Sweeting and Kirchmann shine at Elk Grove

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Bobby Sweeting (Kenda/5-hour Energy) won a two-man sprint to secure victory on stage two at the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove on Saturday. He out-paced breakaway rider Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) who placed second on the day. A small chase group sprinted to the line for third place won by Giampaolo Cheula (Geox-TMC).

“This is one of the biggest wins of my career,” said Sweeting who won the final stage of Cascade Cycling Classic two weeks ago. “To win today felt awesome.”

Amaran was the highest placed rider in the overall classification, of the two breakaway riders, and so took the race lead. He will start the third and final stage with a two-second advantage ahead of Sweeting in second place.

“I think we can hold the jersey tomorrow,” said Jamis-Sutter Home directeur sportif Sebastian Alexandre. “Luis arrived to the line with one rider, Bobby and the next group was more than 30 seconds behind. So, we don’t have to be too worried about the time bonuses, other than Bobby. The field arrived to the finish 12 minutes back today, so that will give us more of a chance to control the race and fewer riders to be worried about.”

However Sweeting refused to give up hope of overall victory. “I think we are in good position and being second overall we don’t have responsibility to control the race tomorrow,” he pointed out.

“We will let Jamis control the race and keep it together; maybe we can capitalize on some time bonuses. I have a lot of respect for Luis and his overall ability as a cyclist, so he is a hard guy to beat.”

Yellow jersey jumps from UnitedHealthcare to Jamis-Sutter Home

The Pro men’s field lined up to contest a 155km circuit race, with 10 laps held over a 15.5km loop. Each circuit included 26 corners for a total of 260 corners through out the race, making for a challenging event. Race organizers offered an impressive $25,000 in prizes for the stage two.

Race Organizers offered three intermediate sprints for points and time bonuses. With the field back together, Robert Forster (UnitedHealthcare) won the first bonus and earned three seconds followed by Frank Pipp (Bissell) and race leader Menzies.

Several early breakaways formed that included riders from V Australia, Kenda/5-hour Energy, Jamis-Sutter Home, Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth, Geox-TMC, Bissell, Elbowz Racing, Hagens Berman, UnitedHealthcare and Exergy.

“It was a weird race with lots of attacks,” Sweeting said. “We wanted to be really aggressive and try and put pressure on UnitedHealthcare and some other teams that were riding for the overall. We were in every single move.”

The front groups reshuffled several times until a new breakaway formed to included Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home), Frank Pipp and Patrick Bevin (Bissell), Bobby Lea (Jonathan Adler), Scott Zwizanski (UnitedHealthcare), Sean Milne (Kenda/5-hour Energy), Nic Hamilton, Emerson Orante and Sean Mazich (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda), Julian Keyer (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth) and Sean Sullivan (V Australia), among others.

The mid-race sprint offered a maximum of six seconds and $1000 for the first rider to cross the line, won by Zirbel. He placed second in the previous day’s time trial and started the day less than one second behind Menzies. The time bonus moved him into the race lead by nearly six seconds.

“We had two guys going for the time bonuses, Tom and Fernando Antogna, who was fifth overall,” Alexandre said. “Luis had the freedom to look for opportunity. Tom was paying attention and he knew that even if he took one second he could move ahead of Karl. He saw the opportunity and went in the breakaway and won the bonus. By the time UnitedHealthcare realized that Tom was in the break, the gap was already one minute and half. Tom did a good job racing aggressively today, it was important for us and for the team.”

UnitedHealthcare amassed at the front to try and reduce the time gap. In half a lap they reduce the gap by half to just over one minute. The breakaway riders were reeled back with under three laps to go, only for several more attacks to launch.

Six riders rode off the front including Amaran and Haga, who were the top placed GC riders, Dahlheim, Sullivan, Sweeting and Keogh. They gained five minutes on the field with two laps to go. Then Amaran, Sullivan and Sweeting separated themselves from the breakaway with two laps to go.

“We knew we had the jersey with Tom, but it was a good opportunity to give to Luis,” Alexandre said. “UnitedHealthcare didn’t have anyone there. But, it is possible that they didn’t know Luis was in the break because it seemed like they were waiting for us to chase.”

“It was hard to know who was in the breakaways because on this course the race was a little confusing and we didn’t have good communication,” he said. “By the time anyone realized who was in the breakaways they already had time.”

