Sevilla rocks in to race lead

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Rock Racing's Oscar Sevilla displayed his climbing pedigree at the Cascade Cycling Classic when he soloed to the stage two victory atop Three Creeks Snow Park. Battling Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin) until the final kilometre, Sevilla kicked over the closing 1000 metres to finish ahead of Stetina and teammate Francisco Mancebo, who nipped Chris Baldwin (OUCH p/b Maxxis) at the line for third.

"It was great to win here today," said Sevilla, who travelled more than 20 hours to make it to the start of the event after completing the Vuelta a Madrid on Sunday. "After the racing in Madrid we are a little tired. But today, on a climb like this, I was fine. We were always attentive. The whole day was very fast and the last climb was not too steep. I always kept my rhythm and saved a little bit extra for the last kilometre."

Sevilla moved into the overall lead, 27 seconds ahead of his teammate Mancebo and 35 seconds ahead of Baldwin heading into the stage three time trial. "I think all the teams are very strong right now but we have riders who can continue to win stages," added Sevilla, who also moved into the KOM leader's jersey. "I have been in the top results for all the time trials this year and I think I can have a good time trial tomorrow too."

A select group of climbers emerged from the peloton on the way up to Three Creek Snow Park, a 16km ascent where the general classification battle unfolded. With Sevilla setting the pace, the top ascenders rode fast enough to catch and pass the day's original breakaway of four riders. The Spaniard was followed by Stetina and Baldwin, with countryman Mancebo, Jeff Louder (BMC), Rory Sutherland (OUCH p/b Maxxis) and Darren Lill (Team Type 1) all trying not to lose valuable GC time.

"My teammates kept me at the front going into the climb and I did my best," said Stetina, who was not a threat to the overall ranking but tops the event's best young rider competition. "I was surprised to see other guys going backward before I was and that's when I knew I had a chance. Sevilla was so strong today. I never pulled through, he just straight up dropped me."

Baldwin fell off the pace three kilometres before the finish while Stetina continued to hang onto the Spaniard. "Sevilla and Chris started riding really hard and I just tried to hang on," continued Stetina. "I told them that I couldn't pull and I don't think I had to either because I wasn't going for GC, I was more than four minutes back."

An assault on Three Creeks Mountain

The Three Creeks Road Race marked the beginning of the hill top finishes at the Cascade Cycling Classic. A break-hungry peloton travelled through severely undulating terrain into the backdrop of the Sisters Mountains toward the Three Creek Road climb to the finish line.

Team Bissell and its former GC leader Ben Jacques-Maynes had their hands full trying to hold together a peloton that appeared to be on the verge of slaughtering itself in order to establish a break away during the first half of the pro men's 125km road race.

An abundance of attempted breakaways were unsuccessful causing the peloton to snake back and forth along the hot pavement of the high-desert roads. The U23 Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin squad unsuspectingly organised a full team echelon through a cross-wind section that resulted in a large split in the field, 40 riders in the front group and more than 150 riders left to chase like mad. Stetina's teammate Raymond Kreder captured the lead in the event's best sprinter competition by picking up intermediate points en route.

"I wasn't sure how we were going to be on the last climb today because we got caught with our pants down yesterday and missed the big split," said Stetina. Starting the stage 4:49 behind the leader meant he was given more room to move by the favourites, "so we were wanting to be the aggressors today and I think each of us attacked 20 times.

"We were all fried but happy that a break got off with Alex later on. I was able to sit in, drink a lot of water and cool down until the end."

The main bunch scrambled to reattach itself which proved to be a difficult task in lieu of the stage's mid-race KOM point approaching. Once reunited, a break of four riders were let go. The members of the breakaway included Michael Creed (Team Type 1), Pat McCarty (OUCH p/b Maxxis), Alex Howes (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin) and David Vitoria (Rock Racing), all sitting more than four minutes back in the overall - or not!

As the break approached the three-minute advantage it was called to attention that Vitoria was in fact only 41 seconds down in the overall classification, making him the virtual leader on the road. Race officials mistakenly placed him in the second bunch that finished 4:49 back in stage one. He was reinstated to the proper 20th place before the start of stage two, after the result printouts had already been handed out.

"No, we did not know that Vitoria was only 41 seconds down on GC, we thought he was over four minutes back," said Bissell's directeur sportif Eric Wohlberg. "But actually it just happened to worked out ok because we were happy to let a break get two and a half minutes. Our guys did a great job today on the front of the field. We let the racing happen and once the break was established we tried not to let it gain too much time."

As the race unfolded the four-rider break met its end on the final climb up to Three Creeks Snow Park, Vitoria proving to be the strongest by outlasting his companions and only losing sight of his winning teammate Sevilla within the last few kilometres. "It was really great to have David in the front group today," Sevilla said. "It meant that our team did not have to work in the peloton and we could arrive to the last climb with good legs. He did a great job today."

