Nature Valley Grand Prix: Mazich takes solo win at Cannon Falls

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Jelly Belly's Sean Mazich and Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies' Jade Wilcoxson took the wins Thursday during the stage 3 Cannon Falls road race at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota.

Mazich soloed away from a select group of 18 on the finishing circuits after an attack-filled day of racing for the men, while Optum's Mike Friedman was runner-up for the second consecutive day and took over the yellow jersey from Mazich's teammate Serghei Tvetcov. Wilcoxson, who won yellow the night before during the stage 2 St. Paul criterium, outsprinted Shelley Olds (TIBCO) and Carmen Small(Specialized-lululemon) for her first stage win of the race.

The men's 149km stage was a no-holds-barred onslaught from start to finish, with several large breakaways forming and then disintegrating under a barrage of attacks and cat-and-mouse tactics amongst riders fighting for the overall.

The first big breakaway of 18 included Tvetcov and his Jelly Belly teammate Morgan Schmitt, along with Optum riders Tom Zirbel, Chad Haga and Jesse Anthony. That break split in two as Zirbel and Haga worked Tvetcov over pretty hard, trying to knock him out of the group.

The Optum riders would gap themselves off with Tvetcov in tow and then force Jelly belly's race leader to close down the gap. The efforts eventually dropped Zirbel, Haga and Tvetcov from the lead group, with Zirbel and Tvetcov eventually making it back on.

The differing agendas among the breakaway riders doomed its chances and led to another split that saw a group of eight peel away from the leaders. More attacking in the chase behind also split the field into multiple groups, with the eight leaders being chased by a group of two, another group of 18 and a third chase group of eight. Tvetcov had faded back into the main field, which trailed the leaders by as much as 3:30 near the end of the stage.

As the groups near the front either bridged, blew up or just plain disintegrated, a lead bunch of 17 formed as the race neared the first of four 4.5km finishing circuits in Cannon Falls. The lead bunch included Mazich, Friedman, Anthony Cole House (CashCall Mortgage), Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman), Andres Diaz (Elbowz), Kennett Peterson (Full Circle), Freddie Rodriguez (Jelly Belly), Alexander Ray (ISCorp), Eric Marcotte (Elbowz), Nicolai Brochner (Bissell-ABT-Giant), Scott Zwizanski (Optum), Ricardo Vandervelde (Jelly Belly), Andrew McCullough (Mt. Borah), Michael Weicht (CashCall), Joseph Schmalz (Elbowz) and Kevin Gottlieb (Kelly Benefit Strategies-LSV).

Mazich lept away from the leaders on the second circuit and quickly built a lead of 20 seconds as Anthony tried to pull him back and set up Friedman for the win and the maximum time bonus of 12 seconds. But Mazich, who has lived at WorldTour rider Chris Horner's San Diego home for the past three years, had too much left in the tank to be denied. The fourth-year Jelly Belly pro soloed across the line to take his first win in more than a year, a victory he said is the biggest of his career so far.

"It’s been a long time coming," Mazich said. "I have numerous people I need to call and thank for this. I did the work, and I just finally caught a break. That’s the way I’m looking at it. Finally the cards just fell in my favor. I was able to hit them at the right time and hold them off."

Friedman crossed the line three seconds later and secured the eight-second time bonus for second, launching him into the overall lead by 23 seconds over his teammate Zwizanski and 28 seconds over Diaz. CashCall's House finished third on the stage, while Jelly Belly's Fred Rodriguez grabbed fourth.

Mazich praised his team, especially Rodriguez, for the winning effort.

"We had three guys, four guys in all the moves today," he said. "Freddie set it up perfectly for me to go. He chased down an attack, made it really, really hard, and they slowed down enough that I countered them. That was just perfect. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that."

At the end of the day Friedman also praised his teammates and his fellow competitors for a "fun" day on the bike.

"It wasn't the standard ProTour racing where the break goes and then it’s boring for four hours," he said. "That was a race. It was fun, and stressful."

Wilcoxson adds to overall lead with stage win

Kenda-RACC riders Amity Elliott and Shannon Parish animated the women's race early with a breakaway that gained an ultimate advantage of one minute before Wilcoxson's Optum team massed on the front andstarted whittling away at the gap.

The Optum riders slowly brought the break's advantage down until the two Kenda riders were back in the fold about 48km into the 149km race.

Specialized-lululemon's Gillian Carlton was next to try her luck off the front, and she was soon joined by Flavian Oliveira (Birchwood Cycling) and Diana Carolina (Colombia-Specialized). The trio also gained a minute on the field as Optum took control of the chase and rode hard to bring them back.

But the race was temporarily neutralized after the leaders were led off course. Racing resumed once the breakaway riders were back on course and officials re-established their advantage; the gap sat at 50 seconds about 83km into the race.

Colavita's Kimberly Wells, wearing the sprint leader's jersey after her effort during the stage 2 criterium, bridged to the leaders to add some more horsepower to the break. But Optum seemed determined to not be denied on the stage and rode the breakaway riders down in short order.

Joy McCulloch (Specialized-lululemon) countered after the catch and soon had her own advantage. Birchwood's Sara Clafferty and Vanessa Drigo (Rose Bandits) bridged to McColluch to form another lead trio. The leaders had an advantage of 50 seconds at the 114km mark, but their effort also fell victim to a chase – by TIBCO this time – and the field rolled into Cannon Falls mostly intact for the four finishing circuits.

"We decided we didn’t like the break with about 20k left to go, and we closed the gap in the dirt section," said Olds, the TIBCO team leader.

"We came into the circuit all together, and that’s what we wanted."

The quick pace around Cannon Falls split the group in two, and attacks started going off the front on the second circuit. But Optum brought it back together again as the riders saw two laps to go. The first group started the final circuit mostly intact, and a sprint finish looked almost assured. But Wilcoxson had another plan.

"My teammate Leah [Kirchman] ended up giving me a leadout to the bottom of the hill that was probably 500 meters from the finish," Wilcoxson said. "I knew that would be my only chance to gap Shelley. I have to have a gap on her or I have no chance of beating her in a sprint – ever."

Wilcoxson's gambit worked, delivering her to the line in front of Olds, Small and her Optum teammate Joelle Numainville. The win and time bonus increased Wilcoxson's GC advantage over Small to eight seconds. Olds, who is currently 14 seconds back in third, said she got a disappointing leadout in the finale.

"I had one teammate in front of me that I think I trusted a little too much in the final," she said. "I should have gotten in front of my teammate."

Wilcoxson and Optum now have three more stage to defend the yellow jersey, starting with the Uptown Minneapolis criterium Friday night. Optum put in a lot of work on Thursday, but Wilcoxson said the team has plenty more firepower to deal with the rest of the week's challenges.

"We leaned heavily on two of our riders today, Amber Gaffney and Leah Kirchman," Wilcoxson said. "So we still have six more fairly fresh riders, and everybody is super strong so I'm not too worried about it."

Men - Full results

Women - Full results