June 19, 2010
Menomonie, WI – Brooke Miller of Team TIBCO/To the Top took 1st in the bunch sprint to earn 3rd place on the fifth stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix Saturday. Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) and Linda Villumsen (HTC-Columbia) had escaped the front group late in the hilly, 77-mile race to contest the stage honors. Willock took the win, but Villumsen got the bigger prize, taking the overall lead from Shelly Evans (Peanut Butter & Co.) after coming into the day 3rd overall.
“It was another great day for the team,” said team captain Meredith Miller. “Everyone contributed, either attacking or covering moves.”
The new course, which brought the race into Wisconsin for the first time, proved to be a challenging one. “It was a really good course, one of the best ever at Nature Valley,” Meredith Miller said. “There were a lot of hard, steep climbs that got the legs burning.”
Those climbs also proved to be good launching pads for attacks, which picked up in number and ferocity as the race went on. One of those attacks, by Meredith Miller, served to shake up the race and helped set the stage for the late action.
Miller attacked coming into one of the Queen of the Mountain climbs, with Katheryn Mattis (Webcor) bridging up. “I actually attacked right before the QoM,” Miller said. When we hit the climb, Ruth (Corset) attacked with a small group.”
The end result was a group of 18 that also included Joanne Kiesanowski and Alison Starnes of Team TIBCO, as well as Willock and Villumsen. “There was a lot of attacking and counterattacking going on in the front group,” Miller said. “Erinne and Linda were able to slip away.”
With that duo off the front, the remaining riders were gathered up by the Peanut Butter & Co.-led main group, which was now about 40 riders. Coming into the four 5 km circuits in town, Peanut Butter & Co. continued the chase, trying to bring the front two riders back, or at least keep them close enough to maintain Evans’ race lead.
The attacks continued out of the main group, with Corset having another go, taking Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci) and Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) with her. Alison Powers (Vera Bradley tried to bridge across to that move, with Meredith Miller on her wheel. “Shelly closed that one down herself,” Miller said.
Despite the attacking and chasing behind, Willock and Villumsen proved strong enough to hold a 0:26 gap to the line, and with time bonuses, Villumsen took over the lead.
On the last time up the climb, Meredith Miller brought Brooke Miller to the front and got her to the last corner in position to win the bunch sprint and take 3rd on the stage.
The race concludes tomorrow with the notorious Stillwater Criterium and its brutal Chilkoot Hill. At 3rd overall and 0:34 back, Corset is still within range of the race win, on a course that favors climbers.
Notes
Starnes, who has been having a fantastic NVGP and came into the stage in 2nd overall, suffered cramping mid-way through the finishing circuits and was forced to fall off the pace.
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