AUGUST 15, 2010
Glencoe, IL – The new course for the U.S. Pro Criterium Championship – run for the first time in Glencoe, Illinois after 24 years at Downers Grove – proved to be unpredictable and decisive for the race.
The climbing and technical nature of the course created a constant reshuffling of attacking groups until a group of 12 riders, including Matt Crane of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis, got off the front and opened a gap.
“It was a good, hard course,” said Team Director Mike Tamayo. “We came here to race in a way that put us in position for both the race win and the national champion’s jersey. But the course definitely blew the race apart.”
The decisive move came mid-way through the race, and Crane found himself pitted against teams with multiple riders in the break, including Kelley Benefits with three, among them eventual race winner and reigning Canadian crit champion David Veilleux, three from V Australia, and two each from jelly Belly and Bissell.
“Crane had a great ride,” Tamayo said. “He was in there with a lot of good sprinters, and he knew if it came down to a bunch sprint from the break, he was going to have a hard time.”
So with three laps to go and the foreign duo of Veilleux and Bernie Sulzberger (V Australia) already off the front, Crane hit out in a solo attempt to steal the jersey. He was brought back by several of the American riders in the break. With the chase group back together inside one lap to go, he made one more solo bid.
“It was an all or nothing move,” Tamayo said. “The sprinters who were in the chase group had the benefit of teammates being there with them, and they shut Crane’s move down.”
Instead, former elite criterium national champion Daniel Holloway (Bissell) took the honor of pro criterium champion after being the first American across the line, taking 4th place behind Veilleux, Sulzberger and Alessandro Bazzana (V Australia).
Photo: Jonathan Devich, Epic Images
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