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09.26.07 World Championship Time Trial
Webcor had four riders competing in the recent World Championships. Christine did the Time Trial and again proved her incredible consistency in the big events over the past four years, by placing 5th.
Here is Christine's report:
Well, I admit getting 5th this year after achieving 3rd last year has been bittersweet, but keeping everything in perspective, I am satisfied with this year. After all, if my US teammates weren't so good, I would have gotten the bronze again!
This year was a busier one in my clinical practice, so I approached the year with an eye towards one big peak for the World Championships. I had qualified for a spot on the US team by my third place finish last year, so I did not have to concern myself as much with the qualifying events. That said, I should have done a little more racing in August to be fully prepared, but then life happens to everyone, and I found myself needing to cover for my surgery-bound colleague instead.
For my preparation this year, I did quite a bit of motorpacing with Peter Bohl. I had additional equipment support from Rich Sangalli (hours spent gluing tires and recabling the beautiful Ordu machine with special housing) and John Hunt (still had his small Bell Vortex, which I discovered last year was faster for me than the caps with tails--thanks, John!). Enduro provided slick and speedy bearings for an extra advantage, and Alan Morrison and Jens Heycke provided special aerodynamics tips from their hours of experience testing their own equipment and positions. Of course, my dear husband Ted was always there to pick me up when I was too stressed and tired to get on the trainer after clinic.
The profile for this year's TT course in Stuttgart suggested an all big-ring affair with a long gentle descent in the first half and a gentle climb on the back half of the 12.5km course we would complete twice. In fact, when I first previewed the course the Saturday before the Wednesday event, I discovered several technical downhill turns and a rather heavy uphill section with one approximately 500m stretch 2km from the finish that required down-shifting to my 42 from the 54 ring. By Wednesday, I had ridden the course several times and felt I had a good strategy for a good performance. I was to start 4th from last, and with riders off at 1:30minute intervals, I was unlikely to see my rabbit rider (who was 4th last year in Salzburg). I predicted Hanka Kupfernagel of Germany and Christiane Soeder of Austria would be the biggest threats to an all-US sweep of the podium (we can always be optimistic!). Two-time world champ, Karin Thurig, seemed a bit off her previously consistent TT'ing abilities this season with much more heavy road racing in her legs. My predictions proved true when Hanka set the very early fast time that would not be eclipsed even by an on-form Kristin Armstrong.
For my ride, unfortunately there was a bit of chaos just before my start. Ted was able to secure a spot in my follow car again, so I was going to use a radio to him as that has been motivational for me in the past. Time splits are helpful but less so when you expect the faster times to follow your ride. The channel was not correct between our two radios, and no one on the staff at the start was familiar with how to make the change quickly, so I started without communication but only after peeling down the skinsuit twice to have someone try to make the change with my radio that had been carefully secured into my sports bra. I lost the most time in the first 5km through the technical but very fast descent portion. After the first time check, I got into a very good pace and truly felt I had an excellent effort for my form. I felt with a better start and a little more strain in the last 3km, perhaps I could have gained 20 seconds, but I doubt the bronze was realistic this year against the competition.
Hanka Kupfernagel (3-time cross World Champion) added another World title to her impressive palmares while Kristin Armstrong had to settle for silver, 23 seconds down. Now Kristin has a medal of every color since her bronze in 2005 and gold in 2006--quite impressive. Austrian Chistiane Soeder took a well-deserved bronze medal, at 41 seconds behind Hanka, after having two strong seasons of time-trialing but some bad luck at last year's home race. My other US teammate Amber Neben collected 4th (at 1:02) and I was 8.5 seconds behind her in 5th. Newcomer Alison Powers was the 4th US competitor and finished a solid 20th place at 2:22. She has a very promising future ahead of her.
So, three US women in the top five is pretty impressive, but the home cycling news seemed most interested in reporting how Kristin lost her title. However, I appreciate all the NorCal support I feel and hear about town. Now it is on to 2008 and extra focus for the Olympic year…
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Here is Karen Brems' report:
The final stage of the Bermuda Grand Prix is a circuit race in Hamilton. It is a new course for 2007, so we were not quite sure what to expect. The circuit was 4km long and we did 12 laps for 48km, the longest stage of this tour! We were told there was a significant hill on the loop. We weren't really sure to believe this, given the general terrain on this small island, but it turned out to be quite a leg buster. It was only about 300m long with a couple of switchbacks, but I put on a 27 for the occasion and was glad to have it! The run-in to the climb was downhill into a hairpin turn, so positioning was critical and it became a race to the turn to get good position for the climb. The finish was about 2km from the top of the hill.
There were 3 more time bonus sprints of 5, 3, and 1 second each plus 15, 10, 5 second bonuses at the finish, so the race was still open. Since I had an 8 second cushion on Felicia Gomez (Aaron's), the plan was for me to just try to follow Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) in the sprints and save our Laura Yoisten for the finish. Janel Holcomb (our guest rider) and Beverley Harper were to try to get away if they could, to take up time bonuses.
For the first sprint, Aaron's started a lead-out train for Felicia pretty far out. Laura Van Gilder (LVG) was behind Felicia and I won the battle for LVG’s wheel, which I thought was the right place to be. Felicia started sprinting first and LVG followed but didn’t sprint and by the time I realized that, it was too late and Felicia took 1st for 5 seconds, followed by LVG and then me, so I just lost 4 seconds to Felicia. With a 19 second buffer, LVG technically didn’t have to sprint, just follow our wheels and minimize the time gain. Now I know.
For sprint number 2, we went to plan B. Bev wound it up nicely on the run-in to the hill, giving me a comfortable ride in 2nd wheel into the climb without having to fight for wheels. Felicia went hard up the climb, but not that hard. With 1km to go, Aaron’s started leading out with LVG behind and Laura Yoisten keeping me in good position. Going into the 2nd to last corner, Yoisten surged ahead, pulling me out of traffic and I followed her through the final 2 turns and she dropped me off perfectly with about 150m to the line. I took the sprint, followed by Felicia and LVG.
