The Wisconsin State Criterium Championships brought out some of the fastest talent to Mukwonago, Wisconsin. KS Energy Services-Team Wisconsin Cycling’s own Freddy Derocher was one of them, but as he admitted after the race, luck may have helped him more than speed.
Derocher and Ted Jacobson represented the Red and White and supporting each other would be an important aspect to grabbing success. The two cyclists may have been the only two from Team Wisconsin at the Masters 3/4 race but they had the full backing of the team’s sponsors, Trek and Emery’s. Derocher’s ride for the day was the Trek Madone, a bike he describes as “bomb-proof” and reliable especially for a rider of his stature which he points out isn’t often described as “light on the pedals”.
“I’m very surprised a guy my size can get the performance out of a bike this light,” Derocher said. “I’m not even sure it should be possible. The sheer physics of it is mind boggling!”
Derocher would also get a big help from the Bontrager Aeolus 5 Tubular wheels and the R4 tubular tires.
The two teammates discussed some strategy before taking off at the starting line. Any plan would help as other teams like Velocause and ISCorp each had multiple riders. The idea was to monitor and chase any breakaway with under ten laps to go to keep things compact. Derocher and Jacobson also planned on letting the bigger teams do the heavy lifting to save energy for the finish. If things stayed compact, Jacobson would go ahead for the attack to create some chaos at the front. But on this day, Derocher descibed that no one would have luck breaking away from the pack.
“The pace was actually consistently high during the race which discouraged legitimate breakaway attempts. The few attempts that were made were reeled in throughout the race rather quickly.”
It all came down to the final laps. Once Team Wisconsin had reeled in a late breakaway, Derocher made his move, attacking just before the course’s fourth turn. From the get-go, it looked like he made his move from too far in the back of the group and his concern of not having enough energy to finish started to grow. Going into the next turn, Derocher could see behind his shoulder that he wasn’t able to create a big enough gap and thinking his attack was useless at this point, decided to slow the pace.
That turned out to be the defining moment.
“It was a split-second instinctual reation,” Derocher recalls. Robbie Gauss told me after the race the first few guys to respond to my attack let up just a bit as a result.”
That allowed him to accelerate out of turn five and maintain a gap in front of the peloton. Derocher kept up the pace throughout the next few turns but when trying to close the inside line of turn eight, he slowed down as a result.
His words describe the final stretch:
“I figured I had blown the race at that point but I put everything I had into accelerating to the line. It was a photo finish with Vaidas Barcys shooting past me right at the line — I had forgotten to shift as I accelerated out of turn eight. There was no celebration and no excitement on the cool down lap. I’m pretty sure my first words to my family were, ‘well, I sure managed to blow that one didn’t I?’”
But Derocher’s disappointment quickly changed to celebration when the photo finish proved that his wheel had in fact, crossed the finish line first.
While the win is nice, Derocher admits that enjoying the sport is what is important.
“I have so much to learn still as this is only my third year racing a bike. I’m learning to put less pressure on myself and just have fun.”