Link to each race report from the list below or just scroll down to browse:

June 27-28 Dead Dog Classic

Rebecca has also been training hard in the Rocky Mountains and did a stage race in Laramie, Wyoming to help prepare for Cascade. She had a great result of 3rd overall that could have been a 2nd if not for some bad luck in the TT.

Here is Rebecca's report:

The Dead Dog Classic is a brutal high-altitude Rocky Mountains race consisting of three stages over the course of two days. The first stage was a 53-mile road race that started around 8,000 something feet, and after crossing a short valley, went uphill for about 14 miles up to 10,000+ feet before turning around and bombing back down to the valley and then the hilly road back to the finish. I was excited to see that Meredith Miller and Jo Keisanowski from TIBCO had showed up to this race as well.

The race started, and with the windy valley to cross and headwind up the climb it was Jo, Meredith, and I all rotating on the front. About a 1/4 of the way up the climb the three of us had successfully dropped the rest of the field and we continued to the top. There was not much air to breathe and attacks would be futile on the climb into the headwind, so we stuck together for the journey home. After reaching the top we started blasting downhill reaching 59 mph. Yikes!! Meredith got some major speed wobbles and was lost on the descent, so Jo and I worked together across the valley to turn onto the final 11-mile road back to the finish. With about 5 or 6 miles to go, Jo attacked me hard and I had nothing to respond, probably because of acclimation issues. I felt fine but simply couldn't go that hard. Bummer. So Jo won, I got second, and Meredith rolled in shortly after in 3rd.

I camped under the Wyoming stars that night with some friends, which continued to increase the tone of the weekend adventure in cowboy country. After a great bonfire and solid night's sleep, I was up for Day 2 of the Dead Dog, which held a crit followed by an afternoon time trial. The crit was good and I was thankful to have Meredith and Jo there to make it a real race as the other girls where "saving themselves for the time trial" – an annoying tactic that I can't really see as a source of racing improvement, but nonetheless, Jo and Meredith made up the differnce with attacks. I had to let Jo go because I could only chase so much, but I was pleased with the race and happy I could accelerate a bit more.

The time trial was last up and I knew 2nd on GC was probably all that would come of the race as a whole since Jo had a hefty margin on the overall, but I figured I'd give the 10-mile TT everything and hope for a win. The legs were slow to get going, but by the turn around I was feeling good and it was nothing but headwind on the way back, which I figured as more of a chance to make up and put in time. As luck would have it, I flatted right after the turnaround and there was no neutral support so I had to ride five miles back to the finish on a flat tire. AWESOME. The good news was there was such a big gap from the road race to the rest of the field that I still held onto 3rd on GC. Meredith and Jo were really cool to me with the bad luck and cut me on part of their prize money from the drop in GC as I think they could tell how disappointed I was to be loosing an extra $100 in prize money dropping from 2nd to 3rd. It was a very kind gesture and once again I was really glad to have them there for some good competition.

Dead Dog was a super race and I'd do it again for sure!

Now… just bottleing it up for Cascade and Nationals with the team again!

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June 27 Canadian National Elite Road Race Championship

Gina and Erinne rode a great race at nationals, with Erinne clearly the strongest and most aggressive rider in the race, and Gina well positioned to take the final sprint. Unfortunately some bad luck again kept Webcor from the result they hoped for. We can all be proud of their efforts though! Following are links to CanadianCyclist photos and video:

Erinne on the attack (again!)

Photo sequence of the final sprint:
Joelle starting the sprint (Gina right behind her and Alison Testroete on far right)
Joelle pulling out of her pedal (and impressively holding herself up!)
Gina restarting her sprint as Testroete continues
Gina runs out of road

Interview with Gina and Erinne after the race – always gracious in victory and in defeat!

Here is Gina's report:

You don't want it to happen to you and you don't want to be the person behind somebody unclipping their pedals in a final sprint…

But before this happened, Erinne rocked from the beginning of the 135km Canadian national road race. She attacked from the gun just before the hill, creating a gap that nobody could close on the hill. She worked it and got up to 50 seconds, but the long descent after the gradual climbs meant that the little green power bullet had to go 60 km/hr by herself to stay away from the pack. The pack caught her at 20km to go in the first of three 45km loops.