In between the sprints, the Bike Hugger team and TIBCO were the most aggressive. Liza Rachetto was off for a lap or two as was Nicky Wansgard. Aaron’s always eventually brought them back though. A lap before the 3rd sprint, I dropped my chain on the turn going into the climb. Yoisten gave me a nice push and so did someone else and I was able to get it back on without stopping, but Felicia and LVG had a gap on me up the climb. Over the top, they were in a group of 5 or so about 100m ahead of me. Of course when they saw the gap without me, Felicia drilled it up front. Luckily Janel was right with me on the climb and pulled me back to the group so I could save precious energy for the next lap sprint.
Sprint number 3 was nearly a repeat of number 2, with Bev again taking me into the climb and Yoisten again providing a textbook leadout – I have to say, she gives the best leadouts I’ve ever had! This time LVG nipped me right at the line – she won’t sprint Felicia but I guess she will sprint me. Felicia was 3rd again, so now I had gained back the 4 seconds I lost in the first sprint. As long as Felicia didn’t get 1st or 2nd in the race or get away, we would win the Prestige Series.
On the final lap, Janel powered me into the climb. Felicia surged at the bottom of the hill, but didn’t go to far and then LVG accelerated past us. Felicia didn’t follow her, so I just sat on Felicia’s wheel. At the top, LVG had maybe 100-150m on us and Felicia, needing the time bonuses, had to chase with me on her wheel. We caught LVG with about 1km to go – I think she saw she wasn’t going to make it solo and sat up to save for the sprint. Yoisten was fried from her leadout duties and didn’t make the front group up the climb, so I had to poach other teams’ trains. ValueAct then started the leadout. Kelly Benjamin jumped before the 2nd to last turn to lead out LVG and I got LVG’s wheel where I wanted to be. LVG started the sprint and I actually started coming up on her for a bit, but then she just seemed to have another gear and pulled away again beating me by a bike length and I got another 2nd place.
Van Gilder won overall with me in 2nd and Felicia 3rd. It was a great team race and a really fun way to end the season and we all got a little work on our biker tan lines (they are definitely still there though!). We accomplished our goal of winning the Prestige Series Individual, Team, and Young Rider titles.
On to 2008!
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Here is Karen Brems' report:
Today we raced in the afternoon for a change. It was 96 degrees with humidity to match! Luckily the race was only 50 minutes though. This is one of the most technical crit courses I have done: 1.3km laps with 10 turns and only one lane of the road most of the lap. The good part is that it is pretty hard to move up, so once you get to the front, it is pretty easy to stay there since nobody else can move up!
We started the day with Felicia Gomez of Aaron's in the leader’s jersey with Laura Van Gilder (LVG) of Cheerwine in 2nd tied on time. I was in 3rd, 3 seconds back. There were 3 time bonus sprints of 5, 3, and 1 second each plus 5, 3, and 1 second bonuses at the finish. We need Felicia to finish no higher than 3rd to protect Mara’s overall lead in the Prestige Series. The plan was for me to go for all the time bonuses to try to move up to at least 2nd and we counted on LVG also passing Felicia with time bonuses. If I got enough time in the intermediate sprints, I would try to lead out Laura Yoisten for the finish and Yoisten would lead me out for the intermediate ones.
As predicted, Aaron’s was aggressive with their riders attacking to try to sweep up the time bonuses to protect Felicia’s lead. Nothing was going anywhere though and we were together for the first sprint. The sprints here are always a race to the 2nd to last corner. The back straight was a drag race between Laura Yoisten with me on her wheel, and Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) with LVG on her wheel. Laura did a great job pulling me past Kelly with about 500m to go and I jumped just before the 2nd to last turn. LVG was just too quick though, and came around my inside out of the turn. I followed her through the final turn, which is very tight and more than 90 degrees, and the sprint is only about 100m out of the final corner with no time to pass anyone. LVG won and I was 2nd. Nicky Wansgard was 3rd so now I was tied with Felicia and LVG was race leader on the road.
Sprint number 2 was pretty much an exact repeat except this time Laura Yoisten held on for 3rd with LVG winning again and me 2nd. Now I was ahead of Felicia. I had a bit of excitement after that when Nicky Wansgard and Tait Saito crashed on the final turn (I think one of them clipped a pedal which is easy to do on that turn) and Nicky’s bike flew in the air and landed in front of me. I somehow missed her front wheel by inches and kept going.
Janel also made an appearance on the front riding a nice tempo which allowed me to relax a bit without having to fight for position. She definitely deserves the “most improved crit rider award” between Thursday and today, with today being only her 3rd NRC-level crit ever!
For the 3rd sprint, Bev came to the front as well and picked up the pace and then Laura Yoisten took over again. Again LVG beat me to the corner and took the win with me on her wheel in 2nd. Felicia picked up 1 second for 3rd this time.
Suz Weldon (Bike Hugger) and a TICBO rider got away for a couple of laps near the end, but they never had more than 5 seconds and were re-absorbed with a lap or 2 to go and the field was together again. Kelly started leading out LVG for the final sprint and Felicia and Martina Patella (ValueAct) were fighting for LVG’s wheel. I moved past Felicia and with 500m to go, I heard Laura Yoisten yell at me to go, so I went as hard as I could to the turn but LVG passed me right before it again. Laura Yoisten got scraped off my wheel, but I had LVG’s wheel and took another 2nd as she won the race. Martina was 3rd.
All in all, I gained 12 seconds to Felicia’s 1 and LVG’s 20, so LVG is leading, I am in 2nd 11 seconds back and 8 seconds ahead of Felicia. All 4 Webcor riders finished safely in the front group, so we protected our lead in team GC.
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09.21.07 Bermuda Grand Prix Stage 2
Stage 2 is a (very) short Hill Climb Time Trial. This is the stage where the climbers have to try to make up time on the sprinters before all the time bonus sprints that come in the last stages. Webcor made the podium again, this time with our new rider, Janel, who finished 3rd, 3 seconds behind the winner Felicia Gomez (Aarons). Laura Van Gilder was 2nd, 2 seconds back. Karen was 4th, .05 seconds behind Janel Holcomb (our guest rider.
