Hughes wins Gila criterium and increases overall lead

Clara Hughes won her second consecutive race this week during the stage four Downtown Silver City Criterium at the SRAM Tour of the Gila. The Canadian Olympian won the bunch gallop to the line ahead of Lauren Tamayo (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12) in second and Eleonora Patuzzo (Diadora-Pasta Zara) in third.

"My coach told me that if I was top three out of the last turn then I would win," Hughes said. "I was watching all the sprints during the race and with the wind conditions I knew that I had to be second out of the last corner. I saw people winning the sprint from second place during the point sprints and I had a lot of patience and knew exactly where I could make up gaps and spots and I had it dialled in for the last lap. It was the longest sprint ever.

"I guess because I don't ever sprint, it felt really long," she added. "I saw someone coming and I thought it was too long but then I saw them die a little and I kept going. It was just really weird to sprint because I'm not a sprinter, it was bizarre but very fun. I used to love leading-out I've finished second or third leading out riders like Petra Rossner, Ina Teutenberg, Karen Livingston [Bliss] back in the day."

Hughes furthered her lead in the overall classification by picking up a 15-second time bonus for winning the stage. She will start the fifth and final stage of the Tour of the Gila's Gila Monster Road Race nearly two minutes ahead of defending champion Mara Abbott (Diadora-Pasta Zara) and an additional minute ahead of Rhae Shaw (Cycle U).

"I'll ride to my death tomorrow and whatever happens I will give it everything I have," Hughes said. "If I don't win then that means someone was better than me. But, I am going to put of a fight for sure."

Heather Logan-Sprenger (Colavita Forno D'Asolo) is currently leading the event's best sprinter competition while Abbott is leading the Queen of the Mountain (QOM) competition. Denise Ramsden (Juvederm) is leading the event's best young rider competition. It was a relatively conservative race for the Pro-Cat 1,2 women's field. Aggressive teams included Juvederm, Primal-MapMyRide and Missing Link-Specialized along with Colavita Forno D'Asolo, who were after the intermediate point sprints for Logan-Sprenger. Colavita Forno D'Asolo received some competition in the sprints from Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12. However, for the majority of the race, teams Diadora-Pasta Zara and Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12 patrolled the front of the field.

"We sat back a little bit in the last road race and missed some of the moves at the end of the race," Ramsden said. "Today we really wanted to ride aggressive even though the chances seemed good that it would come down to a group sprint. We tried and we got a few primes out of it."

Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12 formed the dominant lead-out train with one lap to go for its sprinter Tamayo. The field rounded the final corner with Hughes in second position and Tamayo further back in roughly fifth position. Hughes made it to the line by a fraction of a wheel length ahead of Tamayo, while Patuzzo picked up third place.

"I couldn't have asked for a better race from the team," Tamayo said. "All I had to do was sit in and watch and they made sure that everything was taken care of. They lined it up with one to go. We got a little bit swarmed on the back side but recovered and got back into position before the last turn. I was fifth wheel coming out of the last corner and had some ground to make up because Clara went through it pretty fast."

In the men's event, Joe Lewis (Trek-Livestrong) scored his team its second victory this week. The youngster won the bunch sprint to the finish line ahead of Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home) in second and Aaron Kemps (V Australia) in third.

"I knew what lap we were on because I was counting from five to go in my head," said Lewis with regard to the incorrect official lap counter during the final laps of the race. "I had help from my teammates through out the race but in the end the our concern was the young riders jersey. I was by myself with one lap to go and handled myself well, coming out of the last corner in sixth wheel. It is my first win of the year and I am absolutely stoked."

Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) maintained over a minute lead ahead of runner up in the overall classification Ben Day (Kenda/5-hour Energy) and Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) in third. RealCyclist.com was hoping to add another stage win to its belt during the criterium, however, confusion amongst some of the peloton caused by an incorrect lap counter prompted his team to set up Cole House for the win one lap too early.

"My guys are really upset right now," Fraser said. "Cole had a fantastic race and was covering stuff, floating and wanted to make good for his mistake in Bayard. He would have been a strong contender for the race win. As an ex sprinter I can feel his frustration. I've seen some crazy things in cycling and this was the latest. I got some work to do as a directeur to calm my guys down and get them ready to defend the overall jersey tomorrow."

In addition to the overall race lead, Mancebo is leading the King of the Mountain (KOM) competition. Time trial winner Dale Parke (Trek-Livestrong) is leading the event's best young rider competition and his teammate and stage winner, Lewis, accumulated enough points during the criterium to take over the lead in the event's best sprinter competition.

"I placed in two intermediate sprints and won the last one," Lewis said. "I didn't want to go for them so hard that I wouldn't be able to be there at the finish. I wanted to be able to do well at the finish."

Pure Black Racing was arguably the most aggressive team during the Pro-Cat 1 men's 40-lap criterium. The team sent a rider off the front at every opportunity, covered by teams Bissell, Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth, RealCyclist.com, Jamis-Sutter Home, Juwi Solar and Team Exergy. Alex Howes picked up full points on the first bonus sprint ahead of Frank Pipp (Bissell)

Andres Diaz (Team Exergy) took a solo flyer for two laps, mid race, chased by a group of roughly 20 riders that included Glen Chadwick (Pure Black Racing), Ben Jacques-Maynes and Jeremy Vennell (Bissell), Anibal Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home), Joe Lewis and his teammate Joshua Atkins (Trek-Livestrong), Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth and Matt Cooke (Exergy), among others. The group approached the second bonus sprint won by Anibal Borrajo.

Almost as soon as the field came back together, Chadwick and Phil Gaimon (Kenda/5-hour Energy) launched another breakaway, chased by Borrajo,
George Bennett (Trek-Livestrong), and James McCoy (Pure Black Racing). The riders were reabsorbed into the field before the third and final bonus sprint won by Pipp, followed by Anibal Borrajo.

Several more attacks came from the field but none were able to establish a significant gap. With two laps to go the field was intact and as the came through the start-finish line the official lap counter read one lap to go, causing some confusion in the field and RealCyclist.com, Kenda/5-hour Energy and Bissell, among other teams, went for the stage sprint one lap too soon.

"The sprint was hard because all the people were confused," Alejandro Borrajo said. "Some did the sprint with two laps to go and then again on the last lap. It was hard. Our goal was to go for the jersey and win the stage."