Carter quickest in Blue Island

Josh Carter (ABD Cycling) grabbed one of his biggest career wins at Blue Island Criterium, out-sprinting the more favoured international professionals over the final 350 metres to win by a wheel. German rider Hans Dekkers (Garmin-Slipstream) and Andreas Muller (Gourmetfein) took second and third respectively.

A larger field rolled out on the flat one mile, four corner course that zipped through Chicago’s oldest southern suburb. An early break of three riders went clear, containing Ryan Freund (ABD Cycling), James Stemper (Team Geargrinder) and South African Bradley Potgiver (Team MTN), ensuring that the average speed was over 28mph during the 100 kilometre race.

The leader’s gap hovered around 30 seconds for a good portion of the race, as they battled amongst themselves for three lots of sprint points. Fly V Australia was working hard to bring back the break but blocking by various teams hampered its efforts. Despite taking a while to reel in the leaders Fly V Australia’s Bernard Sulzberger managed to retain the yellow jersey with his fourth place.

Various attacks were launched by different teams after the trio was caught, but it was a break by two riders that almost made it to the finish. Carlos Vargas (Team Hotel San Jose) and Andy Crater (Wheel & Sprocket) worked well together to keep the slender lead, but Crater misjudged the finishing lap and sprinted two laps too early. This put him out of contention and it was a field sprint at the end.

Carter got in to prime position with the help of team-mate Ryan Freund and launched his jump coming out of the final corner. Carter held out the charging field by a very slim margin.

Carter was visibly excited about his stage win as he described the last lap. “There were two guys still up the road and Ryan dropped me at near the front of the pack, I could hear a lot of yelling from guys jostling for position behind me but I knew exactly where I wanted to be at the final corner,” said Carter. “I was a little nervous about opening my sprint 350 metres out, but I drove it as hard as I could and I made it to the line.

“That was probably the best field sprint I have won, and there was a lot of good guys in the race,” he added. “It definitely ranks up there and I am stoked to have achieved my goal of winning a stage at Superweek and want to shift up another gear to win another stage.”

During the race Carter was feeling tired for a long time but with seven laps remaining he sprinted on a prime lap, was pipped at the line. “I felt that my sprint right then was not too sharp, however I was able to recover in time and I feel like that prime was a factor in opening my legs up to get the win,” he said, before paying tribute to Ryan. “He made it easy for me to move around at the end, kept me sheltered from the win and then decisively moved me up on the final lap.”

South African Jay Thomson (Team MTN) and Ronnie Strange (Hotel San Jose/RGM Advisors) both share the APC Nutrition Sprint classification lead with 24 points each. Robert White and James Stemper - both of Team Geargrinder - are third and fourth respectively.

Strange, who was third overall on sprint points at last year’s Superweek series, is looking to improve this year and is already doing well when the opportunities present themselves. “At this early stage of Superweek I’m looking to ride smart, follow moves, and conserve energy,” said Strange. “The sprints are going well; it’s just that on a few occasions there have been breaks up the road taking the points on offer. The key is to be in the right moves.”