Here is Janel's Report:
 On day two of the Bermuda Grand Prix, the women of Webcor faced an individual time trial that would test them in multiple ways. The time trial was not the typical type where riders don time trial helmets and find the most aerodynamic position on specialized machines. Instead the challenge was to climb a hill, only 1.05 kilometers long, as fast as humanly possible and try to beat the compeitiion by margins of tenths of seconds. The hill led to the Gibb's Lighthouse where panoramic views of the ocean awaited us, but if the race was done properly, we'd be far to tired to enjoy the view from the top!
For such a short effort, intense warm-ups were necessary, so the team of Beverley, Karen, Janel, and Laura hit the road early with our wonderful mechanic, Bernard, and soigneur, Merry, following behind on scooters. At the hill we were able to test out the course, get a feel for the turns, the hill's grade, identify obstacles, and both mentally and physically prepare for what could be the hardest two-and-a-half minute effort we each had faced. The start was at the base of the hill and from there the course climbed at a 6-percent grade. After a few hundred meters of steady climbing around a gradual turn, the hill eased up for a few meters, taunting us with a break from the climb, and then a slight turn to the left brought the grade up even more. Cones lined the center of the road to keep us from crossing over to the right and about two-thirds through the course, barriers were set up to let the riders know a big turn was coming and the finish wasn't far away. After negotiating the right hand turn we knew it would be time to get out of the saddle and push with everything our legs had left. As the Lighthouse appeared above the tree-tops and a stone wall lined the left side of the road, the final left-hand alerted us that, only 50 meters ahead, there was a finish line waiting. With no view of the finish in these final meters, riders had to give it everything left and hold on until their front tire crossed the line!
The first pro woman was set to begin at 5:00 PM and, with only 30-second intervals between each rider, there wouldn't be much time between the first Webcor rider's departure and the last. Laura was the first to depart, Janel next, Beverley third, and team leader Karen would be last. Laura completed her time trial with extraordinary speed and, as she rode down the hill, Janel was nearing the top. As Janel descended, Beverley was flying through the right-hand turn as her wheels whizzed by and focus filled her face! And finally, Karen left the starting gate as the other Webcor women gathered at the bottom waiting to share stories. Without hearing anything official, each of the women agreed that the time trial felt like it was over before it even began! Maybe it was under three minutes long, but it had hurt just as much as a 40k effort! It wasn't until that evening, when we were back at our host house getting ready to retire for the night, that we heard the news. The results were in and great performances were had by all. The team was excited to learn that Karen had finished fourth and only .05 seconds behind Janel, who finished third!
Two stages down… Webcor earned trips to the podium in both… two stages to go!
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09.20.07 Bermuda Grand Prix Stage 1
The 4-stage Bermuda Grand Prix is the final of the Women's Prestige Series. Webcor came into the race leading the overall team competition and Mara Abbott was leading the Individual Overall and Young rider categories. With Mara and 2nd place rider Kristin Armstrong both in Europe for Worlds, it was only 3rd place rider, Felicia Gomez, who could knock Webcor off the top spot if she finished 1st or 2nd in Bermuda.
Here is Laura's report:
Alas, the final race for the Webcor women for the 2007 cycling season has arrived. The end of season Kick-off is located on the tiny island of Bermuda where the beaches are white and the water is very, very warm; a perfect place to complete the year. The grand prix will also be the final race in the Women’s Prestige Series, which Webcor leads in the team and individual category.
For this Prestige series each team needs to start the race with four riders. Since the riders on the Webcor Team have had such a phenomenal year, six out of the eight girls have been chosen to represent their respective countries at the World Championships next week. Joining Laura and Bev to fill the two extra spots on the team, our director Karen Brems decided to bring out her Orbea Orca she has been training on all year and give it a real test in the Grand Prix. To complete the team, guest rider Janel Holcomb from San Diego will also be joining us.
The first night was a 30-minute crit in downtown Hamilton. The plan of action was to go for some of the big money primes Bermuda is notorious for, and then get ready for the finish. The course is a 1.3 km loop with one tight U-turn and short steep hill. Then it’s all downhill with two 90-degree right hand turns down to the finish.
The race stayed together till the end despite the fast pace and multiple primes. With one lap to go, Brems and Yoisten lined it up behind one another and exploded up the hill. Over the top Brems accelerated into the final two turns and opened up a gap on the chasing field. Kelly Benjamin from Cheerwine was first out of the corner behind Karen with Yoisten on her wheel. Kelly managed to pass Karen halfway down the final straightaway and hold it off for the win. Laura Yoisten was a close second behind her and Laura Van Gilder, also from Cheerwine, came in for third place.
Karen held on for a fifth place and Bev came in just behind with the rest of the pack. Janel, our newcomer to the team, held on to the yo-yoing pack for as long as possible and finished just behind the main field.
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09.02.07 GP Charles von Roesgen
Rachel Heal's report from racing in Europe:
The first race in my European trip was a circuit race in Ell, Luxembourg over eight laps of a 9.5km circuit. Being in Luxembourg, the field was on the small side, and there was a request on behalf of the organiser to put on a good show and maybe try not to split the field to shreds too early on; it would be nice to come through the finish at least a couple of times with a decent sized bunch intact. We happily obliged, and after spending a large part of the first lap on the front, just warming up a bit, I slipped back into the bunch and kept quiet for a while.
With three laps completed, I decided it was time to test the legs a bit and I put in an attack up the main climb of the circuit, and fairly quickly there was a group of seven of us clear. With all the main teams represented, it was pretty likely the break would succeed and after the inevitable few minutes of chaos where half the break works, half doesn't, then the first half stops a bit until they sus out whether the second half aren't working because they've just killed themselves to make it into the break, or if they're about to launch again, things settle down and we're into a 7-woman team time trial.
