Cheatley storms to stage win, race lead

Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) kicked off the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic with a stage win at the Fitchburg State College Circuit Race held in Massachusetts. New Zealand's Olympian powered up a 300-metre finishing climb and outpaced Joanie Caron (Nanoblur-Gears) who placed second and Erica Allar (Team Kenda) in third.

"Traditionally this course comes down to a sprint finish and the way the wind was blowing made it tough out there," said Cheatley. "I was third wheel all the way down the descent. I just didn't look back."

Cheatley is no stranger to the podium, having won the event overall in 2008 and her tough team is aiming for a second title. She is leading the race ahead of Caron by four seconds and Allar by an additional five seconds.

"We have a strong team and our goal is for the overall," Cheatley continued. "We want to go out there and race our bikes hard and try to keep the yellow jersey within the team."

The pro-elite women completed 11 laps for total of 54km. Each lap ended at the top of a 300-metre steep incline that took its toll on the riders legs each lap.

"It's a funny sort of climb, not a climber's climb," Cheatley said. "I think it is a lot about positioning at the bottom and being able to get a good run into it."

The Colavita-Baci squad lined up with the strongest full team on paper with seven competitors. The some 90-rider peloton rolled off the start line, each rider thinking of ways to separate themselves from the dominant team.

"We have a full team here and there aren't really a lot of full teams here," Cheatley said. "But saying that, there are a lot of strong individual riders. We wanted to go out there and race hard from the start because the race can come down to the time trial and that will change the order a lot. We don't want other riders to just wait for the time trial and wanted to race our bikes, make it hard and win the stage."

Several breakaways gained small amounts of time ahead of the peloton but none were successful in staying away until the finish. "We were always represented and a few of the smaller teams were also in those breaks," Cheatley said. "There are some very strong girls out there, especially on the climbs. I was very impressed."

With the field intact with one lap to go, Colavita-Baci took control of the front of the field through the campus grounds and down the John Fitch Highway. Cheatley's teammates Kate Bates and Shontell Gauthier drove the pace into the last corner and let her loose at the base of the 300-metre climb to the finish line.

Borrajo banks the win

Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home p/b Colavita) won the bunch sprint to open this year's Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. The Argentine sprinter outpaced the previous year's stage winner from Canada, Charles Dionne (Fly V Australia), with Frenchman Aurelien Passeron (Garneau Club Chaussures) taking third.

"This sprint was good for me but it was a little bit crazy on the downhill before the last corner," said Borrajo. "With 200 metres to go I did my sprint and I won. It is always good to win a stage and we are happy about that."

Borrajo will wear the leader's jersey heading into the second stage at the Wachusett Mountain Road Race. However, he does not expect to maintain his lead through to the decisive stage three time trial.

"We didn't win the stage so that I could be in the leader's jersey," Borrajo continued. "After tomorrow there is the time trial and I will lose two minutes. Tomorrow is a hard race and no one will want to take control so there might be a breakaway and we hope Luis Amaran can be there."

The circuit race was held on the outskirts of the Fitchburg State College. The five kilometre course started at the top of a steep incline and wound its way through the college campus grounds before descending John Fitch Highway and hooking a sharp right hand turn toward the uphill finish. Some 150 pro-elite men raced for 24 laps, totaling 120km.

With eight laps to go, a breakaway of 17 riders that included many of the most threatening overall contenders rode away from the peloton and gained a maximum of 45 seconds. Kelly Benefit Strategies, the main aggressors on the day, had the most to gain with three rider represented in the move including Scott Zwizanski. There were also two riders from Jamis-Sutter Home including Luis Amaran and two riders from Fly V Australia with Phil Zajicek.

"I think Kelly Benefits is the best team here to win the overall race, the strongest team," Borrajo said. "They were the most aggressive team today and had a few guys in the breakaway, all the good guys were attacking a lot. I think they will do the same tomorrow so we need to pay attention to them. They are riding very well."

Jamis-Sutter Home, with help from two riders from Kenda-Geargrinder, rallied together to bring back the breakaway.

"Kenda helped because they didn't have a rider in the break," Borrajo said. "We had Luis in the break but there were more riders from the other teams so we wanted to bring it back. We also had some help from riders who were individual, with out teammates."

The two teams lead a sprint-hungry peloton down the John Fitch Highway and caught the breakaway before the final corner. Fly V Australia came out of the turn leading Dionne with Borrajo in tow. The sprinters drag raced up the 300-metre climb to the finish line where Borrajo took the win.

"I stayed behind Charles Dionne because I knew he won this stage last year," Borrajo said. "I stayed on his wheel and he had some teammates in front of him."

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