The men's podium of Adam Carr (Team Skyline), Mike Margarite (CRCA / The Weather Channel / Specialized), and Geno Villafano (CCAP) (Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Team Skyline celebrates their victory.(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Adam Carr (Team Skyline) was clearly thrilled with his win(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Late in the race the field began straining to hold together under pressure being applied at the front(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
The early breakaway of John Delong (Team Skyline) and Mike Margarite (CRCA / The Weather Channel / Specialized) could have gone the distance stretching out their lead to over 20 seconds at one point but the field was motivated by several well timed primes to close it down.(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Packed house for the sprint in the mens race(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
The mens field stretched down much of Penn Ave in West Reading to the delight of the spectators gathered to watch the show.(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
The grid start for the criterium was borrowed from the Red Hook Criterium which borrowed it from motorsport and unlike at the tour it did actually impact the race. (Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
The grid start for the criterium was borrowed from the Red Hook Criterium which borrowed it from motorsport and unlike at the tour it did actually impact the race. (Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
A three up bike throw decided the podium for the Men's Race with Adam Carr (Team Skyline) just edging out Geno Villafano (CCAP) and Mike Margarite (CRCA / The Weather Channel / Specialized).(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
The winning break of Mike Margarite (CRCA / The Weather Channel / Specialized), Geno Villafano (CCAP), Michael Jones (Nalgene p/b Sager Beer Works), and Adam Carr (Team Skyline) spent a little bit of time arguing in the final laps but still managed to stay away. (Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Eventual winner Adam Carr (Team Skyline) spent a lot of time hiding in the field before marking the winning move late in the race.(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Bobby Lea (Burner Fitness) pulled back the early break despite being closely marked by David Dawson (Team Skyline).(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Curtis White (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling) bides his time in the main field surrounded Team Skyline riders who watched the pre-race favorite closely(Image credit: Reading Radsport Festival)
Skyline's Adam Carr won the West Reading Radsport Criterium as the sun went down on Saturday. He took the win ahead of Michael Margarite (CRCA-The Weather Channel Spec) and Geno Villafano (CCAP).
As the sun started to set in West Reading, the breeze picked up and blew straight down the homestretch against the riders contesting the West Reading Criterium. That wind worked to the advantage of Mike Margarite and John Delong (Team Skyline), who took off from the field early and built up a lead that stretched to 17 seconds, nearly getting out of the site of the 100 riders in the field and at times looking like they might close the gap to the Acura NSX pace car.
With both riders' teammates blocking efforts to chase, it looked for a moment like the race might be decided early, but with a few mid-race primes the gap to the two leaders started to come down. When three-time Olympian Bobby Lea (Burner Fitness) came to the front, with an assist from the Doylestown Bike Works team, the break's fate was sealed.
Mid-race laps were marked by Weather Channel, Texas Roadhouse, CS Velo, and local favorites Skyline trading attacks, but after the near-miss with the early break, the field was disinclined to let anything get too far up the road.
The elastic finally snapped with about six laps to go when a group of four riders -- Margarite, taking his second trip off the front, Adam Carr, Geno Villagano (CCAP), and Michael Jones, a former Health-Net Maxxis rider now racing for Nalgene p/b Sager Beer Works -- got clear of the bunch and quickly built a big advantage.
Lea, who lives nearby, hit the front again with two laps to go, but without much cooperation in the chase, the advantage shifted to the breakaway where Skyline's Adam Carr took the "gambler prime," and then won the race a lap later -- the evening's second such double.
Jones finished fourth and Jelly Belly's Curtis White won the field sprint for fifth.
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