Aldape does a solo job on Mt Bachelor

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Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) loves Mt Bachelor. So much so that he won the BMC Cascade Cycling Classic's stage four road race for the second year running. The Mexican climber separated himself from his breakaway companions on the ascent up to the Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort and arrived at the top alone ahead of a bunch sprint won by Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia), Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) and overall race leader Oscar Sevilla.

"Winning here last year meant that I knew the roads up the last climb and that was perfect" said Aldape who dedicated the win to his wife Gabriela and son Gabriel. "I was watching as the attacks were going and went with them. I came across to my teammate Michael Creed on the climb. I attacked knowing that if I came back he would go next. It's only important for someone from my team to win the stage."

Sevilla maintained his overall lead ahead of runner up Jeff Louder (BMC) and teammate Mancebo as the race heads into the stage five downtown criterium. "My team worked very well today considering there were so many attacks going on," Sevilla said. "The start was very difficult and very aggressive. But we stayed relaxed and did not worry. I have a strong team."

After spending more than 90 kilometres off the front together, seven riders from an early breakaway began to splinter at the base of the 16km climb up to the top of Mt Bachelor Ski Resort. They included Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Tim Johnson (OUCH p/b Maxxis), Davide Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home), Jackson Stewart (BMC), Kirk Carlsen (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin), Michael Creed (Team Type 1) and Jesse Sergent (Livestrong).

After an all-day chase from the leading team Rock Racing, the gap to the breakaway continued up the climb to gain more than a minute's advantage. BMC sent off a string of attacks to put pressure on race leader Sevilla. As a result, five riders lead by Tony Cruz (BMC) bridged across to remnants of the original break. BMC dominated the chase having Steve Bovay and Chris Barton also in the chase along with David Vitoria (Rock Racing) and defending stage winner Aldape.

BMC set the pace for the next several kilometres pulling away from Rock Racing. Aldape made his winning move with six kilometres to go, displayed his climbing pedigree by opening an immediate 20 second gap. He continued to muscle his way toward the five kilometre to go sign where his advantage exploded to more than 35 seconds on chasers Bovay and Vitoria.

Overall contender Rory Sutherland (OUCH p/b Maxxis) attempted to bridge to the pair of chasers but in the end it was Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin) who successfully made his way across, increasing the chase to three riders. The climb began to flatten out with in the final two kilometres allowing the peloton to pick up momentum, reeling in the three chasers and setting up for a bunch sprint for second place.

"It's great to get on the podium here,"said Zajicek who admitted he thought he won the stage not knowing Aldape was off the front. "I don't have teammates here so I was able to sit back and play my chances and wait. I had to get my elbows out a little bit but with a sprint amongst climbers it wasn't too bad. I knew the finish was so fast that it would be tough for a group to stay away. Hats off to the original break because Rock Racing was going full gas so they must have been going extremely hard too."

Taking on the 'queen' stage

Some 155 riders lined up to start stage four of the Cascade Cycling Classic, a 132km road race that started at the base of a 24km KOM. Aldape initiated the first move of the day with Jamie Sparling (Trek-Red Truck). The pair were soon joined by Nathaniel English (Z Team) and Brad Gehrig (ColeSport) and gained some additional horsepower when time trial specialist Tom Zirbel (Bissell) and Jonathan Garcia (BMC) joined the mix.

Rock Racing banned together in an effort to bring back the early move, serving to set up the second break of the day with Zirbel and his teammate Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell) along with Brent Bookwalter (BMC). Unfortunately all early moves were doomed with the onset of the first KOM hot spot at the top of the climb. Stetina picked up full points and Baldwin and Sevilla tied up the lead of the polk-a-dot jersey competition. The jersey was presented to Sevilla who proceeded to accumulate additional KOM points for placing fourth in the stage.

The action continued down the lengthy descent into the 'Sun River Cut Off' resulting in the day's most decisive split. It was a well-represented group of eight riders containing Jacques-Maynes, Johnson, Frattini, Sergent, Creed, Stewart and Carlsen. Stage one winner, Jacques-Maynes posed the biggest threat sitting in fifth place in the overall, 1:59 behind Sevilla.