On the long road up to the mountain side, BMC took over the chase to bring the gap down to 30 seconds. Five riders jumped out of the peloton and joined the four original break away riders. The fresh faces included Matt Wilson (Team Type 1), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home), Kirk Carlsen (Felt-Holowekso Partners-Garmin) and Cameron Evans (OUCH p/b Maxxis).

"We were getting fatigued and there were only four of us and the field was charging up," said Creed. "So it was natural that they took a lot of time back fairly fast. I didn't actually feel that great. But I could see when the break was going to go when it went, so I was right there."

A group of 16 strong men formed behind the break away and from that, three select climbing specialists emerged to battle for the stage win and the overall leader's jersey: Sevilla, Stetina and Baldwin. The climbers separated themselves from the main bunch and floated through the breakaway, causing it to dismantle. Sevilla's teammate Mancebo followed close behind for the duration of the climb and made contact with Baldwin in the last few hundred metres of the race.

Stevens doubles the victory for Webcor-Builders

After winning the stage one bunch sprint yesterday, Evelyn Stevens (Webcor-Builders) proved her all-round ability when she proved strongest atop Three Creeks Mountain after a 16km ascent to win stage two of the Cascade Cycling Classic. Stevens outpaced runner up Catherine Chealtey (Colavita-Sutter Home) in a two-rider sprint to the line while Kristin McGrath (Value Act Capital) muscled her way into third place.

"I decided to attack the break as soon as we caught them," said Stevens. "I saw five kilometres to go and I thought 'that isn't too far,' but then I saw three kilometres to go and I thought 'oh no, it's really far!'"

Stevens tops the overall classification by 18 seconds ahead of Cheatley and 43 seconds ahead of teammates Chrissy Ruiter and Kristin McGrath (Value Act Capital). The overall leader also captured enough points on the finish line to take the lead in the mountains classification. "My team did a great job protecting me and covering everything today," said Stevens. "I feel good about the time trial tomorrow and I hope it goes well."

The women's peloton set out to complete the same course as the pro men, a 125km road race that finished at the top of Three Creek Snow Park. Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) picked off the stage by taking full points in the first intermediate sprint competition. She went on the win the second sprint hot spot, tying with Kristy Broun on points for the event's best sprinter classification. Pic captured the green jersey by placing higher than Broun in the stage, a USA Cycling tie-breaking rule.

With the sprints out of the way, the stages only intermediate KOM was up next. Women's Prestige Cycling Series leader, Alison Powers (Team Type 1) attacked over the climb that initiated a string of counter attacks. The day's decisive breakaway was formed that included Amber Rais (TIBCO), Ann Samplonius (Lip Smackers), Stacey Marple (Colavita-Sutter Home), Kristin Sanders (Value Act Capital), Kori Seehafer (Team Type 1), Erinne Willock (Webcor-Builders) and later Olivia Dillon (Touchstone Climbing).

"We got into a smooth organisation and settled into a nice rhythm," Rais said. "Before we knew it the gap exploded and I had instructions to sit on, possibly because Kori was sitting on and we are close to them in points, that's my best guess. But, I think that disrupted the organization a little bit and the gap came down. TIBCO had a great team effort today and we have a lot of cards to play in the next stages."

The well-represented move gained more than three minutes before the base of the final climb. Warm temperatures weighed heavy on the riders, slowing down the break and causing cases of heat stroke and dehydration on the way up the mountainside amongst the peloton. Individual riders from Wines of Washington and Bend Bike n' Sport were responsible for reducing the majority of the time at the start of the final climb.

Samplonius and Dillon fell off pace and Meredith Miller (TIBCO) bridged across when the gap was down to 30 seconds. Stevens took advantage of road as it steepened and countered the breakaway as soon as it was caught. She dangled at approximately 10 seconds on the chase group that included Cheatley and Marple, Ruiter and McGrath, Rais and Katharine Carroll (TIBCO).

"Marple pulled most of the way after Evelyn attacked," explained Ruiter. " I knew I wasn't going to be able to sprint so I took over pulling to try to let Kristin sit on and save herself a little bit because she had a better chance to sprint."

Cheatley jumped across to Stevens in an effort to gain time on some of the other overall contenders. She made contact with one kilometre to go and immediately took her turn pulling on the front. The move may have given Stevens an opportunity to recover enough for the two-up sprint win but according to Cheatley, she was happy with the outcome.

"I knew she had something left in the tank but I needed to gain as much time as possible on some of the other good time trialist who were behind us," Cheatley said. "I didn't want to play cat and mouse for the stage win incase we got caught - I needed the extra time."

The race continues tomorrow at the Skyliner 15km time trial. No rest for the GC riders in the out and back time trial along the Skyliner Rd, mainly uphill on the first leg followed by a predominately downhill return.

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