Wilcoxson wins women's Joe Martin Stage Race

Optum Pro Cycling-Kelly Benefit Strategies' first-year pro Jade Wilcoxson soloed in for the win Sunday on a difficult, technical criterium course with more than 33 meters of climbing per lap to take her first National Race Calendar stage and her first NRC overall victory on the fourth and final day of the Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas.

Wilcoxson, who also earned the green points jersey, started the day 46 seconds down on teammate and race leader Carmen Small, while Kathryn Donovan (FCS-Rouse) was just four seconds behind in second. With time bonuses of six, four and two points given to the top three on the stage, the fight for the overall win was far from over.

But Wilcoxson made the small gap between first and second moot when she joined Anna Sanders (FCR-Rouse) and Maria Luisa (Columbian National Team) off the front on the third lap of the 55-minute event. She said the team plan was for herself and Small to try and make it into any breakaways to guarantee no dangerous riders earned the time bonuses, but while Small and her leader's jersey were heavily marked, Wilcoxson slipped away.

The lead trio poured on the power and rode away from the peloton, eventually getting out of sight from the field over much of the eight-corner course. Wilcoxson jettisoned her two breakaway companions on the second intermediate sprint with about 10 laps to go and made contact with the back of the blown-apart field on the last lap. She finished 28 seconds ahead of Luisa, who also stayed away until the end, and, more importantly, 42 seconds ahead of Small. With the six-second time bonus for the win, Wilcoxson grabbed the pink winner's jersey from her teammate by just two seconds.

"I felt bad," Wilcoxson said of taking the overall win from Small. "But it's all in the family, so it's okay."

Wilcoxson finished eighth on the 4km stage 1 time trial on Thursday, just eight seconds off the winning time set by TIBCO-To the Top's Amanda Miller. She finished third on the stage 2 road race, which Small won, despite saying it was the worst she had ever felt on a bike.

"That stage set a new bar for suffering," Wilcoxson said.

She repeated her third-place finish again on the stage 3 road race won by TIBCO's Samantha Schneider before taking her first NRC win and the overall Sunday. Wilcoxson said the result should provide a good boost of confidence for herself and her Optum teammates heading into the upcoming Tour of the Gila and then the UCI 2.HC Exergy Tour in Idaho.

Mancebo fends off final challenges to take men's overall

Competitive Cyclist's Francisco Mancebo defended his NRC lead by taking the overall win after earning the leader's jersey on day one, while national criterium champion Eric Young (Bissell pro Cycling) won the final stage.

Mancebo headed into the last day with a 16-second lead over Kenda/5-Hour Energy's Shawn Milne and 18 seconds over teammate Cesar Grajales. It was similar to the situation the former Spanish national champion faced going into the final stage last year, when he lost his overall lead and tumbled down the standings.

"Thinking back to last year where we came four laps from winning the race, we definitely had that in the back of our heads," said Competitive Cyclist team director Gord Fraser. "It was a tough race, a lot of teams threw everything they had at us, and we came up good. We had a real strong team showing."

The men's finale started with repeated attacks from Bissell, hoping to get its first stage win of the tour, and Kenda, wanting to move Milne from second overall into first. But the field was still together 45 minutes into the 85-minute race, shuffling and reshuffling as attacks went off but were quickly reeled back in.

Bissell's Frank Pipp, the 2011 overall leader, escaped the bunch with about 10 laps remaining and with two other riders gained 10 seconds on the field. The move was quickly pulled back, and Redlands Bicycle Classic overall winner Phil Gaimon (Kenda/5-Hour Energy) countered with a solo flier, quickly building a 15-second gap. Starting the day just 27 seconds down, Gaimon's dangerous move prompted another chase from a tiring Competitive Cyclist squad, which was aided by Bissell's stage-win hopes.

Gaimon's advantage surged to 20 seconds with five laps to go, forcing Mancebo to take control of the chase while pulling the entire field along with him. He whittled Gaimon's lead down to 15 seconds with three to go and then pulled the Kenda rider back before the start of the penultimate lap. Kenda and Bissell battled for control over the closing laps, with Bissell delivering Young for the win. Stage 3 winner Eric Marcotte (Elbowz racing) finished second, while Kenda's Milne grabbed third.

Mancebo clung to the race lead by just 14 seconds over Milne, who took home the green points jersey. Grajales held onto third overall.

Fraser said the three-day yellow jersey defense provided a good test for the Competitive Cyclist squad heading into this week's Tour of the Gila. After winning the opening time trial by just five seconds, Mancebo helped his cause by finishing second to Milne in the stage 2 field sprint, a result that prevented the other GC rivals from chipping away at his opening advantage.

"We knew the first road stage had a very difficult finish and he could pad his lead there," Fraser said of the team's tactical plan. "We had the reference of last year when he got third in that stage. So we were optimistic he would get a bonus. And certainly he had a good sprint with second. That last k of that stage is very, very difficult and technical, and he excels at that."

Mancebo finished 24th but earned the same time as the leaders in the crash-marred sprint finish of stage 3, where Eric Marcotte (Elbowz Racing) won and Milne got another time bonus for second. Mancebo held off challenges from Kenda, Optum and Bissell on stage 4, finishing fifth but with the same time as the stage winner to maintain his overall lead.

Fraser said the difference between last year and this year boiled down to a better cast of dedicated supporters around his seasoned team leader.

"We kind of left our speed element in Speedweek," Fraser said. "So we sacrificed stage wins for that potential jersey defense, which obviously played out for us. All eight riders were dedicated to that yellow jersey for Competitive Cyclist. So that was the big difference. I think we match up top to bottom now, eight deep, with most teams, and it showed this week."

Fraser said the team also got extra motivation riding for Bill Peterson, a longtime cycling pedorthist who is fighting cancer. Over the past 30 years, Peterson has worked with many of the world's best cyclists and teams, including Motorola, US Postal, Mercury, Saturn and HealthNet.

"Basically, he does everybody, all the athletes; people fly in from all over the world to get fixed by Bill," Fraser said. "He's been in a two or three year battle with cancer, and he's in it really deep right now. All of us at Competitive Cyclist had him on our minds today. This win definitely goes out to him, and we wish him and his family all the best."

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