Our plan was for Erinne to hopefully get away in a small group and then win. If that didn't work, I was the backup plan. Some smaller stuff got away and Erinne and I were attentive to who was up the road and did our work when neccessary to bridge or encourage a chase. The most aggressive and dangerous people away to the rest of the pack were Erinne and Anne Samplonious together. Finally this happened! They got a pretty good gap of almost a minute on the last lap, but then that downhill came again and they got caught at about 15km to go.

From then on, a few people of the 20 or so left were trying to get away, but it came to a field sprint where Erinne took the lead early, really early! I jumped on Joelle Numainvilles' wheel after Erinne gave it her all in the leadout. In the final sprint, Joelle unclipped from her pedal; I was behind her; I had to swerve, probably yell a "wholly @$^!@$!" and then get my game on again within 200m to go. Alison Testroete had the express lane with little traffic jam on the left, zooming past us, and as much as I wanted to catch up for the national title, I couldn't regain the speed I had. Erinne rode a great race and together our game plan worked well. I think Joelle will learn to change her cleats more often after that. And for WEBCOR a silver medal instead of a jersey and a title.

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June 26 Canadian National Elite Time Trial Championship

Our northern contingent of Gina and Erinne are in Quebec again for Canadian nationals. Erinne raced the TT this morning and finished just off the podium in 4th in the Elite race. Both Gina and Erinne will race the road race tomorrow.

Here is Erinne's report:

Canadian Nationals is being held for the 4th year in a row out in Saint-Georges de Beauce, Quebec. Gina and I traveled in late Wednesday night after Gina’s flight got delayed in Chicago. The highlight of the trip so far is that we are driving around in this amazing GANGSTER mobile and trying to find some French rap to listen to.

Today’s time trial was 20 km and the course is the same as the past two years. It’s a gradual uphill for most of the way out and therefore mostly descending on the way home. The beginning and end have some fast corners and of course the roads are bumpy. You'd think that after so many years of doing the same TT that I would have it down, but I've never had a good TT race at Nationals. Today I was pumped up (like every other year) and once again I just didn't go fast enough. I need to get out and practice my timing for these long TT’s. I know I have the power to keep up with riders like Anne Samplonius, as we were tied at the TT in Nature Valley just two weeks ago, but as soon as the TT gets longer I can't seem to figure out the pacing and I either go too easy or blow up.... I will have to practice this before the Cascade Classic starts. So today’s results were Tara Whitten (who is an up and coming Canadian track pursuiter) in 1st , Julie Beveridge in 2nd and Anne Samplonius in 3rd (although Anne would have finished 1st or 2nd had her brakes not failed her on one of the final wet and fast corners. She missed the turn and had to slow down by dragging her shoe and pulling a U-turn.) I finished 6th overall (4th in the Elites).

Also, on another note, I'd like to thank Gina for being my great support staff today!

Tomorrow is our road race. It’s 135 km of a 45 km course we do three times. It’s similar to last year with rolling hills but nothing significant.

Wish us luck!!!!

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June 14 Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage 6

The final stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix is perhaps the hardest. They call it the Stillwater "Criterium," but it is not your average crit! The course is basically half up a steep hill and the other half back down it. Repeat until you drop. Think Nevada City Classic, only the hill is longer and steeper and the finish is at the top. For Kristin Armstrong, the best defense of her lead was a good offense: basically go hard from the gun and drop as many GC contenders as possible as soon as possible.

Webcor knew they would have a difficult task defending Alex's 2nd overall as she had done basically two very hard TT efforts in the preceding stages: one to chase back as close to contention as possible after the crash and the other en route to our brilliant stage win the day before. The team was totally committed to the challenge though. In the end, the stage did not go as we had hoped, with Alex ending up 10th on GC at the end of the day, but the entire team buried themselves in her defense and everyone is rightly proud of their effort.

