Thomson triumphs from break

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Jay Thomson (Bissell) won stage three out of a mid-race breakaway at the Joe Martin Stage Race on Saturday. The South African won the race ahead of his breakaway companions Alfredo Cruz (Chipotle Development) in second and Luis Crosby (Pure Black Racing) in third.

“Getting the stage win was a priority for us,” said Bissell Directeur Sportif Omer Kem. “We’ve been fighting Mancebo for the entire season and he is just very strong. We wanted to come out of this race with as much as we possibly could with NRC points, taking a stage win. To see Jay win a stage is huge for us because he does so much work for the team.”

Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) held onto the overall leader’s jersey despite an aggressive race. He will lead the race into the stage four finale criterium ahead of Bissell riders Ben Jacques-Maynes, Jeremy Vennell and Paul Mach.

“We still have second, third and fourth and seventh place behind Mancebo,” Kem said. “We have a number of cards to play tomorrow and RealCyclist will be in the position to have to defend. We want to capitalize on the situation, it’s only 85 minutes but a lot can happen in that time. It is also a good finish for Ben because it is hard and it is uphill and the time bonus at the finish could get us the jersey.”

The men’s field completed four laps of a large circuit that included several lengthy rollers. The race was very aggressive during the first two laps forcing overall race leader Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) to pay close attention and respond to threatening moves.

A small breakaway emerged on the third lap that included Paul Mach (Bissell) who was the highest placed rider in the overall classification at ten seconds back in fourth place. The breakaway also included Mach’s teammate Thompson, along with Mancebo’s teammate Cesar Grajales who was 23 seconds back in the overall classification in sixth place. A group of roughly 15 riders bridged across to the breakaway that included Eric Schildge (Jamis-Sutter Home) and riders from V Australia and Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth), among others.

Mancebo and his RealCyclist.com teammates pushed the pace in the field to try and bring time back to the breakaway. With the overall classification separated by seconds, the larger lead group lacked the organization that it needed to maintain a lead on the peloton it was reabsorbed before the fourth and final lap.

Thomson and three other riders countered the original breakaway and gained a maximum of 1:20 minutes ahead of the field on the last lap. Thomson’s breakaway companions included Cruz, Crosby and Alex Howes (Chipotle Development). Thompson out-paced the breakaway riders for the stage win ahead of Cruz in second, Crosby in third and Howes in fourth. The peloton closed in on the breakaway in the final kilometres, enough to maintain the overall classification ranking.

“Jay sat on that group because he was the lowest placed rider in the overall, while we chased to try and close the gap,” Kem said. “He was able to sit on because we didn’t want to give up our GC spots, it wasn’t the ideal situation. We still have a shot at the jersey in the criterium tomorrow. I think it only ended up being a few seconds at the finish line. Jay was able to sit on and take the win.”

Elite Women

Janel Holcomb (Colavita Forno D’Asolo) took her second victory this week at stage three of the Joe Martin Stage Race on Saturday. Holcomb won the bunch sprint ahead of her teammate Modesta Vzesniauskaite who placed second and Joanne Kiesanowski (TIBCO-To the Top) in third.

"If things were going to be together, we knew that we had to do our best to win the stage," Holcomb said. "Tibco started controlling the front and it was a fast finish. We were fortunate at that point because Modesta and I were well positioned. I jumped and Modesta kept her eyes open to make sure that if I wasn’t going to hold it to the line, then she would hopefully be able to make up for it."

"It was really fun to sprint," she added. "I definitely switched from climber mentality to pretending to be a sprinter. I just said to myself,

"Janel, you are a sprinter and you have teammates here that are going to take care of everything behind, so you have to finish this off and do what you can."

Holcomb took the overall race lead after she won the stage one Devil’s Den time trial, however, she lost that lead by a mere 0.05 tenths of a second to Megan Guarier (TIBCO-To the Top) in stage two. Her stage three win garnered a 10-second time bonus, which bumped her back into the race lead by 10 seconds ahead of Guarnier and an additional nine seconds ahead of Lex Albrecht (Juverderm-Specialized).

"I don’t know that we could imagine a more ideal way to finish the stage today," Holcomb said. "We’re happy because I got the 10 seconds, Modesta got the six seconds and Jo got the four seconds. I know that Tibco rode a great race today and we were all fighting for the same thing and we are happy with the way we were able to ride as a team and the way it turned out."

The women’s field completed two large circuits that included several rollers before contesting a slightly varied finish line compared to previous years. According to Holcomb the first lap was highly aggressive as teams including TIBCO-To the Top were on the hunt for a breakaway move to stick.

Holcomb’s teammate Kristin Sanders followed many of the attacks until one move stuck that included Kathryn Donovan (SCVelo-Empower Coaching) along with one rider from TIBCO-To the Top and one rider from Primal-MapMyRide.

"There were lots of attacks and my teammate Kristin Sanders was involved in several of the moves that went," Holcomb said. "But, only one of those did the officials come back to give a time gap. So, they were short-lived. It was very aggressive on the first lap."

The field reunited on the second lap and remained together on the lengthy run-in to the finish line. With a large amount of time bonuses available on the finish line, Tibco-To the Top took full control at the front the field in a lead-out for Guarnier.

Meredith Miller (TIBCO-To the Top) took the lead in the last few kilometres followed by Kiesanowski and Guarnier. Vzesniauskaite sat closely behind the TIBCO-To the Top train with Holcomb on her wheel, waiting for the right moment to sprint. According to Holcomb, she attacked the field, initiating the sprint, as soon as Miller swung off the front of the lead-out. She held on to win the stage ahead of Vzesniauskaite and Kiesanowski.

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