June 16, 2010
St. Paul, MN – Alison Starnes of Team TIBCO/To the Top showed that her form is on the ascent ahead of the U.S. National Championships next week by taking her first ever NRC win in the opening time trial of the Nature Valley Grand Prix this morning.
Starnes powered over the 6.1 km course, the last 800 meters of which climbs Ohio Street, in 14:38, 0:04 and 0:07 ahead of HTC-Columbia teammates Linda Villumson and Evelyn Stevens, respectively. Starnes’ teammate Ruth Corset put in a strong effort to take 5th on the stage at 0:09 back.
“I thought I could do a good ride today, but winning was definitely a perk,” Starnes said. “It definitely hurt. It always hurts. I barely remember the climb because I was so cross-eyed by the end.”
“Ali’s form is on the upward trend with training toward nationals,” said team directeur sportif Emma Rickards, “so I knew she’d be up there, but I honestly didn’t expect yellow. She had a good time trial in Gatineau, but that was on her TT bike. Today she had to use a standard road bike so I wasn’t sure how she would end up.”
Starnes took to the course on her LOOK 585 road bike. The race organization decided to not allow time trial bikes or modified road bikes for the race today, so riders weren’t even allowed to use clip-on aero bars.
Starnes, who is coached by four-time NVGP winner Kristen Armstrong, was well-prepared for the start of the race. She had ridden the course back in 2008 when she placed 10th in her first elite race, and she had the chance to review it during a pre-ride prior to the start this morning.
“Kristen and I talked about the course some,” Starnes said. “I’ve been practicing and building on my experience in time trials. It’s a different race with standard road bikes but we were all on them so it was a level playing field.”
Starnes will take the jersey into tonight’s St. Paul Downtown Criterium, which offers up a total of 0:30 in time bonuses from intermediate sprints and on the finish line.
“We haven’t talked about a plan for tonight yet,” she said. “We have a strong team and a strong sprinter in Brooke (Miller) here. I’m here to work for the team, so we’ll see how things play out.”
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