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USA Crits Series - NE
USA and Canada, April 26-September 25, 2008
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Race 10 - September 13: San Francisco Twilight Criterium,
Ramsey and Olds take home USA Crits gold in San Francisco
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Time Pro Cycling's Daniel Ramsey took the penultimate leg of the 2008 USA Crits Series in San Francisco at the inaugural running of the San Francisco Twilight Criterium. Ramsey, one of the more experienced members of the Time squad, was the beneficiary of a mechanical that that took third place finisher Jorge Alvarado (Kahala/Lagrange) out of the final moments of competition.
"I was just trying to keep pressure on the other teams so mine could make a move. I bridged up on the final break and no one came with me. Alvarado and I started working well together. He's a strong rider but he broke his saddle...unlucky for him. He told me to go ahead. So the win was easy."
118 men initially rolled to the line of the one-kilometer course on Union Street in downtown San Francisco to contest the $10,000 prize purse. Alvarado was aggressive from the start, figuring into a five man break that also included Alessandro Bazzano (Successful Living). Bazzano spent much of the evening out in front of the field, continually chasing down moves and eventually nabbing the mid-race prime. Every break that managed to establish even a momentary gap over the main field, however, caused a high-speed reaction from the pack. At one point, those riders who had yet to call it a night were stretched out on course in a 15-second-long single file.
With three laps remaining, Alvarado, Ramsey and Successful Living's fast man Ricardo Escuela established what would be the evening's winning effort. The trio held a 13-second gap over the remainder of the peloton, but Alvarado's unfortunate mechanical put the race in Ramsey's hands. This is the second USA Crits victory for the Time squad, whose Eric Barlevav won a dramatic sprint finish at this year's Harlem Skyscraper Classic in early June.
Olds wins with home turf advantage
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The women's race fielded some of the strongest talent in American cycling, including long-time veteran Laura Van Gilder of the Cheerwine squad, two-time Olympian and 2004 National U.S. Time Trial Champion Christine Thorburn (Webcor), and Canadian Olympian Gina Grain (Webcor).
But the night belonged to Proman Professional Cycling Team's Shelley Olds. Throughout the course of the race, several breakaways threatened to permanently split the field of 58 riders. Kat Carroll of the Aaron's squad put in one aggressive effort after another in the hopes of putting the race away early. With only six laps left to go Carroll made one last effort that brought Van Gilder, her teammate Sarah Bamberger, Christine Thorburn and Chrissy Ruiter (ValueAct) along with her. Carroll attacked again and put 15 seconds between her and the other members of the momentary break and an entire 40 seconds on the peloton.
In the end, however, the field all came altogether with two laps remaining and Olds pulled off the formidable task of besting not only Van Gilder, but Series leader Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) for the lion's share of the $5,000 purse.
"Laura Van Gilder attacked on the top of the hill and I just stuck on her wheel," Olds said afterwards of the finish. "It was great to have a wheel right here; it was really windy. I grabbed her wheel and made it around her."
With San Francisco now behind them, Toshiba-Santo's rider Yosvany Falcon still retains a slight edge in the men's overall competition over Time's Adam Myerson, while Kelly Benjamin's lead over Vanderkitten's Jennifer Wilson is equally thin in the women's overall.
Vanderkitten can console itself with its 149-point lead over Cheerwine in the women's team competition. That is not the case, however, in the men's team competition, where Toshiba only maintains a 44-point lead over Time Pro Cycling.
In the laps-lead competition, Toshiba Mark Hekman holds a two-lap advantage over Colavita-Sutter Home's Kyle Wamsley, while Kat Carroll will most certainly win the women's side of that competition with only one event remaining.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Larry Rosa Photography/larryrosa.com
- The finish of the elite men's race
- Daniel Ramsey (Time Pro Cycling) takes his team's second USA Crits win.
- Christine Thorburn (Webcor)
Images by Ken Conley
- Shelly Olds (Proman) takes the win in the women's race.
