Ortenblad out-sprints Powers in Charm City

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Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz/Donkey Label Racing) followed his double wins at last weekend's KMC Cross Fest with the Category 1 victory in the Elite Men's race at Druid Hill Park on Saturday.

"The race started pretty fast. I led for probably the first two laps, I get excited and want to ride the front. I'm trying to work on patience," Ortenblad said about the nine-lap battle.

"I'd say halfway through some guys started to make moves. I was definitely starting to hurt pretty bad and it was taking longer to shut (down) little gaps."

Jeremy Powers (Aspire Racing) would control the front of the race for the final laps until the finishing straight. Ortenblad made his move over final two obstacles, the sand pit and barriers, and with a hard kick in the final meters got the edge on Powers, who had to settle for second. Hyde rolled in just behind in third.

"Going into the last two laps, Jeremy Powers was just rolling super hard. He was on a good day today," Ortenblad said. "On the last lap, I was second wheel going up the hill, and somehow got shuffled to the back of the group and was in fourth, which is really not where I wanted to be. That was worst-case scenario. But the thing with being in fourth, you can rely on the guys in front of you to start fighting for position. And when people fight for position, they always end up running corners wide. So I got by Hyde and Kerry, and was on Jeremy's wheel going into the sand. I just stayed on him and outsprint him again."

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