North Star Grand Prix: Rothe wins Lowertown St. Paul Criterium

Image 1 of 34

Ben Hill (Donkey Label Racing) claimed the yellow jersey by winning the first time bonus sprint, shaving five seconds off his overall time to put him one-second faster than Tom Zirbel (Optum p/b Kelly Benefits Strategies). Stefan Rothe (Elbowz Racing) struck out in breakaway with Bryan Stevens (Champion System-Stan's NoTubes) and Andrew Dalheim (Canyon Bicycles - Shimano) at 28 laps to go of the 40 lap race. At just over one lap to go, the break was mere meters from being completely absorbed when Rothe gave a final hard effort to hold off the chase and claim the stage victory.

Holding off a charging peloton from the breakaway was "something I see on television but that usually doesn't happen to me, so, I was kind of surprised," said Rothe. "It definitely wasn't planned like that. I knew the two guys that were in the breakaway were good sprinters and we were about to get caught and I figured I might as well go for it. If I sprint against them I'd definitely get second or third. It doesn't happen often to pull it off and I'm very thankful I had my team manager give me splits, stand on the corner, and tell me what to do."

Historically, the St. Paul Criterium has ended in a bunch sprint. However this year's three-quarter mile (1.2km) course was shorter than previous years, lending itself to quick laps and technical turns that proved effective in slowing down a chase. 

The peloton slid out of the start, racing smoothly the first few laps while biding time for the first critical bonus sprint at 32 laps to go. Optum p/b Kelly Benefits Strategies held the front of the race guarding Zirbel's yellow jersey. By 35 laps to go the peloton strung out as riders positioned themselves to launch.

"I snuck away a bit, took them by surprise, went hard for a lap and got it," said Hill of his decisive move. "I went with almost a lap to go, before the sprint through the technical bit. There was one guy that came with me but I lost him through the corners and stayed away."

"It wasn't ideal but it wasn't the end of the world for us either," said Ryan Anderson (Optum) about Hill's time bonus sprint. "It just happened in the beginning so we just move forward from there. We're still in really good position so it's good looking forward."

Anderson finished second on the stage, with teammate Guillaume Boivin in third.

"No stress," added Anderson. "Not yet at least!"

Races Within The Race

Bike racing is known as chess on wheels for its myriad of inner games and strategies within strategies, jersey competitions within the overall competition. North Star Grand Prix added another layer of interest to the game with racer Carmen Small, who goes down in history books as the first woman to race in the men's professional field.

Small won the North Start Grand Prix last year in the women's race, which was cancelled this year. Her appearance and performance made her a fan favourite, with support pouring in over social media and a vocal local crowd. She won a crowd-funded prime of $109 for being the best women's finisher.

About the differences in the men's and women's peloton in a crit, Small said, "The guys can just push so much more power than women can. Basically my tactic was to stay in front as long as I could. I got a call up which helped a ton. Right now I don't have a lot of road racing in me, so I don't have a lot of high end. I have really good TT form right now because I've been doing a lot of that, so it was a shock. I knew it would be, so I knew I just needed to see 20 laps to go and then I could be safe."

"I really think it brought a good morale to the team Elbowz team," she added. "They did really well today, three in the top 10, it was really neat to be a part of that."

Indeed Elbows Racing dominated the jersey competition after today's stage. On top of his stage win, Rothe claimed the K'ul Chocolate Sprint Competition jersey and the Penn Cycle Most Aggressive Rider jersey. Teammate Michael Sheehan holds both the Luther VW Top Amateur jersey and the Sports Beans King of the Hills jersey.

Tobin Ortenblad (California Giant / Specialized) held the Greg LeMond Best Young Rider jersey.

Full Results