"We had to put the pressure on and this isn't really my kind of terrain so I had to do what I could," Jacques-Maynes said. "The break was on an absolute terror. Hats off to Creed because he was riding like a maniac. We were rallying as hard as we could and I knew there wasn't anyone who could chase us. Me making that move really put pressure on Rock Racing."

Each rider in the break took their turn on the front trying to gain as much time as possible on the field before the base of the final climb. They gained a maximum of three minutes but the advantage began to drop fast as they neared the finale kilometres. Jacques-Maynes regained the event's green best sprinters jersey after picking up full points in the hot spot sprint located at the base of the final climb.

"I would not have been in yellow so at least we are on the podium and can compete for another jersey," Jacques-Maynes continued. "I went for the sprint and knew that Carlsen was going to try to beat me for it. Wearing the points jersey is unique for me. I'm not looking forward to the criterium tomorrow because I broke my collarbone here last year. I've had a big mental block about doing this downtown criterium for the whole year.

Rock Racing's quick pace reduced the time margin to a more manageable 1:10 as the approached the start of the lengthy finishing climb. "I was never too worried about the break because everyone on my team has a lot of experience," Sevilla said. "We were paying attention and watching the time they had. My team did a great job on the last climb."

The racing continues with a flat and fast 90 minute criterium held in downtown Bend. The technical criterium will offer a chance for the climbers to rest and the sprinters to sprint over the short city block circuit.

Stevens makes it three for Webcor-Builders

Evelyn Stevens (Webcor-Builders) continued her impressive string of results at the Cascade Cycling Classic, soloing into her third stage win atop Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort. Runner up Amber Rais (TIBCO) outpaced Alison Powers (Team Type 1) in a two-up sprint for second.

"That was so awesome and my teammates totally rocked today," said Stevens. "They just kept me safe and five of them would sit up front and rotate when anything got up the road. I didn't have to do any effort until we got to the base of the climb. I had to deliver after the work they did for me today."

Stevens continues to lead the overall classification ahead of Rais and Powers heading into the stage five criterium held in downtown Bend tomorrow afternoon. "It was a serious bike race out there, non-stop action all day." said Rais pleased with her mid-season form. "Webcor rode amazing today too. We [TIBCO] made the race really hard for them and they responded every time."

TIBCO attacks and Webcor reacts

A field of 90 women lined up for the Cascade Cycling Classic's 'queen' stage, a 114km of climbing, climbing and more climbing! Lauren Tamayo (TIBCO) sprinted off the start line and was followed by Kristin McGrath (Value Act Capital) along with several other unidentified riders. Her effort kicked off a series of TIBCO attacks that forced Webcor-Builders to respond by organizing a team chase.

"There are so many great competitors out there and I had the team that could just bring it all back," Stevens said. "I tried to work and they would just look at me and say ‘get back in there'."

The second moved of the day was initiated by Joanne Kiesanowski (TIBCO) after the feed zone that resulted in a large 14-rider break gain time on the peloton. Kristin Sanders (Value Act Capital) followed the move and remained off the front for an additional 20km. Sanders breakaway continued to re-shuffle with new faces as they approached the base of the final climb.

Second in the time trial, Alison Starnes jumped across to the break away forcing Webcor-Builders to chase a little harder. A select group of seven riders emerged after the next round of attacks all of which Stevens was prepared to respond to. "The whole plan was to wait for TIBCO to attack and then counter," Stevens said. "Jessica Phillips attacked, Amber Rais attacked and then I went. I was a little worried that I went early but I just had to hold on. But it didn't feel nearly as hard as the stage two climb."

A chase group of seven riders trailed Stevens up the duration of the climb. The seven riders included Rais and Powers along with the event's best young rider Julie Beveridge (TIBCO), Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Sutter Home), Jessica Phillips (Lip Smackers), Chrissy Ruiter (Value Act Capital) and Kathryn Donovan (Kahala LaGrange). Powers, Rais, Ruiter and Beveridge continued to attack each other over the final kilometres of the climb, trying to move up in the overall.

Another round of attacks resulted in Rais and Powers separating themselves from the rest of the chase group, headed into a two-up sprint for second place behind Stevens. "My best bet was to try to get some time bonuses at the finish toward the overall," Power said. "But, it was an awesome day, with only three teammates we had to be smart, save our legs and take good advice from our directeur."

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