RACE REPORT
Joe Martin SR Stage Race , Fayetteville, AR
May 12-14, 2006
The opening stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, AR featured a very hilly 108 miles, totaling 5,400 feet of climbing. After opening in relatively slow fashion, Priority Health threw in a handful of strong attacks only to be reeled back in each time.
A group succeeded in breaking away just as HealthNet strong-man Nathan O'Neill flatted. This circumstance made it such that HealthNet received the chief duty of chasing for many subsequent miles, with the very generous help of Priority Health’s Brian Sheedy to save the rest of the team for the closing miles and a strong lead out.
Two-thirds of the way through the race, the peloton found itself ascending the only significant climb of the day – a 9.2 mile uphill section with an average grade of 2.7%. Thanks to Brian's hard work at the front of the field, as well as continuous attacks up the climb, the peloton shattered from 215 starting riders to just 50.
Tom Zirbel went with a move at the top of the climb, hoping that he and his breakaway companions would have the horsepower to lead the charge back into Fayetteville, yet with HealthNet still on the front, it turned out to be a significant yet futile attempt.
Priority Health had a strong team still intact coming back into town with Robbie King, Glen Mitchell, Tom Zirbel, Rich England, and Ted King riding strongly at the front. The last few kilometers were raced at a blistering pace as each team tried desperately to power their way to the front, thereby shattering the lead-out trains for virtually all the teams.
With a quick left-right-right in the last kilometer, as well as a two significant steep climbs Ted King stayed with the leaders and finished in a very respectable 4th position, with HealthNet's Scott Moninger closely nipping at his heels.
The top three riders were:
1st Place - Gordon Fraser
2nd Place - Ivan Stevic
3rd Place - Alex Candelario
Stage 2 - May 13, 2006
After a evening finish the previous day, the 8am start was sure to put some pressure on some of the riders who weren'’t well prepared for this race. Still, in excess of 200 riders rolled out from the start line, with Priority Health down one, after the withdrawal of Tommy from the previous stage.
150km of a hard circuit faced the riders today and some 20km in a break of eight was established, which it would seem would take the spoils for the day. The break quickly established a lead of 5 mins, with Priority Health represented by their 4th place finisher from the previous stage Ted King. It was a perfect situation for the team, who was happy to watch the break disappear up the road with a guarantee of a top finisher in the overall classification. It was however not to be, with Toyota-United unhappy with their riders in the break and the eventual return of Health Net’s representative Nathan O’Neill, it became an all out pursuit over the final 40km to close down the 3.30 gap that still existed to the 4 leaders. With nearly 20 riders contributing to the chase the gap came down quickly and Ted King and the others were reeled in with 4km to go after a brave effort.
It was now a job for those who had had a slightly easier day to fly the flag for the finish. Eddy Hilger did a fantastic job of taking Richard all the way to the line, keeping him out of the wind during the last 15km of the race. With 1km to go Richard had the wheel of, eventual winner, Gord Fraser and in the down hill sprint to the line ran out 3rd, in a very close throw with Jelly Belly’s Alex Candelario.
So another win for Gord Fraser (Health Net) saw him further extend his lead at the top of the general classification, but with an uphill time trial and Criterium to go Richard England (Priority Health) had moved himself into 4th place and was confident of a good performance in the overall.
