Morton throws down the gauntlet but is unable to unseat Mancebo

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Bobby Sweeting (Kenda/5-hour Energy) rode across the finish line solo to win the fifth and final stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic at the Awbrey Butte Circuit Race on Sunday. He finished the race seconds ahead of his breakaway companions Lachlan Morton (Chipotle Development) in second and Roger Shem (PureBlack Racing) in third, who were both caught up in the traffic from the women’s caravan clogging the finishing straight.

"Our group got away with two laps to go," Sweeting said. "The Chipotle guys worked really, really hard for their GC placing and I was able to take it easier and that allowed me to get a small gap with three kilometres to go. I saw the women’s caravan and knew that it would be a matter of taking a few risks to get through the cars and hoped the guys behind got held up. It worked out but it was more dangerous that we would have liked. But, this win was huge for our team."

Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) added another stage race title to his domestic resume at the Cascade Cycling Classic and moved further ahead in the National Racing Calendar (NRC) series lead. He finished the race ahead of Morton in second and Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) in third. "I’m happy to win this race for RealCyclist.com and the team who work very hard," Mancebo said.

Morton won the event’s Best Young Rider award and his teammates Alex Howes won the King of the Mountain jersey and Rob Bush won the Sprint jersey. Bissell won the event’s best team competition.

Pro-Cat 1 men’s field set off on the fifth and final stage at the Awbrey Butte Circuit Race at the Cascade Cycling Classic. The men completed five laps of a 33 kms circuit, totaling 120 kms. The route included two ascents, the first along OB Riley and the second and more decisive on Archie Briggs.

There were several attacks during the first two laps but no breakaways were successful in gaining more than a few seconds ahead of the peloton. Chipotle Development and Bissell were very active, especially close to the base of each climb, likely to put pressure on RealCyclist.com.

The third climb over OB Riley saw a split in the field with roughly 20 riders. Mancebo launched an attack from the front of that group, but his efforts were short lived. A breakaway of seven riders emerged over the top of Archie Briggs that included Sweeting and Shem along with Alex Howes, Danny Summrehill and Lachlan Morton (Chipotle Development), Ian Boswell and George Bennett (Trek-Livestrong), Stefano Barberi (Yahoo!) and Mike Creed (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth).

"the responsibility was on us in the break because we had three of us and I was the highest in GC," said Morton who was the virtual leader on the road when the break maximum was one and half minutes. "Alex and Danny turned themselves inside out. We were thinking too much about the stage because we wanted to try for the overall."

Bissell sent one rider to the front of the a main field in an attempt to bridge across. Riders from RealCyclist.com and Jamis-Sutter Home followed close behind. Bissell continued to send riders to try and bridges across to the breakaway and put pressure on the overall contenders in the peloton.

"We wanted to attack a lot because were wanted to move our riders up further on the podium," said Bissell DS Omer Kem. "We thought first place might have been out of reach but second was attainable. We wanted to be aggressive and not drag Mancebo to the finish line."

The breakaway rode over Archie Briggs on the last lap together. As they approached the last few kilometres of the race, Sweeting attacked and gained a small lead. However, the riders were caught up in the back of the women’s caravan as their race had just ended. The remaining breakaway riders were stalled in traffic and Sweeting continued on toward the stage win. Morton placed second on the stage and Shem in third.

"I had to work very hard today," Mancebo said. "The team worked hard all week, but today’s stage was very hard. I think the time to the breakaway came down a little bit coming to the finish line."

Holcomb wins Cascade Classic and takes NRC lead

Anne Samplonius (Now-Novartis for MS) won the fifth and final stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic from a hard-fought mid-race breakaway at the Awbrey Butte Circuit Race. She finished the race ahead of Janel Holcomb (Colavita-Forno D’Asolo) in second and Kaylee Boyd (BikeNZ) in third.

"We rode so hard this week, not for GC but for stage wins, and it all paid off today with this win," Samplonius said. "We got the second on the GC, the points jersey and this win. I’m happy to see that because as a team we did all we could earlier on and today it worked out."

Holcomb gained enough time in the breakaway to win the overall title at the Cascade Cycling Classic. She also earned enough points by winning the stage race to move into the lead of the National Racing Calendar (NRC) series.