See this CyclingNews photo:

Webcor tried to limit the damage done by the break

Here is Rebecca's report:

The Stillwater Criterium is the infamous final stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, and it is so for a reason. This "crit" can make or break the race with a 20-ish% climb every lap. After Webcor's disastrous day 2 and miraculous day 4, we were beyond fired up to help Alex hold on to anything and everything she had gained for the team. We knew it would be a challenge as Alex had put out a serious effort the previous day (only losing 1 min on four laps of a hard circuit with Kristin Armstrong chasing HARD) but we were up for the challenge to try and keep our girl in contention.

The start line for the crit is at the base of this legendary hill, and being the nice day it was, the crowds were out in full force on the road screaming and waving flags. Awesome. Amped. Ready to go! The first hill probably hurt worse than any other time up, but we were off and doing well. Armstrong was gone by the second lap with two other riders – Andrea Dovorak and Shelley Olds – but that was the least of our worries. Making sure that Alex and Allison Powers (3rd on GC, only a second behind Al) were in the same group without gaps was the goal. With Nikki, Katheryn, Erinne and I all looking out, damage control was fairly easy to monitor. The pace stayed high every time up the climb however, and nearing the final 1/4 of the race, the previous day's efforts took their toll on Alex. She gave everything she had though, and there is no way you can give up on someone willing to give so much. Erinne and I were the last ones remaining to try and keep the time loss to a minimum and we did our best. Even though we couldn't hold onto the gains we had incurred the previous day, we went down fighting and it was one of those days that you are really proud to be part of such a great team.

To better luck for the future. We are all already psyched for Cascade!!!

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June 13 Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage 5

After six crashes and a flat in two days, the Webcor team showed what a never-say-die attitude can bring. We started the day with our top-placed GC rider Nikki in 25th place 1:37 down. Alex was 40th at 2:28.

138 km later, Webcor was in 2nd overall, held the Best Young Rider, Queen of the Hill, and Most Aggressive Rider jerseys! For the first time in two years, Kristin Armstrong was put into difficulty on US soil and Webcor was the team to do it!

See these CyclingNews' photos:
Alexis Rhodes leads the way during the fifth stage
Alexis Rhodes (Webcor Builders) out of the saddle on the tough finishing hill won stage five in Mankato
The women's podium
The jersey holders (Katheryn and Alexis from Webcor are amongst them)
Alexis Rhodes (Webcor) decides its time to make her move
Alexis Rhodes (Webcor) wins as Dottsie Bausch (Jazz Apple) takes second and Brooke MIller (TIBCO) third

And see these VeloNews' photos:
Rhodes attacks and drops Miller and Bausch
Alexis Rhodes rides off alone

Here is Alex's report:

What a difference a day can make!!!! After the bad luck we have had with crashes and punctures over the past two days, it all turned around for the better today.

Mankato road stage is one of the longest stages I have ever done in a tour. At 92 miles with a solid finishing circuit, it was a long day in the saddle. Team Webcor went into the day treating it like a 1-day race as we were all a fair way down on GC and thought that maybe we could salvage a stage win from the less than average tour to date.

Katheryn, Erinne, Nikki, Rebeccca and I were all attentive at the start of the race, with Katheryn managing to get away solo about 30 miles into the race. Katheryn was then joined by three others, who gained nearly two minutes before Kristin decided that she was unhappy with the break and chased it back. Whilst all this was happening, I was in the bunch next to Nikki complaining how "It's unfair that every time I try to get in a break no one will work with me, yet every man and their dog will chase me down, and how I was so over it." Ok, to be honest that is the very clean version of what I was really saying, but I didn't think it would be appropriate to put that in the race report.

Once Katheryn was back, the usual counter attacks followed and I managed to jump off the front with Brooke Miller from Tibco, Dotsie Bausch from Jazz Apple, and Kelly Benjamin from Colavita, and to my utter amazement, they worked with me. We managed to gain nearly two minutes before being joined by a Nature Valley rider and Nicole Evans from Value Act. I could not believe my luck. Not only was I in a break, but I was feeling good and we were gaining time on the peloton.

Laura was great in keeping me calm as all I wanted to do was see if I could rip the legs off my breakaway companions (you see I was a bit excited to be off the front and just wanted to ride as hard as I could), but she kept telling me in the radio to make sure the other girls are working and save it for the finishing circuits. Meanwhile, back in the bunch, the rest of my team was doing a fantastic job "policing the bunch" making sure nothing dangerous tried to get up the road. This also forced Armstrong to chase.