With two laps to go, one of the German riders puts in an attack on the climb, but it was a bit of a telegraphed move so we were quickly onto her and it was back into TTT mode again. Coming up the main climb for the final time I suprised the group, and our team car behind, by not attacking (I'd thought about it but I knew everyone would be expecting it, so I didn't) and the pace up the climb was, hmm well any slower and we'd have been going backwards. There was one other climb (drag) on the circuit, and coming up to it, I dropped slightly off the back of the group, and somewhat suprised that noone seemed to be curious about what I was up to, launched an attack, and seemingly caught everyone by surprise, apart from Cath (Catherine Hare, also of Great Britain) who was already considering a similar move. Realising that the others seemed to be suffering, Cath launched after me, and seeing that she had a gap over the others, I paused my efforts briefly to allow her to catch up, and then it was heads down for both of us for the final 7km to the finish. Round the final corner with 500m to go, I took Cath's wheel and stayed there until I started my sprint about 200m from the line, taking an enjoyable victory.
There was no podium as such, just a bloke with a mic and a bunch of flowers for me, so we improvised our own podium! Enjoy these photos:
The pack coming around the start/finish line
Rachel seriously on a wheel
Rachel looking relaxed in the mix
The victory salute!
The interview after the victory
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07.28.07 The International Tour de Toona Stage 6
Saturday's stage was another one for the climbers – 98 miles, 3 QOMs, and another trip up to Blue Knob. Mara Abbott and Kristin Armstrong again showed that they are the strongest climbers in the field. See these photos from CyclingNews:
Mara giving her all all the way to the line
Amber taking the field sprint for 3rd
Here is Mara's report:
I awoke on Saturday morning with a very unfortunate realization, which was that "The Hustle" was stuck in my head in a perhaps permanent
manner. Luckily, there were many miles to be ridden, so this upbeat tune would actually prove to come in handy.
This day had the same Blue Knob climb from Wednesday, but also had two shorter climbs following it on the run-in to the finish. We started
the day with Katheryn in third, and Amber, Christine, and myself all hovering around 10th. The plan was to make sure that Webcor was
represented in all of the early breaks, and then to launch me up the Blue Knob climb in hopes of putting Kori, the Lipton rider currently in
the leader's jersey, in trouble. The plan was executed beautifully throughout the first 40 miles of the race, with Laura, Rach, Helen, Bev, and
Amber patrolling the front flawlessly. Bev escaped with a decently-sized group a little before the climb, giving her a headstart. With about a mile to go into the climb, we lined out the SWEETEST LEADOUT EVER which we used to give me speed going into the climb. Laura, Helen, and Rach all absolutely laid it on the line and annihilated a large portion of the peloton. I escaped up the hill with only Kristin Armstrong able to follow.
She and I worked together for awhile, but after the gap increased to a minute, she stopped working in order to protect Kori's lead. I then worked alone, amassing a gap of about 5:00 eventually, although the problem with this situation was that Kristin had been able to just hang out on my wheel all day long! Nonetheless, this seemed to be the best idea to improve not only our individual GC situation, but also to gain back some time on team GC. At the final QOM, Kristin attacked me and I was unable to follow. I nonetheless finished second on the day with enough time on the pack to move me into second overall. Then, while waiting for the rest of the field I got to watch Amber take third in an amazing field sprint! Two on the podium for Webcor, woo hoo!
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07.27.07 The International Tour de Toona Stage 5
Stage 5 saw another day of aggressive racing by the Webcor Builders team. Katheryn placed 5th on the stage and was able to move closer to the yellow jersey with an opportunistic breakaway. See these CyclingNews' photos of the action:
Laura's bike change
Katheryn and Laura in the break
Here is Laura's report:
Today was the tour's final flat stage, consisting of four laps of 32 km each. The climbers were able to take a little break today with no QOM points awarded, however the sprinters had their work cut out for them with four sprints at the finish line of each lap. After a very fast and aggressive day the day before, the Webcor women were prepared for a similar day in today’s race. The course, similar to yesterday, was relatively flat with a pretty technical final 1 km going into the finish. Our goal for the day was to ensure that every move was covered and try to get one of our GC contenders into a breakaway to improve their GC.
The race started off a little more subdued than yesterday as many riders were content to allow the some of the kilometers to tick away before putting on the aggression. Eventually the girls started to wake up, and coming into the first sprint the field was strung out as the sprint contenders and their teams increased the speed. Through the first sprint the attacks continued but without much success of a breakaway.
With one and a half laps remaining, the winning break was finally established. The right mix of 12 riders including Katheryn Curi and Laura Yoisten from Webcor split from the field and immediately started to gain time. Once the break gained a gap of over two minutes, Katheryn became 2nd overall on the road, so we drove it to increase the time as much as possible. Unfortunately, on the backside of the course Yoisten had a mechanical, which required a bike change. After an aggressive chase and a couple of seat height adjustments, Laura rejoined the breakaway to continue working to increase the lead. With just 10 km to go, Laura’s earlier hard efforts caught up to her and she fell out of the break. Katherine continued to ride strongly and finished in the breakaway 1:27 ahead of the chasing peloton, moving her into 3rd on GC and Webcor was now only 1:45 behind yellow.
The rest of the Webcor women rode an excellent race and settled into the pack once the break was established for a safe ride home. The only mishap was when Mara found herself amongst the sprinters in the final kilometer. It had started to pour by this time and on the wet pavement, many riders, including Mara, found themselves sliding across the grass. Fortunately she was not injured and received the same time as the pack as it was within the finial 3 km of the race.
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07.26.07 The International Tour de Toona Stage 4
With the leader's jersey three minutes ahead of the Webcor quartet of Katheryn, Christine, Mara, and Amber, the team wanted to be as aggressive as possible on stage 4. Here are some CyclingNews' photos:
Katheryn on the attack (again!)
Helen on the front
Here is Helen's report:
After yesterday's tough 95-mile stage, we predicted a certain tiredness in the legs of the peloton as we lined up for a 96km circuit race around Hollidaysburg. But alas, this was not the case, as the attacks started only 1km into the race and never stopped until the finish.
