Holloway, Van Gilder victorious in Madison

The 2011 Tour of America’s Dairyland came to a close on Sunday, appropriately at the Dairyland’s state capital of Madison, and under brilliant, sunny weather.

The Mellow Mushroom trio of Laura Van Gilder, Kristen Lasasso and Carrie Cash-Wooten became podium stars as well as crowd favorites early on in ToAD, and that’s just how they left the Tour. Van Gilder, who won eight of the 11 ToAD contests including Sunday's finale, was bested only twice by teammate Lasasso and once by Ashley James (Team Kenda p/b Geargrinder) at the Ripon Time Trial.

The sixth-tenths of a mile Madison course was fast, holding the field together much of the day. A couple of primes eventually sparked some action, and with an assist from Lasasso, Van Gilder pounded away at the front of the field in the last lap for the stage win and overall title. Emily Collins (VanderKitten) and Holly Mathews (ISCorp) rounded out the stage podium, with Cari Higgins (Peanut Butter & Co.) and Lasasso joining on the second and third steps, respectively, of the overall podium.

Cash-Wooten had a mechanical inside eight laps to go but fought back the remainder of the race to hang on and finish to secure Mellow Mushroom’s spot atop the team standings.

In the Pro Men’s Race, a solid breakaway of three formed just five laps in, which went nowhere fast except further up the road. Daniel Holloway (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth), Brett Tivers (Garneau Test Team) and Serghei Tvetcov (Aerocat) made up the well-oiled, untouchable machine that left the field resigned to focusing on fourth place and beyond.

As the gap exceeded 41 seconds and the breakaway was on approach to lap the field, attacks were attempted and then pulled back. After a flurry of primes the field started to shatter. Chad Hartley (Kenda 5-hour Energy p/b Geargrinder), Rafael Meran (Foundation/CRCA), Shaun McCarthy (Garneau) and Cole House (Realcyclist.com) all got in on the money, as did Tivers himself, to create some excitement.

But with just two to go, the field was wrecked. The 3-man break held together from lap five of the day’s 90-minute race, and with one to go, it was Tvetcov attacking on the backside. US Pro Criterium Champion Holloway, however, stuck it for the narrow win over Tvetcov and Tivers, who finished second and third respectively. Meran took the field sprint for fourth place.

Tvetcov went home as the overall Tour of America's Dairyland men's champion, as Hartley and Euris Rafael Vidal (Foundation/CRCA) rounded out the overall podium for the series. Aerocat, who came to ToAD expecting to exit earlier in the week, stayed through to the finale and ultimately walked away with the team title.

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