Grajales climbs into leader’s jersey on Mackenzie Pass

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Cesar Grajales (RealCyclist.com) climbed into his first season victory at the Mackenzie Pass Road Race, stage one of the Cascade Cycling Classic. The Colombian native out-climbed his teammate Francisco Mancebo who placed second and Alex Howes (Chipotle Development) in third.

"I went away too early last year and learned my lesson, so I attacked with one kilometre to go today," Grajales said. "It feels awesome to win. I've always been so close to winning this race and finally, I am really happy. Also today is Independence Day in Colombia, so it means a lot for me to win a race today."

Grajales will wear the yellow leader's jersey into the stage two Skyliner Time Trial. Howes earned himself the lead in the King of the Mountain (KOM) competition and his teammate Lachlan Morton is currently wearing the Best Young Rider's jersey. Carlos Alzate (Exergy) is leading the Sprint competition.

"We also have Mancebo and we have worked really well together all year," Grajales said. "Maybe this is my time, I hope so. We will be happy whether it is Mancebo or me, everyone is working for the team."

The Pro-Cat 1 men's field rolled off the starting line prepared to contest the first mountain stage at the Cascade Cycling Classic. Stage one took the riders on a 118 kilometre trek over Mackenzie Pass, which only recently opened after a mid-summer snow fall forced the department of transportation to shut the pass to cars. The race culminated at the top of Three Creeks Snow Park. The riders were offered one KOM ascent over Mackenzie pass along with one intermediate sprint at the base of the final climb.

The peloton was not greeted with ease during the opening stage when a high-speed crash at the front of the peloton on the initial descent caused some 30 riders to fall into the gravel on the right side of the road.

Devon Dunn (CashCall Mortgage) made his move on the on the descent and held a 30-second gap heading into the base of Mackenzie Pass. Maxwell Durtschi (Chipotle Development) was the first rider to initiate a solo chase on the climb, he was later followed by his teammate Howes and Tim Johnson (TJ's Summer Job-CDale/CXWorld). The peloton started the climb nearly one and half minutes behind the breakaway groups.

"It was a pretty short stage so we just did whatever we wanted," Howes said. "We were pretty aggressive all day. We just wanted to go out there and race."

The peloton gradually worked its way across to rejoin the breakaway riders one-by-one. Mancebo made a strong effort on the ascent. His move was countered by Nate English (Yahoo!), Glen Chadwick (PureBlack Racing) and Grajales.

The trio were joined by a large chase group of roughly 15 riders that worked their way together over the top of the ascent. They were closely followed by roughly a second chase group of 15 riders.

A newly formed breakaway emerged on the descent that included Roman Kilun (Kenda/5-hour Energy), Rob Bush (Chipotle Development), Carlos Alzate (Exergy) and Richard Hendley (Raleigh). The men gained just over one minute on the field at the base of the final climb.

RealCyclist.com set a quick pace at the front of the peloton with its overall contenders Grajales and Mancbeo sitting in good position to make his move on the climb up to Three Creeks Snow Park.

"I wasn't surprised that there was a pretty big group that came up the climb together," Howes said. "The climbs were long but there were not selective, they were windy, they were pretty. The finishing climb was tactical. We had Morton go for it and Grajales snuck away toward the end. I managed to botch the final corner and got third."

McGrath scores victory on Mackenzie Pass and moves into yellow

Kristin McGrath (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12) won a sprint victory from a four-woman breakaway to secure the Cascade Cycling Classic's stage one victory atop Mackenzie Pass. Andrea Dvorak (Colavita-Forno D'Asolo) placed a close second and Kathryn Donovan (SC Velo-Empower Coaching) in third.

"I was dead and I knew that I only had one last attack or sprint and I wanted to save it until the end," McGrath said. "I'm stoked to win this stage because it was a goal coming into the Cascade Classic. I was third here a couple of years ago and it feels good to get the win. My teammates kept me out of the wind all day so that I could sit on and save my legs and it was important to pay them back for all their work."

McGrath is confident that her team will maintain control of the yellow leader's jersey as the race heads into the stage two Skyliner Time Trial. Dvorak is leading the Queen of the Mountain (QOM) competition and her teammate Rushlee Buchanan is leading the Best Young Rider competition. Carmen Small (Tibco-To the Top) is leading the Sprint competition.

"We have a super strong team and we also have some other cards to play," McGrath said. "Today set us up in good position to be able to race our bike all week."

The Pro-Cat 1,2 women were offered 118 kilometre stage that included one QOM atop Mackenzie Pass, one intermediate sprint and a grueling finish atop Three Creeks Snow Park.

A breakaway of eleven riders escaped the field that included McGrath, Dvorak and Donovan along with Kristin LaSasso (Primal-MapMyRide), Rachel Warner (Missing Link Coaching System-Specialized), Anne Samplonius and Jade Wilcoxson (Now-Novartis for MS), Alison Starnes and Alisha Welsch (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12), Joelle Numainville and Carmen Small (Tibco-To the Top).

Bike NZ did the majority of the work to reduce the time margin from 3:50 minutes to a manageable 1:50 minutes at the base of the climb.

Dvorak jumped at the base of the final climb and gained a small lead ahead of her breakaway companions. Her efforts caused some of the riders to fall off pace.

"Anne Samplonius and I were trying to get away from Peanut Butter because they had the numbers," Dvorak said. "I ramped it up a little bit with 10 kilometres to go and at five kilometres to go and took a digger and got a gap until one kilometre to go. Cath Cheatley told me to attack coming into the last turn but McGrath beat me to it."

She was joined by chasers McGrath, Donovan and LaSasso with one kilometre to go. Too tired to attack at the top of the climb, the four riders targeted the finish line with a sprint.

"I knew I was feeling good so I just kept bringing her back," McGrath said. "We worked steadily and caught her. I stayed patient until 200 metres to go and won the sprint."

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