:16 EDT 193.6km/1km to go
Hincapie has attacked.
17:16 EDT 194.1km/0.5km to go
Leipheimer is out
of the saddle but Hincapie is gooone
17:16 EDT
Hincapie is looking over his shoulder
but be has a ten second gap.
17:17 EDT
Hincapie is the new USA Cycling professional
national road race champion. He is smiling as he zipes up his jersey, kisses
his wedding ring, puts his hands in the air and crosses the line.
Leipheimer follows.
17:18 EDT
Swindlehurst and Pate sprinted for
third. Pate takes it.
17:23 EDT
Wow. What a race. It was predicted
that the 1,000 foot climb up Paris Mountain, which riders had to do five times,
would be selective and with 75% of the riders not finishing and arguably the
strongest American all-around racer winning the Stars and Stripes jersey for
the third time in his career, it appears the predictions were correct.
That's it for our live coverage. Thank you for tuning in. Check back on www.cyclingnews.com
later for full photos, complete results and a race report from Greenville.