By the time we entered the finishing circuits we still had over three minutes on the bunch and I was confident enough that I could drop Kelly and Brooke up the climb that we did four times and the others I was pretty sure I could outsprint. After the first time up the climb it was just Brooke Miller, Dotsie, and me. Down the decent we unloaded Dotsie. The next time up the climb I managed to offload Brooke. Over the top of the climb I knew that I had to dig deep as this was where I could gain the most time. By this stage I was suffering like a dog, but then I thought about Amy in Gila where, despite having a bloody nose she continued in the chase, and Janel who rebroke her collarbone, yet still finished the crit last night, and suddenly my sore legs seemed a little bit pathetic.

It was not until halfway through the final lap that I realized I had a shot at being in the yellow. I won the stage, but unfortunately missed the overall by 12 seconds. I moved into 2nd overall by one second over Alison Powers who is now in 3rd. We also moved from 8th to 3rd on teams classification, which is a fantastic reward for the team as it was a whole team effort today.

Tomorrow will be a hard day, being a really, really hilly criterium but we will for sure have a crack

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June 12 Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage 4

It was a somewhat banged up and bloodied Webcor team that lined up for the start of the Stage 4 criterium in Nature Valley. The team was down, but not out, and ready to race again though. With nothing to really lose on GC anymore, the team is racing for stage wins and looking for opportunities. Unfortunately we had yet another rider hit the pavement, but the team raced hard and showed that we are still fighting and only just missed the podium.

Erinne in the race

Here is Nikki's report:

Today was another evening criterium, although this time the circuit was technical and flat. Gina and I were sent to the back from the start-line after trying to squeeze in on the front line, and once we got back there we realized the whole Webcor team was starting dead last. Not good!!

Gina, Alex, Rebecca, and I managed to get to the front before it was too late and made sure we were represented in all the attacks. The race was fast and furious with all the riders knowing the importance of good positioning on such a technical circuit. Alexis and Rebecca made a quite a few good attacks and Gina and I covered the counters and stayed up in the first 10 wheels (at worst) to make sure the race didn't get away from us.

Erinne managed to make it to the front mid-way which was a welcome sight for us all – the more green we see in the top 10 wheels the safer and easier it is for us all!! Unfortunately Janel didn't quite make it around one of the corners and decked it yet again. Wow this girl has had some bad luck lately! This was her first race back after a broken collarbone and after that little incident her shoulder is looking kind of crooked again. She was tough enough to finish the stage, but I am writing this the next morning and she is already on a plane back to San Diego. We all wish her a speedy return!!

Ok so now for the finish… two laps to go and Gina and I got organized and we were well positioned for the finish. I was on Brooke Miller's wheel who was being set-up by the Tibco girls, with Gina giving me queues from behind that she was still on my wheel through some very tight corners. Coming up to a left turn, a flow on the right started to jump the Tibco train and Gina followed with the momentum. I was pretty confident Brooke would be the one to follow, so was happy to follow her into the left turn and wasn't too concerned about what was happening on the right, though I was getting my wheel on the other side of Brooke's to jump on if I needed to. Of course when Gina came past I wasn't going to fight my sprinter for position!

Gina ended up 4th which is decent but we were both disappointed we didn't communicate better. I should have been clear that I had the legs to take her to wherever she wanted to go, and she should have yelled more from behind if she wanted me to change lines. Sprinting is all about split-second decisions, so it takes quite some time to get to know how the rider in front of you (or behind in my case) is going to take a corner at 50km/hr and hold it up without letting any of the other teams steal your position.

The next two days are hilly, so our roles will change around within our team. With no GC options after all the crashes a couple of days ago we are all hoping we can pull off a stage win somewhere or another.

Stay tuned!

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June 11 Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage 3

Stage 3 at Nature Valley was a point-to-point road race in Cannon Falls. Webcor started the day with four riders in the top 10 including Alex in 3rd and Erinne in 4th, Alex in the Best Young Rider jersey, and we were leading Team GC. That all changed dramatically with about 10 miles to go in the race: five Webcor riders went down in a huge crash and of the remaining three, two were directed off course by the lead moto and the last one flatted with no support.

