Cliff-Ryan fastest in Charlotte

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USA Cycling's National Racing Calendar series resumed racing in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Presbyterian Hospital Criterium - the mid-summer cash cow of the criterium circuit that does double duty as part of the USA Crits series.

With two teams comprising more than a quarter of the women's peloton in Charlotte, it would have been a disaster if anyone but Colavita-Baci or TIBCO/To the Top won the race. One woman, Laura Van Gilder, riding solo for Mellow Mushroom, nearly pulled off the coup of the night but instead it was Colavita's Theresa Cliff-Ryan who claimed the top prize of $7,500.

It was the first time Cliff-Ryan has won the race in Charlotte, and she credited her new squad with helping her get the edge she needed to finally add the event to her palmares.

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"This is my first year on a big team, so definitely having a team out there to help is a big step in winning. It's also just timing the sprint perfectly - it all worked out for me today."

Van Gilder nearly upset the big teams, and said she feels comfortable in the role of a free-lancer in the sprints. "It was tough - there was a lot of traffic to get through so I'm thrilled with second. I'd love to have teammates, but it just hasn't been meant to be. I'm just going to go out there and race my bike - I can go up against seven-rider teams and against every other individual rider who is racing without a team. There are so many strong women who aren't intimidated to race their bikes."

TIBCO's Jo Kiesanowski hit the front too early in the final turn and fought hard to win the final podium spot, just edging NRC individual leader Cath Cheatley at the line.

"The last lap was really messy - my teammate Sam [Schneider] did a great job getting me to the last corner, but unfortunately we didn't have anyone else between her and myself and I found myself on the front way too early. Theresa had a great sprint, she was really strong at the finish."

USA Crits series leader Erica Allar claimed the fifth spot, further extending her lead in that series over Tiffany Pezzulo with one race left to go. "I followed Shontell Gauthier for the mid-race points prime and ended up second and got more points. It was definitely a goal for the evening, so goal accomplished," said Allar.

"It's definitely something that is fun, it's exciting - I didn't really plan for it this season so that makes it even more fun."

The race was the third to last event in the NRC and the penultimate race in the USA Crits series for women. With the majority of the top women in the NRC earning their points through stage races and not present in Charlotte, the focus was on the teams classification where Colavita came into the race just 27 points ahead of the Vera Bradley Foundation squad.

The Colavita-Baci squad took control of the race from the gun, looking both to win the race with their prime sprinter Cliff-Ryan but also to extend their lead in the classification by placing their top riders in high positions in the race.

Australian Kate Bates was the sacrificial lamb, launching an attack from the gun and remaining active throughout the race taking the race's last prime, while TIBCO's Emma Mackie added to her team's prize purse by nabbing several prizes mid-race.

"We were trying to protect the overall so we couldn't do a proper lead-out because we had to have our top 4 riders finish up there for the team classification," said Cliff-Ryan. "Kate [Bates] did an awesome job, went for the prime and won it, then kept it going so I didn't get boxed, and then Cath went for it out of the last corner - she held on for fourth and it was perfect for her and perfect for me because it gave me a nice fast lead-out."

While Cheatley added to her lead in the NRC standings, Bates was happy to sacrifice her personal result, and after rolling through the last race of the lap completely exhausted, she was still trying to catch her breath well after the race had ended.

"The team was in a unique position - not only can we win the race with Theresa, but we're leading the NRC individually with Cath Cheatley and as a team," said Bates. "So today we had two jobs - one to win the race and the second to get as many girls as we could up in the points.

"There were a couple of us who weren't up there in the points, so it was our job to do what we could. It was fun, actually - it's a great course and at the end of the season we've really come together as a unit."

With seven TIBCO riders and eight from Colavita-Baci, the greatly outnumbered Peanut Butter & Co/Twenty 12 and Vera Bradley teams could not force a breakaway, while regional teams like Team Kenda and BMW-Bianchi had little hope of getting even momentary glory in the face of such domination.

Constant primes kept the pace of the race high, splitting the peloton under the consistent pressure of Colavita-Baci and TIBCO riders at the front, but always reforming by the end of the lengthy 1.25 mile lap.

Coming into the penultimate lap, the Peanut Butter & Co/Twenty 12 squad placed former solo Charlotte winner Kat Carroll in a five-rider split, but by the end of the lap the race was all back together for the bunch sprint.

Cheatley attacked into the last series of turns, but coming out of the final bend it was her teammate Cliff-Ryan who overpowered Van Gilder on the long run to the line to claim her first ever victory in Charlotte.

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