McCabe wins Cascade Lakes Road Race

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Team SmartStop's Travis McCabe survived in a day-long breakaway and sprinted to the stage 3 win ahead of Toms Skujins (Hincapie Sportswear) and Ruben Zepuntke (Bissell Development Team) Friday at the Cascade Cycling Classic. Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly-Maxxis) held onto his overall lead by 11 seconds over Zepuntke, who moved from fifth to second after the day's effort.

In the women's race, Kristabel Doebel-Hickok (Tibco-To the Top) took her first National Racing Calendar stage win after jumping away from the remnants of the field with one other rider on the final climb to Mt. Bachelor. Her teammate Lauren Stephens finished second on the stage and further consolidated her overall lead.

Friday's stage 3 Cascade Lakes Road Race took place on the same roads that were used for Wednesday's stage 1, but the riders tackled the course in the opposite direction. The women raced one lap for 116km, while the men raced 176km with an added loop around Crane Prairie Reservoir. Both races started with a long climb and finished at Sunrise Village near the top of the mountain.

The men's race started with an 11-rider breakaway that got away on the long climb out of Bend. McCabe was joined in the group by Skujins, Optum Pro Cycling's Ryan Anderson and Carter Jones, Cal Giant-Specialized's Torrey Phillip, Jamis-Hagens Berman's Matt Cooke, Marc Pro-Strava's Max Jenkins, Airgas' Griffin Easter, Incycle-Predator's Andres Diaz and Orlanda Garibay and Seasucker-Guttenplan's Colton Hartrich.

“Our plan originally was just to let the break go and be ready for the finish,” McCabe said of his team's initial strategy. “But it just so happened that I saw Diaz go and I knew he was in GC, sitting maybe six or ninth, and so I was on his wheel on the climb and just followed him.”

With the group established, the escapees built an ultimate gap of 3:30 before the Jelly Belly chase carved a minute out of the advantage. The gap held steady there for much of the stage, as Tvetcov's team was happy to let the breakaway stay out front as long as Jelly Belly could keep them in check. Diaz was the highest-placed rider in the general classification at 1:05 back and was the virtual leader on the road for much of the race.

Bissell, which had James Oram in third and Zepuntke in fifth at the start of the day, eventually threw several riders into the chase to help Jelly Belly bring the break within reach before the start of the 12km climb to Mt. Bachelor. With just 20km remaining the gap was down to 1:45, and it continued to fall steadily as riders made their way up the climb.

The breakaway pressed the pace, and riders started coming out of the group as the field closed in. With 10km remaining, only McCabe, Skujins, Jones, Cooke, Hartrich and Diaz remained off the front. That's when Zepuntke jumped out of the field in an attempt to bridge, and the young German rider brought Optum's Bjorn Selander and SmartStop's Rob Britton along to form a lead group of nine just 3.2km from the finish.

“It was kind of the plan for today, Zepuntke said. “Me and James [Oram] were very good, we felt very good at this stage and our team did a good job. We just tried to make the stage very hard, so I attacked.”

The group held a 40-second advantage as the course turned toward Sunrise Village and the road kicked up one last time. From there, McCabe, the current NRC leader, used his fast finish to jump from the back of the group and surge ahead to take the win from Skujins.

“There was a small attack from Cooke,” McCabe said of the finale. “I countered and was on him. Then Toms Skujins went, and I was able to get around him with 100 meters to go maybe. I was feeling really good. These highway-grade climbs are hard, but you can stay on top of the gear and it's good for me.”

Tvetcov now leads Zepuntke by 11 seconds in the general classification. Diaz is third overall, 31 seconds back, followed by Optum's Tom Zirbel at 34 and Oram at 37. Zepuntke said his team is ready to challenge Tvetcov and Jelly Belly for the yellow jersey over the next two stages.

“We have a good team,” he said. “And we will try everything to try and bring me or James into yellow. We have good opportunities, so we will try everything and maybe we will have success.”

Doebel-Hickok keeps Tibco streak rolling

Doebel-Hickok, a first-year pro with Tibco, shocked herself with the solo win, admitting she didn't know she had won the race until her teammates crossed the line and told her. With the field closing in, the 25-year-old from California jumped away from late-race breakaway companion Anne Perry (DNA Cycling) with about 300 meters to go and took the win by nine seconds ahead of Stephens.

“I went pretty early because I felt like I had a lot left,” Doebel-Hickok said. “[Perry] seemed pretty tired, but in case she had a kick left I wanted to go early.”

The women's race started with a breakaway of four riders that also got away during the first climb out of Bend. The group included Tibco's Alizee Brien, DNA Cycling's Melinda McCutcheon, Vanderkitten's Liz Rachetto and Twenty16's Kathryn Donovan.

The pace and an untimely mechanical quickly whittled the lead group down to just Brien and McCutcheon as they descended off the slopes of Mt. Bachelor to start their loop around the mountain. Tibco rode a steady and comfortable pace on the front of the field and kept the leaders in check before a group of five bridged at the start of the final climb.

Tibco continued its steady work on the front and soon brought the lead group of seven back into the fold. At that point, the main field really began to split up, leaving a lead group of 20-25 riders as the race neared the final 5km to the finish. That group also started shrinking over the long climb, and when Perry jumped away, Doebel-Hickok followed.

“At that point it's very windy,” said Tibco guest director Ed Beamon. “And so if you lose the wheel you're completely on your own. It's very hard to close. It's a very tough finale. Our plan was once we hit that junction, if there was any attack, that Krista would follow it and we would try and keep the rest of the team together. She did a good job following the move, and then it's not her job to push it, so she waited and waited and waited and made a good move for the win.”

Doebel-Hickok said the course and the team's tactics favored her on a day when everything clicked for her win.

“Lauren told me on the climb that if I felt good I could go harder,” Doebel-Hickok said. “So when I saw the girls attack I just tried to follow everything, and then eventually one stuck. If you follow enough attacks they'll get tired and let it go.”

In the overall standings, Stephens continues to lead Amber Neben (FCS-Zngine) by 1:14 and Rally Sport Cycling's Julie Emmerman by 1:26. Twenty16's Alison Tetrick is fourth overall, 1:47 down, while her teammate Allie Dragoo is fifth, 2:03 in arrears.

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