Powers, Mancebo crowned 2012 Cascade Cycling Classic champions

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Jesse Anthony (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Kristin McGrath (Exergy-TWENTY12) took the stage wins Sunday on the final day of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic, while Francisco Mancebo (Competitive Cyclist) and Alison Powers (Now & Novartis for MS) held onto their race leads to take the overall wins.

Anthony won a sprint finish in front of Ty Magner (BMC-Hincapie) and Frank Pipp (Bissell Pro Cycling) after Competitive Cyclist brought back the day's major breakaway at the bottom of the Archie Briggs climb on the last lap. McGrath soloed in ahead of teammate Theresa Cliff-Ryan and Powers.

The traditional Awbrey Butte Circuit Race is contested on a 26 km loop that rolls though farmland northwest of Bend and then climbs through a residential neighborhood on the edge of town. The course and its infamous Archie Briggs climb is a familiar favorite for the stage race and has also been used for multiple national championships. The men tackled five laps for 138 kilometers, while the women raced three laps for 78 kilometers.

Organizers reduced the women’s race from four laps to three after the men finished in the women’s caravan last year, and the shorter distance drove up the pace in what usually boils down to a race of attrition. FCS-Rouse rider Rachel Warner was the day's first adventurer, soloing off the front for most of lap two but eventually yielding to the chase behind.

Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies, which started the day with Small four seconds down in second place and Jade Wilcoxson 36 seconds in arrears in fourth, raced aggressively all day, along with Tibco, which had Megan Guarnier in third, 18 seconds off the leader's time.

But Powers' Now & Novartis for MS squad was on its game Sunday and kept all of the Optum and Tibco moves in check. Powers said the team stepped up its performance from the day before, when it was shut out of the podium in the criterium.

"We were sort of riding with our heads in our ass yesterday," Powers said. "So today we pulled them out and it's awesome."

Although Wilcoxson was able to slip off the front for a short time, she was never a real threat to Powers, who relied on her team to help keep the attacks in check.

"[Optum was] trying with Jade and Carmen and Jade and Carmen, but you just have to pick, like, OK let Jade go up the road," Powers said. "Our plan was so well executed, the team was awesome."

Although none of the breakaways stuck, the lead group was down to just 23 riders on the final lap. As the GC contenders marked each other in the front group, McGrath, who won this stage in 2009, attacked on a small roller with about 4 km remaining and set off for the finish on her own.

"We weren't worried about GC," McGrath said of her Exergy-TWENTY12 teammates. "The GC riders were all watching each other, then some people attacked, so I countered and just kept going. I saw my lead was opening, so I just put my head down."

McGrath’s head-down effort paid off the win, as she crossed the line seven seconds ahead of the lead pack containing the overall contenders. Cliff-Ryan brought the 22-rider lead group home with Powers and Small on her wheel. Guarnier rounded out the top five. Small said her team tried hard to break up the race and isolate Powers, but the Now & Novartis for MS squad was too strong, she said, and the course was too short.

"It definitely changed it a lot, making it three laps instead of four," Small said. "It was a lot easier. Our team needs a hard course because we have a lot of depth. But we tried. I was pretty tired by the finish, and I went as hard as I could. I don't think I could have done anything different. It's not like Alison's a nobody. She's a good bike racer, so props to her. She did a good job defending today."

Small walked away with second overall, and Guarnier hung onto third. Optum also earned the Best Young Rider and Mountains jerseys for Lex Albrecht, and Wilcoxson won the sprints competition. Exergy-TWENTY12, which said good-bye to team leader Kristin Armstrong before the Saturday evening criterium, won the team overall competition. Wilcoxson also sealed up the Women’s Prestige Series win.

Anthony wins by a nose, Mancebo gets second Cascade overall win

The men’s race also set out fast and furious on the first lap, with a group of 12 riders forming early but never managing to gain much traction. Competitive Cyclist patrolled the front for Mancebo, but another group of eight riders managed to escape on lap two of five. The breakaway included Bissell's Chris Baldwin and Optum's Tom Zirbel, the two highest placed GC riders in the group, along with Bontrager's Josh Atkins, Kenda/5-Hour Energy's James Stemper, Exergy's Matt Cooke, H&R Block's Rob Britton, and Elbowz riders Eric Marcotte and Christian Helmig.

The breakaway built an advantage of nearly two minutes, putting both Zirbel and Baldwin ahead of Mancebo in virtual GC, but the Competitive Cyclist leader's team put in the yeoman's work to keep the leaders in check. The breakaway split in two on the penultimate lap, with Baldwin, Zirbel, Atkins and Cooke soldiering on before the field pulled them back on the final lap at the bottom of Archie Briggs.

"Everybody attacked, everybody wanted to win today, so the first lap was very, very fast and hard for us," Mancebo said. "I knew Baldwin was in the break, but you can't chase everybody. It was not really good for us, but finally it was okay."

Competitive Cyclist team director Gord Fraser heaped praise on worker bees David Williams, Max Jenkins, Taylor Sheldon and Chad Beyer, and he singled out Mike Ohleiser, who won two masters national championships on the same course.

"I just knew Olheiser was going to be happy as a clam today," Fraser said. "This is his turf. Bend is his turf. When he was talking this morning I had a big grin because he's just applying that talent and strength to a different goal. So it was really fun to hear him, and then to watch him ride today was just unbelievable. I'm just really proud of Competitive Cyclist today. They really rose to the challenge."

With the bunch back together and the overall race seemingly locked up, Kenda's Andy Jacques-Maynes attacked with Cashcall's Devon Dunn as they crested Archie Briggs, but that move was quickly neutralized on the run in off the climb. The attacks continued to fly throughout the final kilometers before Anthony finally pulled away with about 1 km remaining. The Optum rider got a small gap and pushed his effort to the limit.

"There were a few attacks," Anthony said of the run in to the finish. "But I've raced this course before and I know that you have to wait a really long time to make your move, so I waited until inside the last kilometer, and I found a nice little hill to ramp up the speed beforehand and get some momentum. I just launched, and from there it was just head down."

Anthony's initial gap proved enough, but he barely held off a hard charge from Pipp and Magner. And he almost lost it all when he posted a victory salute before the line as Magner, who recently won the U23 national championship criterium in a similar circumstance, threw his bike.

"That same situation happened to me back at nationals," Magner said. "So I gave it all I had to see what happened in the end. It was close, it was close."

But it was not close enough to steal the stage win from Anthony. Mancebo finished with the same time as the leaders to claim his second consecutive Cascade overalll win. Bissell's Carter Jones was second in the overall by 23 seconds, and Bontrager-Livestrong's Lawson Craddock was 31 seconds down for third. Jones also won the jersey for best young rider. Elbowz rider Marcotte won the sprint jersey, and Mannion claimed the mountains competition. His Bontrager-Livestrong squad won the team GC.

Full women's results

Full men's results