The circuit consisted of three laps of a 32km loop that twisted around the township and surrounding countryside of Hollidaysburg. The course had several rolling climbs and sharp corners, and with today's hot weather and three stages of racing in the legs, all the riders looked shattered at the end of today's stage.
There was a 1km climb within the final 5km of the circuit. This climb was used on the 2nd lap for riders to earn Queen of the Mountain points in the quest of winning the polka dot jersey. At the finish line on laps one and two, there were sprint points up for grabs for those riders who were chasing the green sprint jersey.
Webcor raced aggressively today with the entire team given the "green light" to inflict pain on the peloton. The course was suited to a break and previous years indicated that a break could succeed on this course. However, with Lipton defending the leader's yellow jersey on the shoulders of Kori Seehafer, it became evident that they were most reluctant to let any green Webcor riders escape up the road.
On lap two Laura, Amber, and I lined the peloton out leading into the Queen of the mountain climb, with Mara Abbott tucked safely on the back of Amber's wheel. I drilled it to the corner and then Laura took over. Gaps opened up as many riders were caught by surprise and scrambled to get onto the green train. Only Kristin Armstrong (Lipton) and Felicia Gomez (Aaron's Cycling) stayed attached to Abbott and Rais as they nailed it up the climb. The break of four gained 20 seconds by the start/finish line, but was seen as too dangerous to let go by other teams, and Colavita and Cheerwine sent workers to the front to bring it back.
Attacks continued throughout the race, however it became evident that a bunch sprint was the order of the day. With little left in my tank, I went hard to the base of the climb on the final climb and unleashed Mara. Armstrong glued herself to Mara's wheel and they went over the top together. The sprinters scrambled over soon after and were led to the front by their workers. Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) showed everyone what great form she has right now as she took a convincing win, ahead of Alison Testroete (Expresscopy.com) and Kat Caroll (Aaron's).
The pace was definitely fast with the winner finishing in 2hrs 26min 33sec (39.53 km/h). Christine Thorburn finished 10th, whilst Mara and Amber finished 14th and 16th, respectively.
The overall GC situation remains the same leading into tomorrow's stage with Kori Seehafer (Lipton) retaining the leader's jersey. Felicia Gomez (Aaron's) has 2nd position, 1min 15sec behind, whilst we have four Webcor riders, Christine, Amber, Mara, and Katheryn in equal 3rd, 3mins 12sec down. Stay tuned to see what happens in Martinsburg tomorrow.
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07.25.07 The International Tour de Toona Stage 3
Stage 3 of the International Tour de Toona was the where the climbing really started. The Webcor Builders team did not have the yellow jersey, but with some of the best climbers in the field on our team, the other teams still left all responsibility of keeping the field together to us.
The leader's jersey changed hands again to Kori Seehafer of Lipton and Rachel finished a strong 3rd on the stage. See these CyclingNews photos:
Rachel in the break
Webcor in the chase
Here is Rachel's report:
Stage 3 of the Tour de Toona was the first of two long hilly stages; at over 95 miles with two main climbs and a lot of rollers, it was always going to be a tough stage.
The stage started aggressively with lots of small breaks forming, with Webcor riders doing a great job of making sure they were represented in every one. At around 40km into the race, a group of eight riders went clear including Laura Yoisten. With strong climbers such as Lynn Bessette and Kori Seehafer up there, I didn't want to leave Laura isolated, so when Colavita riders started trying to bridge, I joined in and was soon up with Laura. Shortly afterwards Helen bridged up to us too, putting three Webcor riders in a break that had now groun to 14 riders.
As they were holding the race leader's yellow jersey with Alison Powers, Colavtia was initially leading the chase back in the bunch, but when they got Dotsie Bausch across to the break, they called off the chase and suddenly the gap started to grow quickly to over five minutes. As Helen, Laura, and I had all lost some time on the previous day's stage, the break was not an ideal one for us to let get too much time, and so Amber and Bev started the chase behind. Karen came up to the break to assess the situation and made the call to drop first Laura and then Helen back to the bunch to help with the chase.
 When the break hit the climb, Felica Gomez and Kori Seehafer set a tough pace at the front and one by one all the riders found the pace too hard and dropped off. Over the top of the climb, the two of them were clear, followed by a chasing group of me, Dotise Bausch, Lynn Bessette, and Chrissy Ruiter. With a concerted effort by the four of us, we came very close to catching them, bringing the gap down to just five seconds with around 20km to go, but we couldn't quite close it completely, and with a surge they opened it up and started to increase their lead. Kori Seehafer took the stage win over Felica Gomez and the leader's yellow jersey. Behind them I took the sprint from our group of four, for 3rd on the stage.
Back in the bunch, things had split over the climb when Katheryn attacked at the base and Christine countered. Over the top the field had shattered, with Kristin Armstong and Mara predictably the first over. Rather than all chasing individually, the Webcor riders waited for a regrouping and chased together, bringing the gap at the line down to three minutes from the stage winner.
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07.24.07 The International Tour de Toona Stage 2
Stage 2 of the International Tour de Toona was a 50-mile point-to-point road race on a course new for this year. The Webcor Builders team started the day with the yellow jersey on the back of Katheryn (she was the first Webcor rider across the finish line in the TTT and was thus awarded the leader's jersey although the team is all tied on time). This is a long, hard race and defending a lead for seven days is a huge responsibility for a team, so we wanted to use our efforts wisely. The team is focused on the lead at the end of the race, not necessarily doing the necessary work to defend it every day.
By the end of the day, Allison Powers of Colavita won the stage solo by 58 seconds. She started out 58 seconds behind after the Stage 1 TTT, so she ended up claiming the yellow jersey by a 7-second time bonus.
Here is Christine's report:
This was a new stage for the tour this year, so none of us really knew what to expect. The profile showed a long descent to start followed by a 1,000ft climb over two miles, by mile 12 to the first QOM, followed by rolling terrain and another more gradual 1,000ft climb to the 2nd QOM around mile 37 with a sprint bonus roughly in between. The unexpected twist came after the first QOM when the clouds opened just as we entered a series of challenging descents and sharp turns after railroad crossings.
