'Ten' Menzies nabs win in Lake Front road race

Karl Menzies (Ouch-Maxxis) showed his form is returning with a long sprint to finish comfortably ahead of Heath Blackgrove (Team Hotel San Jose) and James Semper (Team Geargrinder). Despite Blackgrove and Semper both gaining ground on Menzies, they were almost spun out from the 60 km/h sprint with the strong tail wind.

The AltoLab 150 km Lake Front Road Race was held on a 4.2 mile circuit that contained two steep hills, a fast twisting downhill that led to the Lakefront where prevailing cross-winds wrecked havoc on the bunch. Very early in the race it was split into three distinct groups due to echeloning in the severe cross-winds.

An early move by Blackgrove and a Garmin-Slipstream rider saw the pair out for nearly half the 150km. The first split of 35 riders caught them and a couple of laps later, a group of 12 riders formed on the front. The break of 12 included Josh England (Subway Avanti), Chun Kai Feng (Team Exustar), James Stemper (Team Geargrinder), Jorge Alvarado (Kahala La-Grange), Hans Dekkers (Garmin Slipstream Pro-Tour), Bernard Sulzberger (Fly V Australia), Sean Sullivan (Hotel San Jose/Rgm Advisors), Emile Abraham (Aerocat Cycling Team), Ian Mclead (Team Mtn), Heath Blackgrove (Team Hotel San Jose), Karl Menzies (OUCH-Maxxis) and Daniel Bowman (Kelly Benefit Strategies).

The race had a strange dynamic, a big group would get off the front and come back, then another would go,” said Menzies. “It was hard to figure out which would be the one that suck”.

Menzies prediction was right as he found himself in the winning breakaway. With two and a half laps remaining Sullivan attacked and took Menzies with him, but the move was caught half a lap later. Menzies was able to recover for half the final lap before he hit out again with just a couple of miles remaining.

“I thought it might have worked if the group hesitated but they didn't,” said Menzies of the original attack. “The group was altogether for the last lap and over the hill and I attacked after that. I knew with the overall battle and the sprinters in the group there would be a delayed reaction. I was caught by Blackgrove just before the finish and won the sprint for the win.

“I’m starting to feel good but this is the first result I’ve gotten here. It’s good to get the win against quality opposition,” he added.

South Africa’s Time Trial Champion Jay Thompson (Team MTN) was led out by Hayden Godfrey (Subway Avanti) to take the field sprint for 13th place, ahead of Juan Pablo Dotti (Aerocat Cycling Team). Bernie Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) did enough to stay in the break and finish 7th to retain his yellow jersey that is secure bar any mishaps between now and the final race on Sunday.