"This morning when we sat down for a team meeting our directeur said we can play this two ways, either race safe and get more NRC points or race it hard and try and win it," Holcomb said. "All seven of us were all in, and we figured there was no reason to play safe because it was the last climbing stage race of the year. We were ready to go."

Samplonius moved into second place overall and Clara Hughes, who held the race lead at the start of the final stage, slid into third place overall.

"This race is fantastic and knowing that it is a Nicole Reinhart Memorial, she was my teammate and she is always in my heart," Hughes said. "I’m honoured to have done this race and I feel like I brought the best of myself here in honour of her."

"I was out numbered all week and so I’m stoked with a podium here," she said. "I really respect the way Colavita races and it was really cool to see them win the overall here.

Colavita-Forno D’Asolo won the Cascade Cycling Classic overall team competition. Its riders Rushlee Buchanan secured the Best Young Rider and Andrea Dvorak won the Queen of the Mountain (QOM) competition. Samplonius earned enough points in the intermediate sprint and at the finish line to win the Sprint competition.

The Cascade Cycling Classic was the fourth and final event on the Women’s Presitge Cycling Series. Willock took top honours in the series standings. The series also included Redlands Bicycle Classic, Tour of the Gila and Nature Valley Grand Prix.

The Pro-Cat 1, 2 women’s field set off on the last stage at the Awbrey Butte Circuit Race. They completed four laps of a 33 kms circuit, totaling 107 kms. The route included two ascents, the first along OB Riley and the second and more decisive on Archie Briggs.

The second time over Archie Briggs, a breakaway of five riders formed that included Holcomb and Andrea Dvorak (Colavita-Forno D’Asolo), Carmen Small (Tibco-To the Top), Anne Samplonius (Now-Novartis for MS), and Jasmin Hurikino (Vanderkitten-Focus).

Roughly ten seconds behind was a chase from race leader Clara Hughes (Cycling BC) followed by runner up in the overall classification Erinne Willock (Tibco-To the Top). Behind them, Kristin Armstrong (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12) did the majority of the chasing at the front of a splintered peloton.

The women passed over OB Riley and Archie Briggs and descended down to the start of the fourth and final lap. A breakaway of four riders was off the front that included Samplonius, Holcomb, Kaylee Boyd (BikeNZ) and US National Road Champion Robin Farina (Now-Novartis for MS).

A chase group included Hurikino, Emma Mackie and Meredith Miller (Tibco-To the Top), Lauren Ellis (Bike NZ) and Kathryn Donovan. Not far behind, the GC battle heated up from behind as Willock started the final lap solo ahead of chaser Hughes and then Armstrong, Dvorak and the rest of the field.

Following the race Hughes noted that she had crash on the Archie Briggs ascent, which happened at the same time of Willock’s attack. Armstrong took charge and slowed the field down to wait for Hughes to get back on her bike and back in the race. Willock opened a small lead, which Hughes closed down shortly after.

"I crashed on the third lap on the climb, which was my fault, but Erinne attacked and that wasn’t very cool," Hughes said. "What was really sportsman-like is that Armstrong made everyone wait. I was able to catch back on and I really appreciate that from Armstrong because I thought that showed a lot of class."

According to Willock, and her teammate Joelle Numainville, she attacked on the climb and was several bike lengths ahead of the field at the time of Hughes’ crash.

The breakaway of four riders continued to gain time on the peloton during the final lap. However, Tibco-To the Top did the majority of the work on the front of the field to try and reduce the time margin to Holcomb, who was the virtual race leader on the road. Their efforts were fruitful and the breakaway only had roughly 35 seconds at the base of the final climb. However, the margin expanded again to one and half minutes at the top of the climb.

"Thanks to Robin because it was good having a teammate there," Samplonius said. "She worked hard and that let me get my legs back. It was just Janel and me to the line. She was higher in GC and new she had to keep the time gap. She worked on the climb and I pulled the last three kilometres. It was a good job by the two of us."

Holcomb managed to ride solo off the front but was rejoined by Samplonius on the descent toward the finish line. Samplonius did the lion’s share of the work during the final three kilometres and took the stage win ahead of Holcomb. Boyd hung on for third place.

"We had 1:45 and I had to go, Anne was with me and did a lot of work," Holcomb said. "I was worried about the gap coming down."