Here is Janel's report:

After a fantastic showing at the first two stages of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, Webcor arrived at the start of the Cannon Falls Road Race ready to have another stellar day. The road race began with a roaring fast neutral start because the first Queen of the Hills (QOH) sprint was at 3.6 miles into the race. Webcor was at the front, ready to pounce when the opportunity presented itself, and more importantly, ready to jump on moves that happened immediately following the QOH sprint.

Paces were high all day, especially between miles 14 and 45 when there were no sprints on the line. Attacks came fast and furious, and our riders were on all the moves. Yep, that’s right… all the moves. With a rolling course, some winds to fight, and quite a few motivated teams, nothing stuck. As we approached the third and final QOH sprint at mile 45, things were still together.

At that point, we would have preferred the race to end. Every Webcor rider was in the peloton, up near the front, and we had all contributed to the effort. There is no doubt that we were racing our bikes really well as a team. Unfortunately, every once in a while, luck goes in the wrong direction, and in the last ten miles of the race, we had a bad luck streak that will (hopefully) never be duplicated again.

While all of our riders were skillfully positioned near the front of the pack, a crash happened and five of our riders went down, including Alexis Rhodes who was holding 3rd place on GC and Erinne Willock who was in 4th. Katheryn Mattis, Amy Dombroski, and Gina Grain were also a part of the mayhem. With more bikes to replace and riders to tend to than our mechanic, Dave, has ever had to deal with at once, there was a scramble to assess the situation and get the girls rolling.

Meanwhile, Nikki, Rebecca, and Janel were still in the front group, nearing a turn from the main road onto a section of dirt road. While Nikki and Janel were ultra-focused on the lead motor bike (as were the majority of the front riders), the motor bike went straight, and at least 40 girls missed the turn! They had to stop, do a U-turn and start chasing like mad to catch the back of the pack that made the turn. As Nikki and Janel blasted through the dirt section, summoning their European cobble riding skills, Rebecca flatted on the gravel (same place she flatted last year) and had to wait (and wait) to get a wheel from race support since the team car was still back tending to the crash victims.

We entered the finishing circuits, and Nikki caught back on to the front group by riding fearlessly through a technical circuit and putting everything she had into the effort. Janel was in a second group behind the leaders. Putting in a heroic chase, Alexis caught up to that second bunch and using her time trial skills, and a little help from Janel, she worked her tail off to minimize time losses. Meanwhile Nikki rode strong and represented in the finish with an 8th place.

Friday is a new day and all eight of our riders are strong; we will pull through. The results are not what we were hoping for, but there is no doubt that Webcor will show up to Friday’s criterium ready to race. At least now, luck has no choice but to be on our side!

Read the official version from this CyclingNews article (scroll down). Also see this CyclingNews photo of Erinne Willock pressing on despite cuts and bruises.

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June 10 Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage 2

Stage 2 was a criterium in downtown St. Paul and the 2nd stage of a double stage day. After a great performance in the morning TT, the team was ready to race. Alex moved up to 3rd on GC with time bonuses, with Erinne in 4th just behind her. See these CyclingNews photos:.

Gina also made the podium at the finish
Rebecca in the Prestige Series Young Rider jersey
Alex in the Nature Valley Young Rider Jersey

Here is Gina's report:

Webcor rode aggressively at the front representing the team for the entire race. I think this was our best criterium as a team this year. Plan A was for Alexis and Gina to be getting the time bonuses away from the other riders to move Alex up in GC and to not let anybody take our top GC riders spots! This was accomplished with Alex taking third in two time bonuses, Gina winning one and coming 2nd in another.

Rebecca put out a great attack during the race but was reeled down by Tibco. A few groups got off the front, but not for long as Kristen Armstrong or others were not happy with the mix. It was too early in the stage race for anyone to be happy with anything! The pace was blistering high, with riders being dropped in the first four laps.

The final sprint for time was at eight laps to go when Nikki, Alex, and I (Gina) did a phenominal team job going for the sprint point. The plan was for Alex to win it, but Shelly Olds jumped us, so I had to go get her and outsprint her :-) to take the win.

