Cliff-Ryan sprints to victory at Women’s Kugler Open

Theresa Cliff-Ryan won her second consecutive Women’s Kugler Open at the Tour of Somerville held Memorial Day Monday in New Jersey. She out-paced the legendary Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom) in second and Lenore Pipes (Guam National Team) in third.

"It was an important race for us because Colavita is from New Jersey," said Colavita/Forno D’Asolo DS Rachel Heal. "John Profaci [Vice President of Colavita, USA] was around today watching the race."

The women’s event is not apart of the National Racing Calendar (NRC), however, it offered a top-notch race for the Pro-Cat 1,2 and 3 50-rider field. The event's four corner circuit started on West Main Street and finished with a nearly 500 metre drag to the line.

"It used to be an NRC race but it hasn’t been for the last couple of years," Heal said. "That meant that there wasn’t a huge incentive for full teams to come down to race."

Although there was a lack of full teams competing, there was a quality field that consisted of riders from Team Type 1 and riders from the regions surrounding New Jersey. Such riders included Van Gilder along with Kacey Manderfield (Pure Energy Cycle), Christine Fennessy (South Mountain Cycles), Colleen Gulick (Kenda) among others.

The race was aggressive with relentless attacks, however, no breakaway stuck for longer than a lap and in the end the peloton set up for a bunch sprint led by Colavita/Forno D’Asolo, including its UCI World Champion from Italy Giorgia Bronzini.

"Theresa and Giorgia were swapping things around to try and not make it obvious what they were doing," Heal said. "Giorgia wore her world champions jersey and the race organizers were happy to have her there because it was the first time the race had a world champion compete."