The first climb split the group. Mara took 2nd points behind Kristin. We regrouped with six Webcor in the front group of the field. There was a flurry of attacks covered largely by Katheryn with fantastic legs. No group stayed away for long until the downpour began on a particularly fast descent where former professional downhill ski racer-now professional bicycle racer, Alison Powers, of Colavita took off a long solo mission. I don’t think anyone thought at first that she could end up staying away to the finish, but that is exactly what happened. After the second QOM, the lone bridging rider, Anne Samplonius (ExpressCopy) was absorbed, and Mara and Christine tried attacking to get away from Kristin Armstrong without success. In the final 10km, Katheryn and Amber did a great job limiting the time advantage of Alison, but no other teams pitched in to help. By the finish, Alison’s advantage was just under a minute, but with the 10-second time bonus, she took over the yellow jersey by seven seconds (she was behind by just over a minute after the team time trial).
Christine, Katheryn, Mara, and Amber finished safely in the front chase group, while Rachel and Bev were not far behind and Helen and Laura finished shortly thereafter. We all removed as much of our dripping wet clothes as politely as possible and huddled together for warmth in the team car until the wrongly deviated soigneur vehicles arrived. All in all it was a rather challenging first road stage to this year’s tour.
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07.23.07 The International Tour de Toona Stage 1
The Webcor Builders team is now in Altoona, PA for the 7-day, 7-stage International Tour de Toona. Stage 1 was an unsual one for a women's stage race: a Team Time Trial. We have been looking foward to this stage ever since we learned it would happen.
The team did not disappoint – to quote CyclingNews:
The Webcor women's team showed why having a strong team wins bike races, as the team put six riders across the line eight seconds faster than the team of the time trial world champion Kristin Armstrong, TEAm Lipton. As the first rider across the line, Katheryn Curi takes the first yellow jersey of the race.
Here is Katheryn's report:
Despite some back and forth of whether or not the team trial would actually happen, the final confirmation came through and it was on. Under the guidance of our experienced manager, Karen Brems, we gathered the squad and drove out to Port Matilda to preview the course on Sunday afternoon.
The 10.6-mile course was held on a closed section of Interstate 99 and US 322 and included three turn-arounds. We spent a good amount of time practicing them as it can be challenging getting eight riders around in one smooth group. We also determined the rotation order – “shortest to tallest” – Laura, Bev, Christine, Mara (I am so excited I am 5’5”), Rachel, Katheryn, Amber, Helen. We started out at a slow roll and gradually built up the speed and effort level as time went on. We left the pre-ride feeling excited and a bit nervous for the race.
 With a start time of 8:12pm, we did our best to stay relaxed and off our feet, arriving with plenty of time to get a good warm-up.
Rolling up to the start we felt ready to rock, although the music for nuff-nuffs did not reflect the atmosphere and we took it upon ourselves to bust out a few lines of Sir Mix a Lots “Baby Got Back." We are a multi-talented group for sure!
To tell you the truth, there is not much that I remember about the TTT as it not only went quickly, but was a pure sufferfest! I do recall that Laura started us out perfectly and we fell into formation, rotating through in about 20” intervals. Laura was the first to fall off the pace and unfortunately we lost Helen as her rear break was rubbing. The remaining six worked hard to stay smooth and together. Extra kudos to Bev for her stellar never give up display!
The remaining six assaulted the course in 24.29, 8” faster than Lipton and 35” Colavita and we were the only team to finish with six riders.
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07.16.07 US National Road Race Championship
The Webcor Builders US contingent of Christine, Mara, Amber, and Katheryn rode a flawless team race and won the National Road Race Championship in Seven Springs, PA! Webcor had three riders in the final selection of seven on this very hilly circuit and used this strength in numbers to set up Mara for the win over defending champ Kristin Armstrong. Christine finished 4th and Katheryn 5th. The head of the Shimano neutral support crew that followed the whole race (and who has seen a LOT of races) complimented us on the best tactical women's race he had ever seen!
Here is Mara's report:
The day dawned in spectacular fashion. As we enjoyed an early breakfast, making the most of the sunlight hours, we looked off the porch of our lovely Seven Springs condo into a forest from which the fog rose in beautiful billows. Amber noticed what we thought was the final pink cloud of the sunrise, but really it was the SUN, which was pink and got bigger and rounder. It was beautiful. It was a wonderful omen.
As a side note, the race course at Seven Springs is the COOLEST race course EVER. This year we only had two laps of the course however, where in the past we have had three. This made me sad. Therefore, it was clear that from the start this race was probably going to be tough. Dave the Announcer commented at the start that this race was special because TWO national champions would be named – both the elite national champion would be determined as well as the top U23 rider of that pack would be acknowledged at the Espoir National Champion. I whispered to Amber that he should maybe note that a certain situation could arise in which only ONE national champion would be crowned. Then I waited for karma to strike me down for being overconfident. Luckily for my track record in predicting the future, karma decided to look the other way today.
As we headed up the first climb of the first lap (there are two major climbs each time around the course), Lipton and our team, being the two teams with strong numbers, traded attacks trying to get a break to form. Nothing seemed to stick, and the pack rolled to the second climb relatively intact. At this point a large break actually broke off the front of the field, its most prominent feature being the intrepid Amber Rais, feared the world over for her astonishing cycling skill. Lipton wasn’t quite content with the mix though, thus their leader, Kristen Armstrong (the winner of this race last year at the same venue) quickened the pace, narrowing down the field considerably. By the top of the hill, she and I were together alone, which was not necessarily my favorite situation, because I knew that the strength of our team in this situation was our depth, and alone with the former national champ, I was depthless.