Eight laps went by fast as we tried to recover from that effort...I didn't' recover until about three laps to go in the race. Not thinking I could really contest the finish sprint, my legs said "try" at three laps to go...so I did and managed to still squeak in a 3rd place in the final.

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June 10 Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage 1

The third race in the Women's Prestige Series is the 5-day Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minneapolis, MN. Webcor is there with our full 8- rider roster to defend out overall lead in the series. The race starts with a bang: a double day with a TT in the morning and a criterium in the evening. Webcor had a find showing in the TT with four riders in the top 10.

Time Trials are a lot about "embracing the pain" and here are some good CyclingNews shots:

Erinne
Erinne
Erinne
Katheryn
Alexis
Alexis
Alexis on the podium as Best Young Rider
Rebecca

Here is Erinne's report:

Today Webcor ripped it up! It was the first stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix and the race was a 6- mile individual time trial. The course went out and back along a flat river road and then continued up about a 1km steep hill to the finish. The other exciting part is that we have the WHOLE team with us this week – all eight riders!

The race started early this morning and Dave and Jeremy had one heck of a 72 hours driving from Philly to Minneapolis, getting all the TT bikes ready to go (in total over 16 Leopard bikes were race ready this morning).

Kristin Armstrong is here racing this week and will be one of our biggest competitors as well as a very stacked peloton of all the other top North American teams and riders. Kristin won the stage with a time of 13:48. Alison Powers came in second and our Erinne Willock was third. Alex Rhodes did a great ride coming in 6th and Best Young Rider in Nature Valley, while Rebecca Much still holds the Best Young Rider overall for the Women’s Prestige Series.

Everyone road incredibly strongly this morning and we showed that Webcor will be a force to be reckoned with! Below are the top ten results:

1 Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Test Team) 0:13:48
2 Alison Powers (Team Type 1) at 0:13
3 Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) 0:48
4 Anne Samplonius (Lip Smacker) s.t.
5 Katharine Carroll (Team TIBCO) 0:51
6 Alexis Rhodes (Webcor Builders) 0:52
7 Katheryn Curi Mattis (Webcor Builders) 0:55
8 Lauren Tamayo (Team TIBCO) 0:58
9 Julie Beveridge (Team TIBCO) s.t.
10 Rebecca Much (Webcor Builders) 1:01

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June 7 Liberty Classic

The Liberty Classic in downtown Philadelphia is one of the highlights of the North American race calendar. It is the only UCI women's race in the US and draws the top European teams like Columbia-High Road and Nurnberger. It also draws on the order of half a million spectators and the entire Center City of Philly is closed down for about eight hours. Despite the "Manayunk Wall" (about a 1km climb with pitches at 20%) it is typically a sprinters race. With 150 riders in the field, it is also a race where positioning and avoiding crashes are critical elements to success.

Ina Teutenburg from High Road has won this race twice before and is one of the best sprinters in the world right now and was definitely the pre-race favorite. She is also climbing better than ever before, so we knew she might also try to win from a break on the climb. This ended up being exactly what happened and unfortunately Webcor was not represented in the break. The bright spot however was Amy winning the Miji Reoch "Best Young Rider" award for the top finisher under age 23 and earning herself a trip to the podium. Here's the CyclingNews photo of:

Amy on the podium

And here are links to more photos from WomensCycling.net:

Katheryn Mattis at the front
Amy and Gina in the action
Amy on the podium


Here is Amy's report:

The 25th annual Philadelphia Liberty Classic took place on Sunday at the crack of 9am. Whilst the rest of the team was a well-oiled machine on this course, it was my maiden voyage. On our recon of the course on Saturday, the team did a splendid job of showing me the course, talking me through the key sections and thoroughly preparing me for the following day.

Before a delish team dinner, the boss Karen laid out the game plan for Game Day. Plan A was a sprint finish for Gina. I was to be her bodyguard for the day, attempting to keep her from doing a lick of work. Erinne planned to try for the Queen of the Mountain. The rest of the team were assigned to chasing things down, keeping things hot, and overall maintaining good position through the technical and usually crash-infested race.

