May 8 Joe Martin Stage Race Stage 2
The 2nd stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race was a road race with a significant climb at the midway point. The Webcor team rode a great race, but did not quite get the win we hoped for. It was a good learning experience though!
Here is Erinne's Report:
Today was Stage 2 of the Joe Martin Stage Race here in Fayetteville. The first 25 miles of the course was rolling and then we hit a 10-mile gradual highway grade climb. After the climb was a big descent and flat roads until the last 2km hard and technical finish. We woke up to a thunder storm this morning but were lucky enough to have a dry and safe race!
The Webcor plan of attack was finely strategized, and we started off the first 25 miles patrolling the front and going with attacks but not being the biggest aggressors. At the bottom of the 10-mile hill as planned we started to make use of our strong climbing team with the confidence that our sprinter would out-climb the other sprinters. We wanted to get breaks away and make Team Type 1 (yellow jersey) and Tibco work.
Rebecca went to the front to set a great tempo to make the climb hard. Katheryn was the first Webcor to attack on the climb and got an immediate gap with two others. They put good pressure on the field and made Team Type 1 chase. Then we all continued attacking and Nicki had two great moves that stayed away awhile. Erinne countered Nicki about 1.5km from the top and got away with Kristen Lassaso (who was in 4th place) and a Jazz Apple girl. We worked well together and drilled it to the top and down the descent and even along the flats for awhile. Our largest gap grew to 40 seconds and this made the other strong teams chase. We were caught about 12 miles to go and initially there were a few counters and attacks always covered by a Webcor jersey. Then everyone realized it was going to come down to a sprint finish and things slowed until the last two miles. Here’s the description of the final 2 km. Left, right bam bam, roller, roller, down, right, to a long straight gradual up finish.
Our race had been perfect till now and we were sooooo excited to WIN the race! The plan was to lead out Gina but have me do an attack on the first roller in order make Tibco chase me again. But I couldn’t attack because the speed was already too fast and my legs did a little cramp as I stood up. But no worries about that, Katheryn and I really had to just make sure not to get time gapped, which we did successfully. Then Alex roared up the right of the second rollers and took over the leadout from Tibco and sped down the hill to the right and final corner with Nikki and Gina on her wheel and in that order. It was perfect, Webcor 1,2,3 into the final corner as planned!!! But, it is always hard making split second decisions in those sprints, and today with a little confusion of when Nikki was supposed to pass Alex and with a little hesitation in the speed of the bunch, Nikki ducked up the inside of Alex and went as hard as possible out of the corner. Unfortunately, Gina wasn’t expecting Nikkii to go that early and lost her wheel. Nikkii ended up about three meters ahead of everyone, which was great for looks but with a 300 meter uphill finish, it was too soon and too far to hold. Gina was no longer in an ideal position and came by Nikki just at the line, Gina in 4th and Nikki in 5th.
We are very proud of how we rode today, but of course also disappointed to not win because we deserved the win today. There weren't too many smiles at the finish, but after some time and realization of how well we raced the smiles came back and we are ready to rock and roll to the right timing tomorrow.
Tomorrow is another road race of 70 miles with good steep and shorter hills, but a probable sprint finish.
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