RACE REPORT
San Dimas Stage Race, San Dimas CA
March 17-19, 2006
Stage 2 - 98 Mile Circuit Race
Stage 3 - Downtown 90-minute Crit.
It was cold and rainy but the boys ripped up the mountain! Everyone had a good run at San Dimas, but some of our young guns, along with our most seasoned veteran, had an outstanding day.
Racing veteran Glen Mitchell timed his warm up right to the minute, rolled up to the line, and proceeded to put in an effort that landed him just outside the top ten in 11th place.
Jake Rytlewski waited all week to get a shot at the uphill TT (the previous weekend’s uphill TT was cancelled and replaced with a 16 mile flat TT). Jake couldn’t wait to put his power to weight advantage to work. He left the start line and drilled to it hard all the way up. His effort put him ,and the team, in the top 10.
Brent Bookwalter was focused for days before the TT. With a U23 white jersey category on the line in this stage race, Brent and the team had visions of scoring White for the weekend. Brent handled the pressure like a true Pro and stuck a great performance in the TT. At the top of the climb Brent was the 6th fastest racer overall and the number-one U23 racer and now dawned the White Jersey for the team!
Stage 2 – 98 Mile Circuit Race – 12 X 7 mile loop with 2 short but significant climbs.
The race was fast from the gun. On the first KOM (King of the Mountain) Glen Mitchell opened up the throttle just a bit to see if anyone was going to go. He waited a bit and saw the guys in contention were struggling, then he punched and soloed to score the KOM points with a huge gap. Glen was feeling good!
Then a small break of four riders got off the front and we missed out on the move. That break stuck for most of the race but was finally caught and things began to reshuffle. The pace was ripping fast for the last four laps, the guys who did the race last year said that the last four laps this year were as hard, or harder, then the last lap last year, so it was an extremely tough ending to this race.
With just a few laps to go Glen put in a vicious attack on one of the climbs and got a gap. A small group of strong men had to work hard just to close in on Glen. This looked like the winning move of five guys. Glen rode like a champion, driving the break. When they came into the last lap it was still the same group of five hovering in front of what was left of the peloton.
Down to the finishing straight, it was Glen attacking from about 500 meters out. One-hundred-fifty to go, Glen still in the lead and on the line, only the strong man Karl Menzies could come around Glen. Glen’s tremendous efforts got the team a 2nd place in the stage – a huge accomplishment.
Tom Nankervis had a great finish as well, taking 8th. B, we had six guys finish in the top 30 – the most of any team in the race. Brent rode a great race and maintained his hold on the White Jersey.
Stage 3 – Downtown 90-minute Crit
Cold and Rainy! Yes we are in California! Team objectives: Protect the White Jersey and go for a stage win. From the gun, Healthnet attacked with Gord Fraser and Karl Menzies, and who is on their wheel? Our young gun Brent Bookwalter, sporting his White U23 leaders jersey, white bar tape and white Schwalbe tire, I must say, looked as good as he rode! The Ridleys preformed awesomely all weekend, the stiff bottom brackets ripped up the mountain and accelerated Brent out of every corner of the crit course. The white Shwalbe tires stuck it hard in very wet, slick corners as the trio rolled out to nearly a one-minute lead on the peloton.
The United squad has to put their whole team on the front for 90 minutes to control and bring back the break. They have a ton of high profile horse power and it took all of it to finally catch Brent, Karl, and Gord on the very last lap.
Glen Mitchell then went to work to surf our Aussie sprinter Tommy Nankervis to the front. With skills that can’t be described in writing Glen put Tommy in position to have a go at the final kick.
Tommy rode like a seasoned vet, holding position and communicating to Glen down the back stretch. Then with the grit of a true talented field sprinter, Tommy kicked hard thru the last corner and was toe-to-toe with the best sprinter in North America, Jose Haedo. Haedo just won 2 stages in the Tour of California and is most likely in the best form of the season.
At the line, Haedo was the only racer who was faster then Tommy and now we had our second 2nd place stage finish. This was a great day for the team!
Tommy showed us that he is very capable of some great things to come!
Great Team effort and Teamwork the whole weekend….
Stage 1
- 4 in the top 20 – Brent 6th, Jake 10th, Glen 11th and Tom Zirbel 19th
- Brent takes U23 White Jersey Lead
Stage 2
- 6 in the top 25 – Glen 2nd , Tommy Nankervis 8th
- Brent holds on to U23 White Jersey Lead
Stage 3
- 3 in the top 20 – Tommy Nankervis 2nd
- Brent hold on to U23 White Jersey Lead
Final GC
- Brent wins U23 leader White Jersey
- 4 in to top 20 – Glen 7th , Brent 8th , Jake 11th and Tom Zirbel 15th
