August 2, 2010 - Elk Grove, IL – Karl Menzies of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis finished 3rd overall at the Tour of Elk Grove this weekend. Menzies opened the three-day event with a 4th place in the opening, 7.2 km time trial, finishing less than three seconds behind stage winner Peter Latham.
With time bonuses available on the line for the top three finishers of the second stage, Menzies was in a good position to take the race lead.
So when a break of four riders got up the road relatively early on in Saturday’s 155 km road race, UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis took responsibility for the front of the race. In fact, the Team rode tempo for nearly 130 km, slowly reeling in the move as the stage came to its conclusion.
Once the break was caught, the Team maintained control of the front, looking deliver Menzies for the sprint. Along side, V Australia had similar intentions for their sprinter, Jonathan Cantwell. In the rush to the line, Cantwell and David Veilleux (Kelly Benefits) were able to slip in ahead of Menzies. But his 3rd place on the stage earned a five-second time bonus, enough for Menzies to take over the race lead.
“The guys rode a great race on Saturday to keep everything under control and bring the break back,” said Team Director Mike Tamayo. “Once we had them in the fold, we kept the pace up and took Karl to the finish.”
But Cantwell and Veilleux had both moved to around 0:10 behind Menzies with their time bonuses, and with 0:20 available for the win, the race was far from decided.
Sunday’s 110 km criterium played out in similar fashion to Saturday, with a seven-rider break getting up the road. The difference on Sunday was that the break had a good deal of horsepower, and the course – with a long tailwind section – made controlling the race harder for just one team.
“When the gap kept going out, some of the other teams thought we were bluffing and not chasing that hard,” Tamayo said. “But the race really was slipping away. When the gap got out to 1:40 and the break was in danger of lapping the field, the other teams started to realize that we weren’t bluffing. Then V Australia put some guys up front. Chris Horner (Radio Shack) came up to help out.
“It was a hard chase for everyone,” he added. “By the end, we had burned most of our matches, but so had most everyone else. There were only maybe 25 or 30 guys left at the end for the sprint and Karl was pretty much on his own at that point.”
Once again, it was Cantwell and Veilleux taking the top two spots, earning time bonuses of 0:20 and 0:15 respectively, enough to also jump up to the top two spots in the overall ahead of Menzies, who took 5th in the sprint.
“The guys rode great as a team again on Sunday,” Tamayo said. “We tried to get Karl the overall win, but we fell a bit short on Sunday. This race always comes down to a matter of seconds, and time bonuses on the line are critical and often decisive. Cantwell was sprinting well this weekend, and he’s a deserving champion. But we’re looking forward to mixing it up again with them next weekend in Charlotte.”
Photo: Jonathan Devich, Epic Images
