Frattini enjoys back-to-back victory in Toronto

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Davide Frattini (Hudz-Subaru) claimed a second consecutive victory as he soloed to victory at Toronto Cyclo-cross round two, held in Centennial Park on Sunday. A suspenseful finale saw the Italian ride away from Derrick St-John (Garneau Club Chaussures-Ogilvy), who bobbled on the last lap and was forced to settle for second placed ahead of Andrew Watson (Norco Factory Team).

“I’m happy to win two races this weekend; after the two that I won in Baltimore, I was happy to be able to do it again,” Frattini said. “Having four UCI wins is really good for me, for Hudz-Subaru and Ridley and Reynolds that support the team.”

Toronto Cyclo-cross’ second round offered a vastly different course than the previous day. Technical twists and turns swept through the wooded back section of the park grounds, followed by a lengthy climb and a steep drop off where riders were greeted by a U-turn at the bottom of a descent. The course also incorporated a set of barriers and a deep sand pit.

“Yesterday was a hillier course and today was a faster and flatter, so it was more difficult to repeat how I won yesterday,” said Frattini, who rode solo for most of the race the previous day. “Also today I led for most of the first lap but right before the sand pit I slipped and had to chase back up.”

Aaron Schooler (H&R Block) took the hole-shot around the first corner on the gravel road but Frattini quickly moved into the lead for the beginning of the first lap. A bobble on the off-camber descent saw him slip back to fourth position, forcing him to chase three established leaders in St. John, Watson and Mark Lalonde (Specialized).

St. John pushed the pace at the front of the lead group for most of the race, trying to shake his three followers. He put in a strong attack that resulted in shedding Lalonde but Frattini and Watson stayed glued to his wheel.

“I wanted to go all out today,” St-John said. “I wanted to race on the limit the whole time. There are more big races coming up and it was important for me to push my limits. My goal was to go all out for one hour today.”

Lalonde remained in fourth place between the three leaders and a chase group of six that included Schooler, Evan McNeely (EMD Serono-Specialized), Mark Batty (SpiderTech-Planet Energy), Kevin Noiles (La Bicicletta Pro Shop), Osmond Bakker (La Bicicletta Pro Shop) and Erik Box (Cycles Devinci).

St. John and Frattini tested each another in the closing laps while Watson sat behind in third wheel. St. John blasted over the top of the drop off and down the descent into an untimely partial slide-out through the U-turn at the bottom on the last lap. Frattini increased his pace and gained the several seconds needed to win a second consecutive race.

“I was coming in too hot in that turn, going full throttle the whole race and I just leaned sideways a little bit,” St. John said. “I’m more of a punchy rider and so I tried to stay on the front today. It was still a good race for me today.”

St. John did not give up and fought his way around Watson before the sand pit and finished in a strong second place. Watson improved by one place on his performance the previous day, finishing on the podium in third.

“Today I had a much better start,” Watson said. “I think I felt better yesterday but I got a decent start and following the two leaders was really just survival for me. Davide and Derrick were really testing each other and I was just trying to hang on.”

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