Results
1 Daniel Ramsey (TIME Pro Cycling) 1.14.26 2 Ricardo Escuela (Team Successful Living) 0.01 3 Jorge Alvarado (Kahala/LaGrange) 0.02 4 Jonathan Cantwell (UCI: CT Jittery Joe's Pro Cycl) 5 Ken Hanson (California Giant Berry Farms/) 0.03 6 Adam Myerson (TIME Pro Cycling) 7 Cody Stevenson (UCI: CT Jittery Joe's Pro Cycl) 8 Alessandro Bazzana (Team Successful Living) 9 Seth Hansley (Locos Grill & Pub) 10 Eric Barlevav (TIME Pro Cycling) 0.04 11 Yosvany Falcon (TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Her) 12 Craig Dodson (Richmond Pro Cycling) 13 Andres Gil (Pacific State Bank Cycling Tea) 0.05 14 Adam Switters (Rock Racing) 15 Bob Newman (Pacific State Bank Cycling Tea) 0.06 16 Robert Giannini (Locos Grill & Pub) 17 Remi Mcmanus (INFERNO PRO CYCLING) 18 Andrew Barlow (Team NorCal Bike Sport) 19 Erick Pierce (McGuire Cycling Team) 20 James Badia (Webcor/Alto Velo) 21 Dirk Copeland (California Giant Berry Farms/) 22 Nicholas Brandt-Sorenson (UNATTACHED) 0.07 23 Devon Vigus (California Giant Berry Farms/) 24 Michael Stevenson (Amore e vita) 0.08 25 Justin Laue (ZteaM Cycling) 26 Ryan Mele (Richmond Pro Cycling) 27 Matthew Mcnamara (Sterling Sports Group) 0.09 28 Phil Cortes (Amore e vita) 29 John Bergmann (BPG/Montano Velo) 30 Evan Hyde (NashvilleCyclist.com) 31 Kevin King (Wells Fargo Racing Team) 0.10 32 Elliot Jaramillo (BPG/Montano Velo) 33 Darren Basso (McGuire Cycling Team) 0.11 34 Tyler Thompson (UNATTACHED) 35 Evan Huffman (Adobe/HDR p/b lombardi sports) 36 Jared Barrilleaux (UCI: CT Jittery Joe's Pro Cycl) 0.12 37 Peter Graf (Wells Fargo Racing Team) 38 Julian Martinez (Metromint Cycling on Marin Bik) 39 Mack Chew (McGuire Cycling Team) 0.13 40 Uthman Ray Iv (ZteaM Cycling) 41 Robert Carr (Swami's-FPPI Devt Elite) 42 Bryan Larsen (Rio Strada) 0.14 43 Matthew Obregon (Adobe/HDR p/b Lombardi Sports) 44 Sean Mcbride (BPG/Montano Velo) 0.15 45 Ariel Herrmann (Pacific State Bank Cycling Tea) 0.16 46 Michael Hutchinson (Morgan Stanley 24hr Fitness Sp) 47 Rob Macneill (Webcor/Alto Velo) 0.17 48 Ian Tuttle (Above Category Racing) 0.18 49 Andrew Goessling (Village Peddler) 50 Zachary Williams (Village Peddler) 51 Russell White (Kovarus / ABTA) 52 Christopher Phipps (Morgan Stanley 24hr Fitness Sp) 0.19 53 Jared Nieters (Haymarket Bicycles/Function Dr) 0.20 54 Andrew Touchstone (The Olympic Club) 0.21 55 Michael Telega (California Giant Berry Farms/S) 0.22 56 Chris Swan (ZteaM Cycling) 0.23 57 Shawn Oliver (Morgan Stanley 24hr Fitness Sp) 58 Chris Coble (The Olympic Club) 59 Tyler Brandt (Team Swift) 0.24 60 Rand Miller (Webcor/Alto Velo) 0.27 61 Doran Mori (TEAM CLIF BAR Cycling) 62 Rob Dahl (Metromint Cycling on Marin Bik) 0.28 63 Christopher Daggs (Swami's-FPPI Devt Elite) 64 Matt Hansley (Locos Grill & Pub) 65 Frank Travieso (TOSHIBA-Santo presented by Her) 0.38 66 Christopher Carey (McGuire Cycling Team) 0.41 67 Eric Riggs (Adobe/HDR p/b lombardi sports) 0.43 68 Steve Pelaez (Adobe/HDR p/b Lombardi Sports) 0.50 69 Keith Miller (California Giant Berry Farms/) 0.53 70 Aaron Beardsley (Wells Fargo Racing Team) 1.04 71 Eric Fischer (Kovarus / ABTA) 1.07 Elite Women 1 Shelley Olds (PROMAN Racing) 1.00.56 2 Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine Cycling) 3 Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine Cycling) 4 Gina Grain (Webcor Builders) 5 Flavia Oliveira (EMC2) 0.01 6 Erica Allar (Aaron's Professional Women's C) 0.02 7 Nichole Wangsgard (Colavita Sutter Home P/B Cooki) 0.03 8 Lindsay Myers (Dewars) 9 Megan Guarnier (PROMAN Racing) 10 Janel Holcomb (Webcor Builders) 0.04 11 Jennifer Wilson (Vanderkitten Rcing) 12 Karla Kingsley (Team Easton/SugarCRM/Specializ) 13 Stacy Marple (Cheerwine Cycling) 0.05 14 Melodie Metzger (PROMAN Racing) 15 Jadine Riley (Team Group Health) 0.08 16 Karen Brems (Webcor Builders) 17 Tiffany Pezzulo (Park City Iron Man) 18 Victoria Bastide (Team TIBCO) 19 Liza Rachetto (Team TIBCO) 0.09 20 Christine Thorburn (Webcor Builders) 0.10 21 Melissa Sanborn (Vanderkitten Rcing) 22 Meredith Miller (Aaron's Professional Women's C) 23 Virginia Perkins (PROMAN Racing) 0.11 24 Leigh Valletti (Vanderkitten Rcing) 0.14 25 Taitt Sato (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team) 0.15 26 Brenda Lyons (Team Advil-ChapStick) 0.16 27 Sarah Bamberger (Cheerwine Cycling) 0.17 28 Jane Robertson (Metromint Cycling) 0.24 29 Jennifer Van Muckey (Team Easton/SugarCRM/Specializ) 0.29 30 Starla Teddergreen (Dolce Vita Cycling) 31 Alison Rosenthal (Team TIBCO) 0.30 32 Kristin Drumm (Dolce Vita Cycling) 33 Martina Patella (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team) 0.31 34 Rachel Lloyd (PROMAN Racing) 0.32 35 Liz Hatch (Vanderkitten Rcing) 36 Vanessa Drigo (Village Peddler) 37 Jennifer Reither (Vanderkitten Rcing) 0.33 38 Alison Starnes (Dolce Vita Cycling) 0.35 39 Emily Zell (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team) 0.57 40 Beverley Harper (Webcor Builders) 0.58 41 Kimberly Fong (Team Easton/SugarCRM/Specializ) 0.59 42 Jennifer Trew (Vanderkitten Rcing) 1.00
