EBC Crit Report

EBC Criterium, Pleasanton, CA
Race: P/1/2, 75 minutes
Date: 10 May 2008
Webcor/Alto Velo Team: Jono Coulter, Chris Crawford, Neil Harrington, Aroussen Laflamme, Rob MacNeill, Graham Simpson
Result: 5th of ~75

This past Saturday a bunch of the men's elite team went out for the EBC crit in Pleasanton. The course is a clockwise loop of 2 sweeping roads, so 2 real corners and 2 sweepers. The stretch from the last corner to the line is less than 200 m so if a sprint is on, it's to the last corner. Pavement is good with wide lanes so no real reason to touch the brakes or shift much for the whole race. The wind picked up throughout the day and was the worst for the mid-afternoon P12 event, which made it pretty tough on the front or in breakaways.

We had a typical plan to cover moves and position for the sprint if it came down to it. Rob and Neil were go-to sprinters. Everyone on the team was active during the race either following moves or helping to chase. There were numerous breakaways from start to finish but nothing really stuck--it was hard out there in the wind. Also, there was a lot of order shuffling due to changes in pace. Keeping good position was a constant battle but it seemed like we were well represented in the front third of the pack for the entire race. It's important to keep good position to be there when the action happens. Otherwise, we're left to chase missed moves--never a good thing.

With things winding down, and the last of the big breakaway having come back it seemed a bunch sprint was inevitable. Though with 3 or so to Viktor Rapinski of BPG took a flyer and got a big gap quickly. It looked like he had a good chance of staying away though the pack was getting faster and faster with every lap. After having done a lot of work in the closing laps, Neil struggled to find the right wheels to get back to the front for a sprint. Meanwhile, Rob was surfing the pack and trying to stay up in position for the finale. Into the last lap, Rob is fighting hard to stay in the mix, he sprinted up the second to last straight and into the final corner in about 6th or 7th. Rapinski is caught in the last corner and the sprint is on. Rob gets guttered, yells, hesitates, muscles through, and sprints again. Briggs from Cal Giant crosses first, followed by Bosch of Sierra Pacific in second, while Loader from BPG is 3rd. Rob passed the guy that guttered him and almost got on top of 4th place but had to settle for 5th.

Good day in all for the boys in green--good aggressive team riding and a top-5 result. Thanks for reading.