Samplonius and Menzies take Elk Grove opener

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Anne Samplonius (Now-Novartis for MS) was the strongest time trialist at the National Racing Calendar Tour of Elk Grove opener held on Friday night outside of Chicago, while Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare) won the men’s event.

Samplonius posted the fastest time of the day in the women’s event with a time of 9:26, beating current NRC leader Janel Holcomb (Colavita-Forno D’Asolo) by six seconds and Women’s Prestige Cycling Series winner Erinne Willock (Tibco-To the Top) by an additional four seconds.

“It was a little longer than a normal prologue,” Samplonius said. “I knew that I was going to be one of the favourites because riders like Kristin Armstrong and Clara Hughes weren’t here. But, you never know, at the end of the day, if you can pull it off. I’m happy because usually I’m better at the longer time trials.”

Samplonius will lead the race heading into the stage two 50-minute criterium. However, a series of hefty time bonuses could see a drastic change to the overall classification during the next two stages, before the event concludes on Sunday.

“We only have three riders here with Robin Farina and Addy [Albershardt] so we will be up against full Colavita and Tibco teams,” Samplonius said. “We have our work cut out for us but we will do what we can do. We will have to play off of the sprinter teams that will be beating each other up for the stage wins.”

“There will be 10 seconds in time bonuses at the finish,” she said. “Thank goodness the ones who finished higher in the time trial are not sprinters, they were the climbers. I don’t have to worry about them too much because they are like me, we can’t sprint. We have a lot of people to watch but we will be smart about it and only make moves and cover things that are a big threat.”

Tibco-To the Top placed three riders in the top six with Carmen Small (Tibco-To the Top) finishing fourth place ahead of US National Road Champion Robin Farina (Now-Novartis for MS) in fifth and Jennifer Wheeler (Tibco-To the Top) in sixth.

“It was under a 10-minute effort, so it was pretty quick,” Willock said. “Anne is pretty good at those so I knew that she would be the one to beat. She had a good day and a good ride. We had three in the top six so we are happy with that.”

“We have some good sprinters here and a good squad,” she said. “We think we can try and take over the lead. There are a lot of time bonuses so we will have to look at the numbers and do the math to see what we can do.”

Organizers of the Tour of Elk Grove upgraded the women’s event to a three-day stage race and it is now a valuable member of the NRC series. The event is worth a total prize purse of $15,000. The opening time trial was held on a flat and fast course held over 7.2km.

“It was fast,” Holcomb said. “It was almost a key shaped and half was residential and half commercial. It was wide open and beautiful roads. It was pancake flat. I’m pleased with my time and I am also excited about the way the race is formatted with the time bonus, that gives us a lot of options.”

Menzies secures Elk Grove prologue victory

Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare) topped the results with a time of 8:26 in the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove men’s race. He secured the win ahead of two-time stage winner Tom Zirbel (Jamis-Sutter Home) in second and Wesley Gough (Subway) in third.

“He gets keyed up for this race and focuses pretty well in the time trial here,” said UnitedHealthcare DS Eric Greene. “He’s been training a lot on his time trial bike over the last month and talking to his mechanic, we thought he rode very well. Watching him ride his bike over the last six years, this was one of the best time trials I have ever seen him do. This win was good and the rest of the race is going to be hard.”

Menzies, a former overall winner, will lead the race heading into the second stage Chicago Black Hawks Circuit Race held on a 10km loop, totalling 155kms, which offers $28,000 in prizes. There are only seconds separating the top places in the overall classification, therefore, the time bonuses offered on stage two and three could have a large impact on the standings. The two circuit races offer hefty time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds mid-race and another 10, 6 and 4 seconds at the finish line. The events have traditionally come down to a bunch sprint.

“He’s won this race before and kept chipping away at the time bonuses until he won,” Greene said. “It is complicated because tomorrow’s circuit race has 26 corners per lap and 260 corners total. It is a confusing race. We won’t be lining it up at the front and riding for the whole race. The time bonuses are crucial and we can’t afford to control the whole race from start to finish or we might lose the race.”

Race Organizers upgraded the Tour of Elk Grove to a UCI 2.2 event and are now permitted to invite Professional Continental teams UnitedHealthcare and Geox-TMC to race alongside Continental teams and riders. In order to meet the UCI stage race standards, organizers were forced to eliminate the traditional stage three criterium and replace it with a circuit race.

The Pro men started with the AXA Equitable stage one time trial, a 7.2km and predominantly flat parcour worth $9000 in prizes. The total prize purse spread over the three stages and the overall classification is $106,500.

“I’m very pleased with fifth place,” said Bobby Lea, a multiple US National Champion who races for Pure Energy Cycling-ProAir HFA but is guest riding for Jonathan Adler Racing Team this weekend. “I placed fifth at Tour of Utah prologue last year and I wasn’t sure if that was indicative of what I could do over that sort of effort of if that was circumstantial because of the altitude. The course did suit my style as a track rider.”

Bissell placed two riders in the top ten with Frank Pipp and Jeremy Vennell, and it hopes to use the final two stages to move up in the overall classification.

“The time bonuses change the dynamics a bit because it will be hard to take both the mid-race sprint and the final sprint,” said Bissell DS Omer Kem. “It will be interesting to see how the time gaps look, but Pipp is the guy we will ride for. Menzies showed that he has good form and he can also sprint. We will have to play off of how UHC races. In a race like this, you never want to give up time but it is almost better to come from behind because you don’t want to have to control and defend.”

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