Haedo takes St. Paul criterium, Broun steals sprint show

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Colavita-Sutter Home played their trademark lead-out card to bring their sprinter Sebastian Haedo into the stage two victory at the Nature Valley Grand Prix St. Paul criterium. Thomas Soladay (Mountain Khakis) hung onto a second in the bunch sprint after a bid for the solo win from a decisive move. He missed the victory by a mere bike length, only passed by Haedo on the line. The winner's teammate Alejandro Borrajo settled for third place.

"We only had to work in the last lap because we had my teammate Tyler [Wren] in the breakaway," Haedo said. "It was a very fast crit with all the riders wanting the front. With two laps to go we decided that the gap to the breakaway was not coming down fast enough so we decided to do the lead-out for me in the sprint. This is a great win for me and tomorrow I hope there is another."

Tom Zirbel maintained his lead in the overall ahead of Rory Sutherland (OUCH p/b Maxxis) and teammate Peter Latham. "Rory is a fantastic racer and he has proven that in the last few years," Zirbel said. "To beat him this week will be quite the challenge but it's very calming to have such a strong and experienced team behind me. I'm looking forward to the challenge. I probably got a few grey hairs today from the criterium. Those races are white knuckle for 60 minutes and it's probably going to be like that for the rest of the week."

Soladay earned himself the criterium's most aggressive rider jersey for initiating the early breakaway that nearly succeeded to the finish. He accumulated enough points during the 40-lap move and at the those offered at the finish line to take the lead in the Sprint classification. Scott Stewart (Team Waste Management) took the lead in the event's best young rider competition.

"I would trade both jerseys for the win today," said Soladay. "I had no intentions of gaining the sprint jersey today. It just happened because I was out there for so long. I wanted to make the break that the GC leaders would let go up the road. I was in it to win a stage. I'll take these two jerseys and a second place because I had no choice. But now that I have the sprint jersey it is not something that I'm just going to let go. I'm going to continue to work for this."

The split that almost stuck

143 professionals assembled on the start line anticipating a fast 60-minute criterium littered with valuable intermediate time bonus sprints. The course changed from the previous year's L-shaped technical circuit to a momentum-lending rectangular version. Team Bissell assumed responsibility as the leading team from the start. They allowed one rider, Soladay to gain several second on the field with in the first five laps of the race.

The bridging riders reshuffled several times before a solid breakaway was established to include three additional riders Tyler Wren (Colavita-Sutter Home), Will Routely (Jelly Belly) and Adam Bergman (Texas Road House). "We weren't too concerned about the breakaway because I knew I had a team to bring that back," Zirbel said. "I felt like they had everything under control."

Routely was the highest placed rider in the overall, 33 seconds back. The more time the breakaway gained on the field, the further Routely rolled into the virtual race lead. "I think we were happy to keep it at ten seconds by the end and we weren't too worried about it," Zirbel said. "Will is a strong rider and a contender on a stage like Mankato. But we knew it was going to come back. A team like Colavita is here to win stages, that's what they do best. We just had to keep it under control during the race."

The four riders gained a maximum of 24 seconds on the peloton, a time that did not begin to shrink until under 10 laps to go. After trying to bridge several riders across to the break, Team OUCH p/b Maxxis gave its full effort to the chase in the final laps. The motivation was to keep the race fast and safe and if the opportunity presented it self, move GC contenders Rory Sutherland and John Murphy up in the ladder by picking up finish line time bonuses. Marquee teammate Floyd Landis made a cameo appearance setting tempo at the front of the peloton for several laps.

Bergman, a native of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, crashed on the last corner as the break saw two laps to go and without the fourth rider it was unlikely that the break would succeed to the finish. "When Adam crashed we all lost our momentum and we also lost one more person to help work," Soladay said. "I attacked with one lap to go and held it as long as I could."

Colavita-Sutter Home was absolved of responsibility in the chase having no riders in the top GC 10 and representing one rider in the breakaway. The team waited patiently behind Bissell and OUCH p/b Maxxis before starting their lead-out with one lap to go and catching Soladay at the line.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix continues Thursday with the third stage Cannon Falls Road Race, a 100-kilometre race through the rolling hills and farms of east central Minnesota.

Broun steals sprint show in St. Paul

Australia's Kirsty Broun (Riverstone-CDA) outpaced Joanne Kiesanowski (TIBCO) and Gina Grain (Webcor) to take the prestigious victory in the Nature Valley Grand Prix stage two criterium held in St. Paul. Broun, a formidable sprinter from the Australian Institute of Sports, caught the field off-guard with her snappy sprint that gave her a commanding lead out of the final corner.

"I knew that it all came down to the last corner," said Broun who will rejoin her national federation in Europe in August. "I had been going for time bonuses and knew I had to be coming out of that last corner in front and that's what I did. The strategy was to be patient and to try to suck some final air before the final sprint."

There was no change in the overall classification after stage two. Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Test Team) continues on with the race lead ahead of Alison Powers (Team Type 1) just under 13 seconds back, and Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) in third place and 48 seconds back.

Broun topped her American debut with a lead position in the event's overall sprinter's classification. She also earned herself the most aggressive rider jersey for fierce attempts to capture the intermediate time bonuses. Webcor-Builders duo, Erinne Willock will begin stage three wearing the event's best climber's jersey and Alexis Rhode the best young rider jersey.

"I knew she [Kristin Armstrong] was going to drive the race and try to get away, and we had a really strong team so we just stayed near her," Kirsty said. "I stuck to Webcor and Colavita. We all tried to work together to keep Kristin under wraps. I just tested my legs out in a couple of the intermediate sprints, and...I knew I had to go before the last corner."

Race leader, Armstrong set a pace so fast during the opening laps of the women's 60-minute criterium that it shattered the back half of the field. When the race settled into a quick rhythm, powerful teams TIBCO, Webcor-Builders, Value Act Capital, Colavita-Sutter Home and Proman put forth a strong presence at the front of the field.

Several breakaway attempts included Katharine Carroll (TIBCO), Andrew Dvorak (Colavita-Sutter Home), Nikki Butterfield and Rebecca Much (Webcor-Builders) but nothing gained more than few seconds on the peloton before being reeled in. Mid-race, Kori Seehafer (Team Type 1) snapped off the front for more than two laps, gaining a maximum of 15-seconds on the field.

The time bonuses available were valuable to those GC contenders looking to move up. However, Grain noted her strategy for picking up time bonuses that kept other team's riders from gaining time on her team's top GC riders Erinne Willock, Alexis Rhodes and Katheryn Mattis. "My first job was to try to get all the time bonuses today from people who are fast and close in the GC," Grain said. "After that I felt horrible but I recovered with about three laps to go."

Armstrong pulled the field through the final laps of the race before TIBCO took over with their lead-out train with two laps to go. "TIBCO did a good lead-out but on the back-side of the course a lot of riders started to jump and it was basically a drag race to the last corner," Grain said. Broun beat Grain and Kiesanowski for the first position through the final corner and gained a sizable head start in the drag race to the line.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix continues Thursday with the third stage Cannon Falls Road Race, a 100-kilometre race through the rolling hills and farms of east central Minnesota.