Sparling scores, De Maar makes it

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Despite his inexperience in American-style criterium racing, Marc de Maar stayed upright Sunday on a rain-slicked course at the stage five Downtown Hood River Criterium and finished safely in the bunch to secure his overall win at the 2010 Indie Hops Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

Total Restoration's Jaimie Sparling won the climactic Downtown Hood River Criterium for the second year in a row using the same method that he used to win the stage in 2009: getting into a strong-looking breakaway early in the rain-shortened, 60-minute event and eventually winning the sprint from the group of four. Rio Grande Racing's Ian Gray finished second. Yahoo!'s Ryan Parnes was third.

After a rain-soaked morning, race organisers reversed the course direction so that riders would have to climb through the route's corkscrew turn instead of descending it. The change of direction didn't dampen Sparling's enthusiasm to get a stage win this year.

The Canadian amateur was in doomed break at Mt. Tabor's stage 1, Mt. Adams' stage 3 and the stage 4 race that finished on Mt. Hood. But the crit course seems to be where Sparling is able to cash in on a week's worth of aggressive riding.

"Today I finally found the right break, had good legs and it all came together," Sparling said. "I've been trying, trying super hard. But you don't win races if you're not trying to get off the front. So I've been trying as hard as I can."

That go-for-it attitude waned very briefly during the criterium, when Sparling and his breakaway companions - in danger of lapping the field - decided to hang out just behind the group and the fight it out in the finale.

"We drilled it for about 30 minutes and then the pack was right there," he said. "Then we just all said, you know, let's have a little tea party. I think someone actually asked if we wanted mittens for our tea party. It was just too sketchy. When we got close to the pack we'd come around a corner and see guys in the ditch or guys in the rail. So we decided to give them some space and just chill."

The "chillin" ended as the last lap approached and the four riders in the breakaway, which included Sparling, Yahoo!'s Ryan Parnes, Rio Grande's Ian Gray and Cal Giant's James Mattis, started jockeying for position in the sprint. That's when Sparling grabbed second wheel and waited to pounce.

"The guy in first pinned the guy in third in the corner and kind of gave me the hole shot on the outside," Sparling said. "It was perfect. It worked out really well."

The criterium eventually worked out really well for de Maar as well, once he was able to get over his pre-race nerves, according to United Healthcare team director Gord Fraser.

"He's not at home yet in North American-style criteriums," Fraser said. "With the rain as well, he wasn't the most calm person before the race. He's only done two criteriums in the states, and he's crashed in both. So it was a big mental hurdle for him today."

De Maar said his only job in the criterium was to stay upright and not lose the jersey.

"U.S. crits are not my favorite part of bike racing, to be honest," de Maar said. "We didn't want to take any risks. The most important thing was to stay on the bike, so that's why we took the lead straight away to keep me in a safe position."

The team kept de Maar out of trouble through the slippery course and gave the Dutch rider the opportunity for a traditional salute as he crossed the lien in the bunch, celebrating his first win in the states after a slow start.

"I came over for this year in January and had a rough time," he said. "I was injured most of the time, and then suddenly everything went well. I did a great Tour of California, so the only thing I did here was keep on continuing my good form. And I'm not done yet."

The top of the race's general classification remained unchanged after the final stage, with de Maar in the top spot, Team Type 1's Michael Creed second and Echelon Gran Fondo/ZteaM's Nate English third.

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