Amy wins the Miji Reoch Award for Best Young Rider

The race began at a good clip with Nurnberger being the main aggressors. Flurries of attacks kept the race strung out and the field on their toes. As usual, the first attacks were covered and killed when riders were fresh and jacked on nerves. It wasn’t until the second lap that any break gained distance. Katheryn got off with 10 other riders, but Tibco wasn’t represented and the other players in the break weren’t good for us. Shortly after we swallowed up that break, we began seeing the caravan from the men’s race in front of us! Officials neutralized the men’s race, which started 10 minutes in front of us so we could safely pass. That time up the wall I heard confused spectators screaming “Wait, those aren’t men! Those are the women! By golly, the women passed the men…inconceivable”, just as Karen congratulated us for "girling" the entire professional men’s field.

The women were to complete four laps, and it wasn’t until the final ascent up the Manayunk wall that the final selection was made. Jockeying for position, we tried our best to be at the front for prime positioning. Columbia turbo-ed up the Wall, setting a pace that only 11 others could hold onto. Unfortunately every strongbad team was represented, except for Webcor. We tried our hardest to close the gap, but Columbia played their cards perfectly and had four riders driving the break.

So the second group rolled to the finish behind the break, Gina taking 13th. I was the top U23 rider. The rest of the green train rolled in right around each other. Not a great day but you gotta pick your battles.

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June 4 The Grand Tour of Montreal Stage 5

The final stage of the Grand Tour of Montreal is the one stage with a little bit of climbing in it: a 1.5km climb done once each lap for five laps. With enough firepower, it is possible for the field to split on this stage. Webcor had been looking forward to this stage as an opportunity to try to get ahead of the pure sprinters. Alex was also keen to defend her 6th overall and try to move up on GC with the time bonus sprints or at least not get passed from behind since GC from 2nd on down is still only a matter of seconds.

Webcor did a good job being represented in any promising breaks, but in the end, Cervelo controlled the race and Kirsten Wild had no trouble on the climb. Hanka Kupfernagel (German National team and former World Time Time champ) won the stage and her time bonus for that moved her ahead of Alex on GC. Nikki was a solid 5th on the stage. Alex finished 7th on GC against a very strong international field and Erinne was 14th. Webcor finished 3rd overall in Team GC behind Cervelo and Nurnberger.

Here is Nikki's report:

The final stage of the Montreal Tour was the only one with a significant climb in it and with GC being closely contended for 2nd and 3rd place, we were expecting a hard race. It was just a matter of whether those groups over the climbs stayed away or not. Webcor did a great job again by having riders in the front split each time over, however each of the five times over were neutralized by the super-strong Cervelo team, who were leading the race with Kirsten Wild.

The finish was not long after the 5th time up the climb and very fast. We were all there and the finish was all about "choosing the right swarm." I was in a relatively good position and ended up 5th at the finish. Good but not great.

We are now at Nature Valley and after a super strong start with the TT (4 in the top 10!!) everyone is keen for some good racing this week to finish off a long block on the road.

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June 3 The Grand Tour of Montreal Stage 4

Day 3 was a double day with the time trial in the morning and a criterium in downtown Montreal in the evening. The crit is always a fun venue with lots of crowds and it is in "Little Italy" so we had a nice pizza dinner after the race. The organizers always put on a 3-lap "Staff race" for all the team support staff before the main women's event. People treat this with various levels of seriousness, but having done of for the past three years, I can say that there are always enough fit staff to make it blazingly fast!! This year I was joined by Dave and Jeremy in the Webcor colors!

In the main event, the Webcor team was well positioned at the front for the whole race and the finish was better than in the past two days, but we still have some fine tuning to do!

Here is Gina's report:

Well, you know the crit is going to be fast when 100 woman line up 25 min before the start of the race to get a good position on the start line. Yes, we stood there for 25 minutes, but that was after cheering on our three staff hammer the 3-lap 'staff' race before ours. Dave the machine mechanic took control at the front for the first third of the race (i.e., the first lap), then "headed" to the back. Karen the krazy director was in the main break of the day, the only woman represented with about six other guys. she didn't want to embarrass them in the sprint so she just held wheels. Jezza the jewel soigneur manned the field and i saw him get up and sprint, taking his group of three for the finish – job well done staff!

