Kreder wins mountaintop sprint

Raymond Kreder (Holowesko Partners) won a crash-filled final sprint atop Mount Bachelor Ski Resort during stage three of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. The young sprinter dashed to the line for the win ahead of breakaway rider Darren Lill (Fly V Australia) and race leader Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis) in third.

“I took it very easy until the last climb,” Kreder said. “UnitedHealthcare tried to win the race at the end but we came together in a group and I was feeling really good. I’m not a climber but I’m doing much better this year. I’m surprised that I stayed in the field, my sprint is really good so I am very happy with today.”

Sutherland retained his overall race lead heading into the stage four criterium held in downtown Bend on Saturday night. Ben Day (Fly V
Australia) held onto his second place in the overall despite being tangled up in a crash with roughly 100-metres to go. His teammate and the day’s podium finisher Lill remains in third place overall.

“First things first, you want to try and retain the jersey,” said Sutherland who attacked with 200 metres to bring back a threatening
breakaway. “Second, you don’t want to lose any time to Ben or Darren or anyone else behind you. Thirdly, I started to think about the stage win. Max Jenkins and Marc de Maar did a great job to try to bring Darren back for me. When it flattens out I have a lot more power because I didn’t have to do much today.”

A group of roughly 20 riders came barrelling around the outskirts of a choppy section of pavement in a heated sprint for the stage win in the Mount Bachelor Ski Resort parking lot. Riders crashed on loose gravel through a wide bend with 100-metres to go. Kreder’s teammate Taylor Sheldon took the brunt of the accident crashing headfirst into the pavement. He was airlifted by AirLink off the mountain top. Other riders involved in the crash were Andrew Talansky (California Giant) and Alex Howes (Holowesko Partners).

“Instead they make us go through this bloody horse shoe where the gravel was ripped up everywhere,” said Day who went down in the crash. “We did a U-turn on the gravel with 100-metres to go and it was not necessary to have a finish like that.”

Executive Director Chuck Kenlan stated that “the crash that happened today was considered by the officials as rider error. One rider turned in to another that was taking a straight line. This is the same finish that has been run on this stage for three years without incident. Rider safety is the number one concern at the Cascade.”

A tactical battle on Mount Bachelor ends in a cagey sprint

Monster attacks from some of the peloton’s most notable climbers ignited at the base of the final climb up to Mount Bachelor in a bid to gain time in the overall classification and a prestigious stage victory. King of the Mountain (KOM) leader and third place in the overall Darren Lill (Fly V Australia) launched himself off the front of the field and was quickly marked by Marc de Maar (UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis) who sat in fourth place overall. The pair were joined by Cesar Grajales (Cole Sport), Matt Cooke (Exergy), Pat McCarty (Matrix) and the young Ian Boswell (Bissell).

“I didn’t have legs two days ago so when it was steep at the bottom and the guys went really quick, for me it’s often better just to go my own tempo,” Sutherland said. “At my pace it is easier to limit losses and wait until the hill flattened out. Having Marc there made it a whole lot easier because he could just sit on Darren the whole way. We had our second card there and that reduced a lot of stress for me.”

Lill continued to counter attack until he was clear from the field and the only rider able to respond was Cooke. The pair held a 10-second lead over the flatter sections at the top of the climb. Sutherland’s teammates Max Jenkins and Marc de Maar stretched their legs at the front of the dwindled main field to reel in the two escapees in the parking lot-style finish at the Mount Bachelor Ski Resort.

“I didn’t want to take Marc de Maar with me because he was behind me in GC and he would have played the sitting-on card because of Rory behind,” Lill said. “He kept following me so I had to keep attacking. Cooke rode well and let the others chase me down a few times and then went with me when he knew it would go. Two small climbers with these flat roads at the top, it was better for the bigger group behind and they caught us.”

UnitedHealthcare forces mid-race chase

The 155-rider peloton rolled out of the Summit High School in Bend and hit the first lengthy climb of the day along Century Drive, on the north end of the Cascade Lakes Highway. Alex Dowsett (Trek-Livestrong) kicked off the race with a solo move at the start of the nearly 30-kilometre steady ascent that averaged roughly four to five percent. A significant amount of action on the front resulted in a reshuffled early breakaway with that included Marsh Cooper (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Alex Howes (Holowesko Partners) and Carter Jones (Ride Clean).

Bend native Ryan Trebon (Kona) and Robbie Squire (Holowesko Partners) were the next to gain some time on the field. Ben King (Trek-Livestrong) put forth a chase, later joined by Matt Cooke (Exergy). Trebon picked up full points at the KOM located at the top of the ascent but it was not enough to pass Lill in the climber’s competition. The summit was followed by a winding descent where the both chase group and breakaway leaders were reeled back in by an active peloton.

