Great Dane Velo Club #2 – Cat 3 Race Report
The second race in the GDVC Spring Criterium series saw KS Energy Services/Team Wisconsin field a team of six riders: Julio Jacobo, Travis Miller, Mark Norton, John Reynders, Kelby Shaw and Brian Stoveken. The group was pretty confident coming into the race, having hashed out a solid plan at a strategy session the previous night. In a bizarre development, Julio found himself with a snapped brake cable immediately prior to the start of the race, but managed to ride successfully without a functional front brake. Kudos on that, Julio – lesser men would have bailed at the sight of a broken part.
The race began quickly, with a two man move consisting of Greg Ferguson (Trek Midwest Team) and Patrick Diamond (Geargrinder). The pair successfully created a gap of about 7 seconds from the main field, supported by their respective teams’ blocking efforts. After a couple of laps, it was clear that the KS Energy Services/Team Wisconsin crew needed to make an effort to either place a rider in the move, or bring it back in. Kelby and I made efforts to bring the gap down, and when the gap seemed reasonable, the decision was made to place a man in the break.
I’ll take a moment here to say that pack dynamics can be a real blessing sometimes.
As I rolled through the start/finish, John Reynders made his way to the front and joined my tempo making. The group was following my wheel at the time, and I veered right to take a peek back at the group. The whole group followed me to the right, giving John a wide birth on the left of the road. John opened seemingly effortless gap due to the pack following my wheel, and we took the opportunity to send him up the road and join the break.
Some blocking and countering took place in the main field, with some strong counter moves coming from Mark Norton and Kelby Shaw. Julio Jacobo set stellar tempo for the group, and both he and Travis Miller covered some intense attempts to bridge the gap to the leading three riders. Once it was clear that the break was going to stay clear, Mark made a savage attack to test the mettle of the field, and was able to stay away for a short while before being towed in by other teams.
At 4 laps to go, our team consolidated towards the front of the pack, in anticipation of the coming field sprint. We had spent time preparing for this, and were eager to try out our skills with a lead-out train. We started a bit earlier than planned, but with the additional power contributed by Kelby Shaw, we were able to set a blistering pace for two and a half laps before staring the final lead-out for the field sprint. The team executed the train like clockwork; a rotation between Kelby, Mark, Travis and myself kept the pace high until the final moments. Unfortunately, we may have gone a bit early, because the final pace sagged just enough to allow too many sprinters a chance at the line. Julio mixed it up with the best of them, but they had the jump on him and curtailed his plans in the sprint.
Despite the less than ideal field sprint, the good news was that John was able to hang on in the break, and finished with a solid 3rd place for the team! Congrats, John! Another podium for KS Energy Services/Team Wisconsin! We all rode strong today, and the team should be proud of the performances they put forth.
Next week is our home race at Whitnall Park, and the gloves will come off!