'Three times the sprinter' for Colavita

Image 1 of 26

Argentinean Sebastian Haedo took his second victory in this year's Nature Valley Grand Prix with a stage four bunch gallop effort in Minneapolis, marking the third consecutive sprint win for his Colavita-Sutter Home squad. American talent Brad Huff keyed off the work done by his Jelly Belly teammates to to take second on the line ahead of Canadian Andrew Pinfold, who rounded out the podium.

"This victory is awesome and the crowds are fantastic here," said Haedo, who moved into third place in the overall classification. "Everyone here wanted to win this stage in front of these crowds and I'm happy that my team put me in the perfect position to do it. With the victory today and after the last three stages I will see how my legs feel tomorrow to try to keep my place in the overall. I'm happy with our stage wins here and my team has been great. Whatever happens next, we are already happy."

Bissell relinquished their strong hold on the peloton to Jelly Belly with nine laps to go. Anticipating opposition from the other team's lead-out trains, Jelly Belly continued to forced a strong tempo for the next five laps. Colavita-Sutter Home pulled up front with one lap to go.

"The guys were great and really kept me out of trouble," said Huff. "I'm really proud of my team for coming together like they did. They are a quality bunch of guys who really sacrifice themselves for my sprint. We started early because you never know, if you wait one more lap and then another team comes around you. We ran out of steam at the end but they really did get me where I needed to be."

Tom Zirbel (Bissell) maintained a seven-second lead on runner up Rory Sutherland (OUCH p/b Maxxis). Stage winner, Haedo moved into third place, 10 seconds back, by virtue of capturing a 15-second time bonus at the evening's finish line. Team Bissell impressed the crowds with their complete control over the men's 35-lap criterium. All eight-workers coveted their yellow jersey like a queen bee, protected from harms way.

"The boys road a great race and our biggest goal was to keep Tom safe in these criteriums and keeping the yellow," said Bissell directeur, Eric Wohlberg. "He is getting much more confident knowing that the guys are protecting him and I think that tonight he got a bit more respect from the rest of the guys in the peloton... bumping him around a little less. It takes a lot of nerve to bump around a guy as big as Tom - Pretty soon he's going to be giving some payback out there."

Points, points and more points...

The men were treated to a brand new criterium moved from the previous year's downtown course to Uptown Minneapolis. The men given starting instructions that they would either need to complete 35 laps or one hour and fifteen minutes, which ever came first. Attacking started from the get go with teams Amore & Vita, OUCH p/b Maxxis, Nature Valley Cycling Team, Colavita-Sutter Home and Trade Wind Energy.

Thomas Soladay (Mountain Khakis) benefited from Bissell firm grip on the peloton to hold the field together. Even though several breakaways attempted to gain time on the field, the field remained intact for each point sprint. Soladay's teammates offered Bissell assistance during the laps prior to the points sprint to make sure the speed was fast enough to deter riders looking to escape. Soladay took over the event's best sprinter's jersey after his performance in the stage 2 criterium. He furthered his lead by capturing all three intermediate point sprints for a total of 34 points.

OUCH p/b Maxxis sent Tim Johnson up the road multiple times. According to Pinfold, the squads motivation was to maneuver a stage win using either himself or John Murphy. Pinfold positioned himself on the rear of the Colavita-Sutter Home train with Murphy in close proximity. The main goal was to give Murphy the opportunity to win the stage and add the time bonus to as padding to his fourth place in the overall.

"The guys really wanted to save their legs for tomorrow instead of taking the risk of a lead-out," said Pinfold. "I think the time trial showed that Rory is riding really well and ready for tomorrow's stage. Tim Johnson was fantastic tonight and kept Murphy and I up in good position in the front. We came into the race not wanting Borrajo to win the time bonus and giving Murphy a chance at winning the stage and picking up the extra time."

The peloton faces the 'Queen' stage in tomorrow's 137-kilometre road race held in Mankato. The race finishes with four laps of a short circuit that includes a grueling climb sure to separate the overall classification. "Tomorrow is going to be a hard course but certainly more suited to our riders," Wohlberg said. "We have a lot of depth in the team and everyone is willing to sell out for each other so I think that alone will take them a long way."

Miller makes it worth the wait

National champ shows how it's done

Local fans have been waiting for a big win from double national champion Brooke Miller (Tibco) and she delivered just that in the Uptown Minneapolis criterium. She took a commanding victory in the field sprint ahead of Shelly Olds (Proman-Hit Squad) and Laura van Gilder (Altarum).

"It was a very aggressive race and I had to throw a lot of elbows and do a lot of aggressive moving, but that's what you do when your team is putting themselves on the line for you - you make sure you deliver," said Miller, who had her first big NRC victory at the event in 2006. "There is pressure on me to win but a lot of it is just frustration at the slow start this year. I'm so happy that the team has been able to distract me by doing such a great job themselves."

Kristin Armstrong continues to lead the overall classification by 12 seconds ahead of Alison Powers (Team Type 1) and 48 seconds ahead of Shelly Olds. The women face the 'Queen' stage in tomorrow's 137-kilometre road race held in Mankato. The race finishes with four laps of a short circuit that includes a grueling climb sure to separate the overall classification. Armstrong, a three time stage winner in Mankato, will no doubt put on a show for the crowds on the final finishing circuits.

The professional women's field raced for a 25 laps around the L-shaped, wide open circuit. The event hosted three intermediate sprint points . Shelley Olds dominated the sprints winning two of the three. She received strong opposition from Kristy Broun (Riverstone CDA), winner of the stage two criterium. "I'm just happy to be in the jersey for the day," said Olds. "It's not necessarily my priority. I'm just doing the best I can in all of the competitions. A stage win would be really nice, so, tomorrow's a new goal."

Team Tibco rode an aggressive race sending riders Lauren Tamayo, Emma Rickards, Meredith Miller and Katharine Carroll up the road for several laps each. After crashing out of GC contention in the previous day's road race, Webcor-Builders was on a mission to make the criterium as hard as possible. Rebecca Much, Alexis Rhodes, Erinne Willock and Gina Grain had nothing to lose by pushing the speeds to attempt a breakaway. Their efforts were followed by Rachel Lloyd (Proman-Hit Squad), Catherine Cheatley (Colavita-Sutter Home), Laura van Gilder and Alison Powers.

With the field intact with three laps to go, TIBCO sent their riders to the front to keep the speeds as high as possible. Lauren Tamayo took over the bulk of the lead-out on the last lap. "My team was so strong today it was a flawless race," Miller said. "It all came together for us so well. We are a top level team and so fat we haven't been able to prove that here at this race. It was great to see everyone out there working so hard and then come together at the end for a strong lead-out. I got an A-ticket ride on my teammate Lauren's wheel. The team did a great job."