The group traveled around the wooded Deschutes National Forest before making a turn onto the Cascade Lakes Highway around the south end of the Crane Prairie Reservoir. Jay Thomson (Fly V Australia) and Alex Howes(Holowesko Partners) managed to snap away from the field. Howes was the highest placed rider in the overall classification at more than five minutes back and Thomson at an additional 13 minutes.

The pair gained more than two minutes as they passed the upper end of the Deschutes River. UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis sent the cavalry to the front of the field to manage the time gap and protect Sutherland’s race lead.

They received intermittent help from former teammate Floyd Landis who has been wearing the squad’s former OUCH p/b Maxxis kit.

Howes attacked his companion in a solo effort at the base of the climb.

UnitedHealthcare p/b Maxxis successful reeled in Thomson who dangled in no man’s land for several kilometres. Howes was caught by a lead group of climbers that emerged from the main peloton with ten kilometres to go.

The racing continues at the stage four Downtown Criterium p/b Desert Orthopedics & Rebound Physical Therapy on Saturday evening.

Abbott stretches overall lead atop Mount Bachelor

US National Champion Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) rode away from a group of strong climbers to take her second victory at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. This time it was a solo finish of 27 seconds ahead of runner up Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) and Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders).

“I want to dedicate this win to my Grandpa, the Iowa corn and The Pumpkin Song,” said Abbott who was informed that her Grandfather was placed on oxygen support yesterday. “The Pumpkin Song is a song my Grandpa taught me when I was a little kid and every single time I see him we sing that song together. Both my grandparents are Iowa corn farmers, corn on the cob is a family tradition. This ride is for him now.”

Abbott increased her lead in the overall classification to 1:44 minutes ahead of Cheatley and 2:32 minutes ahead of Willock heading into the penultimate stage at the Downtown Criterium on Saturday.

“Because we are a small team the best gift that I could give them going into the coming days, for their hard work today, was a little bit more of a cushion,” Abbott said. “Just because there are only four of us. They rode amazingly today and they were there the whole time and we communicated really well. They were very constant and steady so I want to commend them a lot for that.”

All-day break gets caught on Mount Bachelor

The Pro women started their race at the Wanoga Snow Park and headed straight uphill toward the Queen of the Mountain (QOM) point sprint to kick off the 113-kilometre Cascade Lakes Road Race.

An initial breakaway contained Carla Swart (Vera Bradley Foundation), Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders), Andrea Dvorak and Amber Rais (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light). The threatening move was caught shortly after by an animated peloton.

The significant move of the day set sail soon after that included Dvorak, Megan Guarnier (Tibco-To the Top), Lauren Hall and Anne Samplonius (Vera Bradley Foundation) and Kathryn Donovan (SCVelo p/b Empower).

The breakaway’s gap grew to a maximum of three minutes when a crash in the main field caused the bunch to slow down. Riders involved in the crash included overall contenders Alison Powers (Vera Bradley Foundation) and Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders). Mattis was forced to pull out of the race. “We sat up to make sure everyone was OK before we started to go again,” Abbott said.

Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12 assumed responsibility at the front of the field to reduce the gap to the breakaway. The short-handed but powerful four-woman team received valuable help from DFT Treads.com, Touchstone Climbing and later Webcor Builders who were all interested in protecting their top ten overall placing.

“Once people get into top five or podium or top ten there’s smaller gaps and more incentive for other teams, beyond just ours, to work to keep their relative positions in the race,” Abbott said. “A lot of teams pitched in and they all rode amazingly.”

The breakaway dwindled to three riders as the road took a turn up toward Mount Bachelor, losing Hall and Donovan. Samplonius, Dvorak and Guarnier continued onward at the base of the more than 20-kilometre finale ascent. However, Samplonius continued on her own when Dvorak and Guarnier began to fall off pace as well.

“I was hoping no one would chase because I was so far down in the GC,” Samplonius said. “I was hoping through the flatter section before the last climb that I could hold it. That road was rough, slow and there was a head wind before the climb, so it was really hard for one rider to hold it out there.”

“We gave it a shot,” she added. “We wanted to go for the stage win, go early and put two in the break. We executed that. You gotta try or you will never pull it off. It was fantastic team work.”

Back in the bunch, Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light put in a team effort at the base of the climb to set up their GC rider Cath Cheatley. After
several attacks and counter attacks Cheatley, Abbott and Willock battled their way over the climb, catching Samplonius with ten kilometres to go.

Abbott set a strong enough tempo on the ascent to put Cheatley and Willock into difficulty. She went on to gain nearly 30 seconds before entered the finish line stretch. She was instructed by officials that the pro women’s finish had been deviated due to a crash in the men’s race. Cheatley and Willock crossed the line in second and third place respectively. Powers won the bunch sprint for fourth place, just over a minute back.

“I was not racing here to lose because you never know what can happen,” Cheatley said. “I was not easing up and raced right to the line. I attacked with 200 metres to go and lead it through the bend. It was a really fast, really good women’s race.”