Kirchmann wins final stage and overall title at Tour of Elk Grove

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Leah Kirchmann (Colavita Forno-D'Asolo) won the third and final stage victory along with a ten-second time bonus at the Tour of Elk Grove on Sunday. The Canadian National Criterium Champion out-paced Joelle Numainville (Tibco-To the Top) in second, Kasey Manderfield (Pure Energy Cycling-ProAirHFA) in third and former race leader Anne Samplonius (Now-Novartis for MS) in fourth.

"I was a bit nervous being the GC rider," said Kirchmann who won two stages and the overall classification. "I knew I had a great team to support me and if I trusted them and rode a great race then I could do well."

"It was awesome that the organizers were able to incorporate a women's stage race into the Tour of Elk Grove this year," she said. "It had good prize money and that helps grow the sport. It was a great weekend of racing."

Kirchmann's time bonus bumped her into the overall race win of the 2011 Tour of Elk Grove. She finished the race two seconds ahead of stage one winner and previous day's race leader Samplonius in second and Janel Holcomb in third. The event offered a total of $15,000 in prizes over the three days and the overall GC was worth $5,000.

"It is always nice when you manage to pull it off," said Colavita-Forno D'Asolo DS Rachel Heal. "The scenario that played out was the one that had to happen in order for us to win. With Theresa Cliff-Ryan as the last lead-out, we were confident that had we just been going for the stage win we could do it. We decided to go for it and see if we could pull off the overall. We are proud of Leah because we put a lot of pressure on her today and she really stepped up."

"We had a great weekend," said Samplonius. "We had three riders here and two of us finished in the top four. We would have liked to win the overall but we had to battle numbers. If I could have finished one spot higher, I could have kept the jersey. But I am proud of what we did this weekend."

The Pro-Cat 1,2 women's race concluded with a second 50-minute criterium, held on a longer course. The event was sponsored by Comcast and offered the field a prize purse $4,500.

The top five riders were called to the starting line including Anne Samplonius (Now-Novartis for MS), Janel Holcomb and Leah Kirchmann (Colavita-Forno-D'Asolo), Erinne Willock (Tibco-To the Top) and Kasey Manderfield (Pure Energy Cycling-ProAirHFA).

The field remained relatively intact for the majority of the first half. Willock and her teammate Sam Schneider (Tibco-To the Top) picked up points during the intermediate sprint. Manderfield won the sprint for cash on the next lap.

Mary Maroon (Rouse Bicycles) made a solo move for two full laps. She was reeled back in before the next intermediate sprint for points. Samplonius lead the way into the sprint and was followed by three riders.

Although the field came back together, Samplonius picked up the points. Her teammate and US National Champion Robin Farina was leading the points competition. The person with the highest number of points at the conclusion of the race earned a three-second time bonus to put toward the overall classification. Lauren Hall (Colavita-Forno D'Asolo) took full points in the last intermediate sprint ahead of Farina.

Farina earned the most points and the three seconds ahead of Hall who earned two seconds and Carrie Cash Wootten (Revolution) earned one second, all toward the overall classification.

Addy Alderschardt (Now-Novartis for MS) launched an attack with two laps to go. However, the field remained intact as they rode through the start-finish with one lap to go.

Tibco-To the Top organized the strongest lead-out followed by Colavita-Forno D'Asolo. Leah Kirchmann (Colavita Forno-D'Asolo) took the win and the ten-second time bonus ahead of Joelle Numainville (Tibco-To the Top) in second, Kasey Manderfield (Pure Energy Cycling-ProAirHFA) in third and Samplonius in fourth.

Clarke, Keough 1-2 in Elk Grove finale

UnitedHealthcare did what they do best and provided its sprinters Hilton Clarke and Jake Keough with a strong lead-out in order place first and second the third and final stage of the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove. Australian National Criterium Champion and former overall winner Jonathan Cantwell (V Australia) placed third on the day.

"We lost the lead yesterday and we weren't too happy about that," said Clarke who is a former overall winner. "We had a meeting, we stuck together and we said that we always work as a team. The guys raced so great today and they took me to 50 metres to go and I finished the deal."

"I separated my shoulder seven weeks ago," he said. "I thought Tour of Elk Grove might be a race that I could be ready for. It is a favourite race of mine and I trained and trained for it. Yesterday it all clicked and I knew I was going to have a good one."

Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home), who placed fourth on the day, secured the overall title at the Tour of Elk Grove. The all-rounder moved into the race lead after placing second to Bobby Sweeting (Kenda/5-hour Energy) in the stage two circuit race. Despite being caught behind a crash on the last lap of the stage three circuit race, Sweeting hung on for second place in the standings.

Chad Haga (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth finished third overall, Fast Freddy Rodriguez (Exergy) finished fourth and Darren Rolfe (V Australia) finished in fifth.

"We are very happy with this win," said Jamis-Sutter Home DS Sebastian Alexandre. "This is a good win for us, we are very happy. It is a good bonus for the teams to have this prize money. It was good money for overall and stages so everyone were walking away with a good amount of money. It's a nice bonus."

Spain-registered UCI Professional Continental Geox-TMC won the event's best overall team competition.

Amaran and Sweeting battle for time bonuses

The Pro men's race concluded on a new 121 kilometre circuit race sponsored by Gullo International worth $25,000, which replaced the previous years' criterium. Race organizers were forced to eliminate the criterium in accordance with rules that do not permit criteriums in a UCI-sanctioned stage race.

An early breakaway of seven riders included Scott Zwizanski (UnitedHealthcare), Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Bernard Van Ulden
(Jelly Belly p/b Kenda), Pat Lemieux (Kenda/5-hour Energy), Bernard Sulzberger (V Australia), Julian Kyer (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth), Carlos Alzate (Exergy), and Weimar Roldan (Colombia). They gained a maximum of one and half minutes.

Jamis-Sutter Home organized all its riders at the front of the field to keep the breakaway at a manageable distance. Geox-TMC moved its riders onto the front to help Jamis-Sutter Home, with a goal of reducing the gap even further, before the mid-race time bonus and cash prime.

The field reunited with nine laps to go and runner up in GC Sweeting won the third time bonus for three seconds, bringing himself in a tie with race leader Amaran. In turn, Amaran won the fourth and final intermediate sprint for time bonuses and built back a small lead ahead of Sweeting.

"Geox pulled back the breakaway before the time bonus and our team was not so organized at that point," Alexandre said. "Kenda did a great lead-out for Bobby and he got the time. But on the next one, our team did a strong lead-out for Luis to get the seconds back and the Borrajo brothers got second and third."

With two laps to go, UnitedHealthcare moved to the front of the field in an early lead-out for its sprinters Robert Forster and Jake Keough. The team wore the yellow leader's jersey following the opening stage won by Karl Menzies, however, they lost it in the chaotic stage two circuit race to Amaran.

Sweeting was caught behind crash at the start of the last lap under the rain. Amaran rode safely with his Jamis-Sutter Home teammates, behind the UnitedHealthcare train.