A large chase group of roughly 18 riders came together nearly one and half minutes behind the six leaders. The chase group included Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare), who was the highest placed rider in the overall classification of that group, Jonathan Cantwell (V Australia), Brad Huff and Ken Hanson (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda), Emile Abraham (AeroCat), Fernando Antogna (Jamis-Sutter Home), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and three riders from Geox-TMC, among others.

The field rode through the start-finish line with two laps to go more than seven minutes behind the two lead groups on the road. UHC did not chase and so Sutherland, who was placed fourth on GC at the start of the stage, became the potential new race leader.

However on the last lap, Amaran, Sullivan and Sweeting managed to maintain a minute and half lead ahead of Sutherland’s chase group and nearly ten minutes to the main field. Amaran was only 15 seconds down in the overall at the start of the stage. He drove the pace in pursuit of additional time bonuses at the finish line and the yellow jersey.

“We thought we were going to get caught because we weren’t getting time splits,” Sweeting said. “Luis and I worked really well together and we were very motivated. Luis knew that he would be in the overall if we came to the line together and we both gave it everything.”

Rodriquez and Haga, also well placed in the overall standings, put forth a chase to the two breakaway riders, followed by Dahlheim and Giampaolo Cheula (Geox-TMC). However, the four riders were unable to close the gap to Sweeting and Amaran before the line and they took the spoils of victory.

Kirchmann shows her speed

Canadian national criterium champion Leah Kirchmann (Colavita-Forno D'Asolo) proved to be the fastest sprinter in the bunch, winning stage two at the Tour of Elk Grove on Saturday. She won the bunch kick to the line ahead of Joelle Numainville (TIBCO-To the Top) in second and teammate Theresa Cliff-Ryan in third.

"The team did a great job today of working together," said Kirchmann who picked up a time bonus and moved into third place overall. "They initiated and reacted to breaks and coming to the end we had a great lead-out set up with Theresa as my last rider, she was super-fast. I'm really excited that I was able to win today."

Anne Samplonius (NOW and Novartis for MS) maintained her lead in the overall classification heading into the third and final stage. She has a six-second lead on Colavita-Forno D'Asolo's Janel Holcomb and an additional three seconds to Kirchmann.

"It is obvious that Kirchmann is targeting in on the win," said Samplonius. "If she wins tomorrow's stage she will take the jersey if I don't get any bonus seconds. We have our work cut out for us and it is going to be hard, with my non-sprinting legs to contend against that. TIBCO is also hungry for a stage win because they were bumped off the podium today."

Samplonius lined up at the start of the stage two circuit race sponsored by the Rotary Club in the overall leader's jersey. The Pro-Cat 1,2 women competed on a long criterium course for 50 minutes, battling for valuable seconds at the finish line and $3,500 in prize money.

Lauren Robertson (FCS Cycling Team) picked up full points during an intermediate sprint. The rider that accumulates the most points earned seconds. Robertson finished ninth in the opening time trial and started stage two 24 seconds behind Samplonius in the overall classification.

Riders from the two UCI teams, Colavita-Forno D'Asolo and TIBCO-To the Top, had a strong presence on the front of the field. Samplonius's teammates, US national champion Robin Farina and Addy Alberschardt, covered several attacks that were launched off the front of the field.

"It was a very aggressive race by TIBCO," Samplonius said. "They definitely wanted to get something off the front. We had to be attentive. I had good legs and was able to follow wheels and Robin did a monumental job today for me, covering a lot of attacks."

Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita-Forno D'Asolo) picked up the second intermediate sprint for points and time. She finished the previous day's time trial in 14th place, 28 seconds behind Samplonius.

Robertson made a second move with five laps to go and was quickly reeled back into the field. Emma Mackie (TIBCO-To the Top) also made her move with in five laps to go, but she, too, was covered quickly.

Colavita-Forno D'Asolo amassed its riders at the front to begin its lead-out train with three laps to go for sprinter Cliff-Ryan. TIBCO-To the Top also sent its team of riders to the front of the field to contest the final sprint. Samplonius tucked herself into the top ten positions as well.

"I was focused on Erinne Willock and Janel Holcomb today," Samplonius said. "We keyed in on a handful of riders that were key threats."

Kirchmann took the sprint victory ahead of Numainville and her teammate Cliff-Ryan. Samplonius finished safely across the line among the front of the field and maintained her overall race lead.