June 6, 2010 - Hood River, OR – Marc de Maar and the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis did what they needed to do today to close out the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic with the yellow jersey still adorning the Dutchman.
The technical 1 km criterium course, which featured a pair of hard turns at the base of descents was made more dangerous by stea
dy rain. In deference to the conditions and in the interest of safety, race organizers reduced the criterium to 60 minutes from the previously scheduled 90. They also reversed the direction of the course to make it safer for the riders.
Still, de Maar said, “I was very happy to have teammates around me who have a lot of experience in American criteriums. The guys took control early and kept it. (Paul) Mach (Bissell) tried to attack one or two times but he didn’t get too far.”
Mach, who lost his 2nd overall position at the end of Saturday’s challenging Wy’East Road Race, was looking to move back up onto the podium from the 4th overall position.
UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis finally let a break of six riders slip off the front not too long before the halfway mark of the race. With none of the six posing a threat to de Maar’s overall lead, the team rode tempo on the front and otherwise kept things under control.
Jamie Sparling (Total Restoration) won the stage out of the break. De Maar finished safely in 10th place, one spot ahead of teammate Eric Barlevav.
Chris Baldwin, Max Jenkins, Morgan Schmitt and Barlevav had the task of protecting de Maar and delivering him safely to the finish for the overall win.
“The weather may have actually played into our hands a bit today,” Baldwin said. “I think everyone rode a bit more conservatively and it maybe kept the number of attacks down.
“And I have to say we were all really happy we had our Maxxis tires today,” Baldwin added. “They’re so sticky and they handled so great. It was a really big advantage to have those today.”
With the break hovering around 0:20 ahead of the UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis-led peloton for much of the second part of the race, his teammates simply had to keep de Maar out of trouble and bring him home safely.
“We could’ve let things play out a bit differently and maybe only let a couple guys get up the road and bring it back together for Eric in the sprint,” Baldwin said. “But under these conditions, it was probably safer not to have everyone hitting it into the last corner for the sprint and risk a crash.”
Instead, de Maar rode in safely and held his 0:44 gap on 2nd overall Michael Creed (Team Type 1) and 0:47 on 3rd overall Nate English (Echelon Gran Fondo/Z-Team).
“It was an awesome week,” Baldwin said. I’m proud of our guys. We had a great group here, and everyone stayed calm today and got the job done. And it’s great having a rider like Marc who can win races like this. This win gives us a lot of momentum going into Tour de Beauce.”
Hot time in Philly
The eight-rider UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis squad that started the TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship endured temperature and humidity in the upper 80s, turning the 156-mile race into a race of attrition and survival. In fact, only 70 of the roughly 180 starters finished the race, and three of them were deemed outside of time cut.
“We went through 210 bottles of Cytomax and water today,” said Team Director Mike Tamayo. “It was just a hard day of racing. The last 45 minutes, it was like watching a slow motion race.”
Jonny Clarke was one of the team’s most active riders today, jumping in the day’s main break about 30 miles in and staying out front for the better part of the next 80 miles before being reeled in. A front group of only 34 riders came to the line together to contest the win, which was taken by Matt Goss (HTC-Columbia) Rory Sutherland was the best placed rider for UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis, finishing 22nd.
Photo: Provided by UnitedHealthcare
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