 We rode together with about a constant gap of 20 seconds until mid-way up the first climb the second time around, when a chase group powered by Amber Neben containing the rest of the Webcor team, powered up to us. As several attacks flew, the pace quickened until the group was winnowed down considerably. At the crest of the hill, Katheryn responded flawlessly to an attack by Lipton’s Kori Seehafer, and they rocketed away down the descent together. Kori and Katheryn built a decent gap by the base of the final climb, about a minute at its peak. Unfortunately, Amber Neben, super-climber-extraordinaire was still with us, and as a solo rider, not too pleased about the break up the road. She drove the pace until we came within 15 or 20 seconds of the dynamic duo at which point, they started beating each other up with uphill attacks. Near the top of the hill, Katheryn sprung herself free of her breakaway companion. This caused Kristin to attack the group, eventually bringing us up to Katheryn. Christine then launched at attack with about 2km to go, which was covered by Kristin and Amber. Going into the final kilometer, I went, but this was also covered. Then, across a flat section, directly before the final 200m kicker, I, in Christine’s words “counter-attacked myself," and then Kristin covered me, pulling ahead up the final climb. I came around her right before the line, shocking myself as I won my very first sprint ever! Not a bad place to win it!
What a wonderful week in my favorite Pennsylvanian resort of Seven Springs, and what a wonderful team to share it with! HOORAY, Webcor has the stars and bars jersey once more!
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07.13.07 US National Time Trial Championship
The Webcor Builders again showed their strength at the US National Time Trial, placing two riders on the podium and all four riders in the top eight. Mara also won the Under-23 national title (her 14th national title of her young career!).
Here is Christine's report:
The four US riders on the Webcor Builders Women's Team are in Western Pennsylvania at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort for the 2007 US National time trial and road race championships. The time trial was on lucky Friday the 13th of July and the road race is Monday, July 16th. We have plenty of time to enjoy each other's good humor and the surrounding green hills (it clearly rains often here!).
We arrived late Wednesday night and went out to preview the TT course on Thursday. As opposed to last year's death march on a very, very hilly out and back course, this year USA Cycling wanted to make a flatter course to mirror the flatter World Championships TT course (the race was a qualifying opportunity for the elite women and U23 men). Well, there really are no flat roads around this part of Pennsylvania, so we were to ride on a closed section of 4-lane divided highway. Just 2 weeks ago, the course had to change from a 15km stretch of highway to 6km stretch that then needed to be used for both the shorter junior races (out and back once) and the longer elite races (out and back TWICE). On Thursday, it was completely unclear how this stretch of highway was to be used. By Friday, the two northbound lanes had been divided into four lanes with an estimated 700-900 bright orange cones (yes, someone asked a volunteer – the poor nuff nuff's! , which riders proceeded from right to left with turn-arounds at the end of each stretch. We actually started by riding off an exit ramp and returning directly back onto the highway on the parallel on-ramp cloverleaf after the first of four 180 degree turns (this is impossible to picture unless you raced).
Fortunately, there were seemingly 100's of juniors racing this year. Unfortunately, this meant the elite women did not start until nearly 4:30 in the afternoon. We had plenty of time to be nervous (and in Amber's case, plenty of time to caffeinate!), and the sky had plenty of time to collect moisture in preparation for its dousing of us afternoon riders. Katheryn was the first off, and she had the fastest time when she finished, but unfortunately was eclipsed by just 3 seconds by her 1-minute rider behind her, Kori Seehafer of Lipton.
The raindrops started while Mara and Amber headed onto the course, and began in earnest once Christine also headed out. Normally, the winds die down with the rain, but it continued to be gusty cross winds during the entire elite women's race. In fact, current World Champion and eventual winner, Kristin Armstrong, admitted to getting out of her aerobars while riding over the overpass sections. Fortunately, we did all finish before the true downpour began. Poor James Mattis (Katheryn's fiance) was racing during the high winds and deluge while the last men's elite riders were welcomed to the "calm after the storm" with no rain and no wind by dusk.
Mara had her best TT to date (good timing on her part!), finishing with the fastest time when she crossed the line. She was eclipsed by teammate Christine (riding 3rd from last and finishing 3rd fastest), Amber Neben of Flexpoint (starting 2nd to last and finishing 2nd), and Kristin Armstrong of Lipton (National Champ now three years running). Katheryn finished 6th and Amber Rais 8th for all top 10 finishes by team Webcor. We have to point out how this once again demonstrates the depth of team Webcor despite predictions to the contrary at season's start by an unnamed media correspondent. Mara got to be present twice on the podium, by winning the U23 title and jersey, and then standing 4th next to Christine on the elite podium of five.
Overall, it was a good day for Webcor. We had no problems with our beautiful Orbea TT bikes with Bernard's preparations, and the cold and rain barely phased us with the doting by our super soigneur Merry. Karen had the hardest job of all, standing in the rain for the hour all of her riders were out on the course. We are looking forward to showing our strength again on the hard, hilly road race course on Monday. In search of more Stars and Stripes!
Additional note: our Cali friend Jericka Hutchinson of Shasta (who often races in the Bay Area) won the junior 17-18 time trial, which qualifies her for the junior World Championships in Mexico in August. Well deserved given her diligent preparations this past season!
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07.08.07 Cougar Mountain Classic Circuit Race
Day 2 of the Cougar Mountain Classic was a 90-minute circuit race with a steep climb in the middle. It was a good day at the office for the Webcor Builders team with another win.
Here is Amber's report:
The circuit race took place on the race track with the same man-made chicane finish as the criterium. Taking a quick tour of one lap, one would start to climb immediately following a sharp left turn past the start/finish. The climb kicks twice, with the first pitch being the steepest and longest and the second taking you to the very top of the course after a brief reprieve. From the top, you descend very quickly into a couple of wide sweeping turns, a false flat tailwind stretch into a u-turn, which begins a longish headwind section at the bottom of the course. At the end of the headwind section, riders enter the chicane which leads into the the start/finish again.
 Aquiescing to the requests of several riders in the peloton, Christine waited for one lap before launching her attack. She got a gap and kept it for the better part of the race's first half (about 45 minutes), but realized that the peloton was keeping her on a short leash, around 20 seconds. Bev, Katheryn, Rachel, and I policed the front and covered any big bridge attempts. It became obvious that the group planned to let her burn through matches off the front in the headwind by herself, but with the gap at 20 seconds, she could easily be caught by a charging peloton near the finish. Assessing the situation (and satisfied with the workout), Christine came back to the bunch.
Her return sparked a flurry of attacks by the green squad. Rachel was the first to go: anticipating Christine's return, she leapt across the (now very small) gap to Christine, then launched again. The group chased hard, and once she was caught, Katheryn attacked. A rather large group of ten riders or so got away with Katheryn's move, and Christine nestled herself in among them. As the main bunch closed in on the break, Christine attacked off the front of the break into the headwind stretch. The group chased again, and just as she was caught, the pace slowed momentarily. I took the opportunity to jump into the headwind, just before a sharp u-turn. Catching the tailwind with a gap, I charged through the finish and up the hill. We had four laps to go, so I knew I didn't really want to fry by myself out there. Looking back on the hill, I saw a group of three bridging: Bev, Victoria Bastide (TIBCO), and Catherine Cheatley (Cheerwine). I kept the pressure on a bit, and our group of four starting working well together in the headwind section of the course.
The next time up the hill, I did a quick check on the gap and was surprised to see our very own Katheryn Curi bridging solo up the monster climb. Epic! Apparently Jane Despas (Klein Realty) had made a very strong move to bridge, which Katheryn had covered. The two had a sizeable gap on the field, and Katheryn eventually attacked Jane and bridged to us solo. Bev and I noticed this and eased the pace slightly. We now had three out of five in the break. Excellent!
 With one lap to go, Bev railed the corner preceeding the climb and opened up a gap. Victoria and Catherine Cheatley surged to close the gap on the climb. Bev kept the pressure on, putting the hurt on all of us. Little did we know, she was cramping badly as she did this! The five of us remained together as we rounded the corner into the headwind stretch at the bottom of the course. With 1km to go (having cramped just minutes before), Bev launched a huge attack from the back of our group, gapping the rest of us. Victoria (TIBCO) bridged to her, with the rest of us on her wheel, setting up a perfect lead-out situation. Katheryn launched before the chicane, and in perfect execution, swung wide through the corner for me. I sprinted through the chicane with Catherine Cheatley (Cheerwine) on my wheel, but knew from the crit the day before that it would be difficult to make up ground through that section. I took the win, with Catherine second, Victoria third, and Katheryn and Bev fourth and fifth.
Rachel and Christine surfed wheels in the field behind us for the field sprint, which Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) won for 6th, with Rachel just behind taking 8th, and Christine 16th.
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07.07.07 Cougar Mountain Classic Criterium
Report from Team Director Karen Brems
An NRC race weekend in our own backyard – how could the Webcor Builders team pass that up? Amber, Katheryn, Rachel, and myself (making a rare appearance in the saddle instead of the car) headed up to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma this morning. The usual strong Northern CA-based teams were there: Proman, Metromint, TIBCO, and ValueAct. Cheerwine and the New Zealand Jazz Apple team also each had four riders. The course was man-made using part of the raceway, part of the parking lot, and part of the grandstand area: basically a big oval with a left turn into chicane just before the start/finish. No hard corners at all. The biggest course difficulty was wind, which was quite strong.
After a few laps of rolling around the course, Rachel got impatient and made a good attack and got a nice 10-15 second gap. Despite the rest of our team's best efforts to gap off single riders who tried to bridge up and give her some company, she stayed out alone with about the same 10-15 second gap for four to fivelaps. This, which was pretty impressive given the strong headwind on the long, wide back stretch. When Rachel was finally caught, I countered and was caught about half a lap later. Them Amber went and then Katheryn. The race was on and this pattern was repeated numerous times throughout the hour long race. Webcor was easily the most aggressive team and other teams seemed willing to work with us, but the magic combination of riders to overcome the headwind stretch was hard to find.
The most promising break happened around halfway through the race. I attacked and was joined by Martina Patella (ValueAct) and a Jazz Apple rider. The three of us drove the break for about half a lap, which at some point also collected Stacy Marple of TIBCO, Rachel Lloyd of Proman, Catherine Cheatley of Cheerwine, and Flavia Oliviera. After a brief period of disorganization (hint: if you have yet to take a pull in a break, yelling from 3rd or 4th position for everyone to work is not the best strategy and might land you a nuff-nuff label!) everyone realized we had a sizeable gap and started working together pretty well. I think we stayed away for 6-7 laps with a steady gap of around 20 seconds or so. I thought we might actually make it to the finish. But then there was a prime announced to the break and our efforts were disrupted by people sprinting for that. This combined with Proman not being happy with the makeup of the break and Metromint missing it, and both those teams pulling in the field with some help from solo Aaron's rider Katherine Carroll, meant our break came back with maybe 15-20 minutes to go in the race.
Webcor countered immediately and the race was on again. With four laps to go, a field sprint was looking very likely. Our plan for this case was to lead out Amber. Rachel played decoy and caught the field off guard with a strong attack with about 1 1/2 laps to go. She was caught with about 1 lap to go by the rapidly accelerating Cheerwine train. I moved up to Cheerwine sprinter Kelly Benjiman''s wheel, hoping Amber would get to me and I could try to get her around the train before the final turn. The pace was really high at this point though, and Amber was caught in traffic. I lost 1 position in the final surge along the tailwind section and Kelly still had sprinters Shelly Olds (Proman) and Anna Lang ahead of her. I went into the final turn into the chicane in 5th wheel and that is exactly where I finished. I lost a little momentum changing my line slightly as someone tried to pass me on the outside coming out of the final turn in the 6 inches of road between me and the hay bale, but basically nobody passed anyone in the final 200m. Anna Lang (primarily a track racer from La Jolla, CA) won the race with Shelly in 2nd and Kelly 3rd. Rachel finished 7th and Amber 13th.
Tomorrow is day 2: a circuit race on the full race course including a steep, stair step climb. Webcor will have some reinforcements in the form of Christine and Bev and is looking forward to the race!
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