Fabrice (and Lance) Race Nevada City

Representing Webcor/Alto Velo, Fabrice and Dominic lined up against a VERY competitive field, including Lance Armstrong, who flew in for the day just to do the Nevada City Classic. After just finishing up Tour de Nez, Fabrice did an amazing job of animating the race and staying with an elite group of riders. In the end, he scored an impressive top-10 result against a who's-who of pro cycling.

Full Results

Nevada City Classic, Pro 1/2
1h30
June 21, 2009
Field: 130
Place: 9th
Teammates: Dominic Giampaolo

As I was in Reno for the Tour de Nez, I had just few hours of driving to go to Nevada City. But the longest thing was not to drive but to find a spot to park our car. Because for that one Sunday, Nevada City had become the center of the cycling world. And that was because the "best friends", Levi Leiphemer, Chris Horner and Lance Armstrong were pre-reg'd for that crazy race. Before arriving, I thought it was a bit crazy for those guys to come in for that race just a few weeks before their biggest goal of the season, but not them. They were really here with thousand and thousand of spectators! I think that I never saw so many people all around a course, nearly 2 rows of spectators all around the 2 mile circuit. That was insane!

After three days of racing I didn't know if my legs were able to face that circuit during 1 and a half hours, because there is no flat it's just up and down all the time. But I had to try.

I started in good position during the neutralized lap, so that gave me more chance to stay in contact with the big guys of day. In the first lap, the race was fully underway when one Bissell guy attacked from the start and made a lap solo, then Andrew Tallensky from Amore-Vitta took the spot in the front of the race. He was joined a few miles later by Levi, who stayed on the front alone after the climb. The next lap an attack from Justin England from Cal-Gaint put 5 guys, including LA, in counter attack. Along the false flat before the descent I closed the gap between the field and that group alone, so we were 6 in that group just less than 10 seconds behind Levi. At the bottom of the climb Lance saw that there was a gap with the field so he accelerated and just Ben-Jacques Maynes (Bissell) was able to follow him. I hadn't recovered from my last attack, so I worked to keep a good pace and to stay in good position in the field.

Lance, Levi, and BJM were able to work together and the gap between them and the field was just increasing lap after lap. I managed to stay in the group behind them all the time, and tried a couple times to create a counter attack but without success. Then with 20 minutes to go, the roaring crowds signaled that the three escapers were lapping us. With 6 laps to go Lance attacked BJM, and managed to create a big gap in only one climb. I stayed in the group with BJM, Levi, and a couple of pro guys, (Gerlach from Amore Vita, Zwanski from Kelly-benefits, Paul Mach from Bissell...). Lance won the race with 20 seconds advantage on BJM and Levi. From the "pack" I contested the sprint for the 4th place, and ended up 9th overall and was first amateur.

After the finish, we rode a lap of honor that was completely crazy; everyone was in the middle of the road and were screaming and congratulating us for the show, a thing I've never felt before.

What a great day.

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice