Lacombe's lunge gets it for Planet Energy

Kevin Lacombe (Planet Energy) used his speedy sprint to claim victory at the 26th annual Chris Thater Memorial criterium held in Binghamton, New York, on Sunday. The French-Canadian won the bunch kick, outpacing runner-up Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Yosvany Falcon (Champion Porsche) in third.

Over 100 pro men lined up to start the late-summer criterium that typically marks the final stages of the National Racing Calendar series in the United States. Full teams included Planet Energy and Colavita-Sutter Home alongside teams of lesser numbers - Bissell, Mountain Khakis, Kelly Benefit Strategies and Subway-Avanti. Notable amateur level teams included GS Mengoni, CRCA-Empire, Richmond Pro, Aerocat Cycling, BikeReg.com and Kenda Pro.

The men's field took on a two kilometre circuit that included a tiresome hill each lap, totaling an 80-kilometre criterium. Francois Paresien (Planet Energy) kicked off the race with the first breakaway. His move ignited several chase groups behind but all attempts to bridge across were short-lived.

The second move of the day included Paresien again and his teammate Ryan Roth, Anibal Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home), Clay Murfet (Kelly Benefit Strategies), and Amauri Perez (GS Mengoni). The five-rider break continued to work well together until Murfet was requested to sit up from the break and help his Kelly Benefit Strategies teammates in a high speed chase from the peloton.

"There were a lot of small breaks today and we had David Veilleux and Jake Keough in the bunch so it wasn't really my job to work in the break," said Murfet." It was really windy and I was told to come back and help chase."

They successfully reeled in the breakaway with three laps to go, just in time for Peter Latham (Bissell) to make his move. Latham was followed by a handful of strong riders, most notably, Luis Amaran and Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home) who were trying to hold the field together in hopes of a bunch sprint.

"Colavita was pulling pretty hard," said Murfet of the final two laps. "Veilleux was trying to keep Jake out of trouble while Colavita was doing a lead-out and Planet Energy was up there too."

New Zealand time trial champion Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) was the next to go but he too was reeled back in by the Colavita-Sutter Home train and Planet Energy, which sat close to the front waiting for an opportunity to attack. Lacombe found that winning opportunity on the descent and rounded the final two corners ahead of Haedo and Falcon.

The 26th annual Chris Thater Memorial criterium is a project of the Broome County STOP-DWI Program to heighten awareness about the drunk-driving problem. Chris Thater was a young cyclist whose life was taken from a drunk driving accident.

There is only one more opportunity to for riders and teams to pick up points toward the NRC ranking this summer at the 100k Classic held next weekend in Atlanta. The individual classification is currently lead by Tom Zirbel (Bissell) and the team classification is lead by Colavita-Sutter Home.

The Chris Thater Memorial also marks the fourth round of the USA Crit Series, a six-event series currently lead by Jake Keough (Kelly Benefit Strategies).

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