Then the elite women's race: 50 laps – about 1hr 15min. In the first 5 laps, I (Gina) flatted. No problem, stopped in the pit; and instead of being put back in the top 10 where I was, the commissaire had me pushed in at the back of 100 riders. OK, time to move up, again. Then a crash happened, all before the first time bonus of the day. Katheryn and I were caught behind it and went to the pit unharmed and were, again, pushed in at the back of 100 riders.

Meanwhile, Nikki and Alex were a firm presence for the entire race in the top 10ish riders, as was Katheryn who rode a well positioned race. Cervelo was basically setting a speeding fast tempo for most of the race, where the little attacks that happened didn't go anywhere.

Alex unleashed her sprinting legs today to take 3rd in the sprint for time, gaining 1 sec. and moving her up to 6th in GC now. Way to go Alex!

The super fast speed continued with sprints for cash being offered inside 10 laps to go. Some weather was moving in bringing gusty winds with it, which inevitably caused a bad crash near the front of the field at 5 laps to go. Webcor was all clear of that, although it happened right in front of Alex and meI. Luck had it that the rider went down to the left and we went to the right.

Then what really stirred things up was at 1 lap to go, bell lap, we were all up front and some lapped riders, who were not pulled from the race were in our way!!! So on the last lap, we were navigating our way through slower lapped riders trying to keep our position. As this got sorted, Webcor got split up and I just made the best of the situation. Trying to get through a Cervelo leadout proved difficult, and knowing there was a fierce headwind finish, I came about 5th through the last corner near Kirsten Wild, sprinted with her for a bit, and she shot the hole, and I did my best to follow, but ended up a bit behind in 6th.

So with Alex in 6th, we have some sprint bonus times to pick up tomorrow to keep jumping up the GC ladder.

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June 3 The Grand Tour of Montreal Stage 3

Stage 3 of the Tour of Montreal was a 3.5 km out and back time trial on a bike path along the river. There is a little chicaine and the turnaround, but otherwise a straight shot. In order to accommodate all the European teams flying across the pond, the race organizers make the rule that no time trial equipment at all is allowed. Everyone is on road bikes and road wheels without clip-ons or aero helmets. They were even going to extend the rule to disallow skinsiuts, but that was argued in the team managers meeting beforehand, and in the end all the teams agreed that skinsuits would be allowed.

Cervelo once again stamped their dominance on the event with two of their riders breaking the magic 4 min. barrier. I can't ever remember anyone breaking 4 min. on this course in the years I have been here. Regina Bruins won in a 3:57 (53.16kph! )and Kirsten Wild took 2nd in 3:58, extending her lead in the overall. 3rd was Elenora Van Dyke from Columbia-High Road 8 sec. back and from there on down, the times were separated by fractions of seconds.

Alex had a good day placing 8th in the TT at 12 sec. and moving into 9th on GC.

Here is Alex's report:

Stage 3 of Montreal was an epic 3.5 km tt. Short time trials mid stage race are always mentally taxing and hard to prepare for, as often the body is already quite fatigued, so a long hard warm-up would only do more harm than good. However, if you do not warm up enough, you will not ride into a 3.6k time trial.

Erinne and myself managed to run 12th and 8th, which puts us into a solid position for the criterium and the more challenging final road stage on Friday where hopefully we can create a break and get somebody up the road, as unfortunately we have been struggling a bit to pick up bonus seconds in the time sprints.

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June 2 The Grand Tour of Montreal Stage 2

Stage 2 of the Grand Tour of Montreal was another flat circuit race. The course actually had a QOM in it, but the hill was about the equvilant of an overpass. Cervelo continued to dominate with Kirstin Wild taking her second stage win in a field sprint.

Here is Alex's report:

Stage 2 in the Grand Tour of Montreal was very similar to stage 1. High speeds and Cervelo controlling the race for the Wild one (Kirstin Wild). The main difference being that today it was FINALLY not raining. The race started off really really really fast, with Cervelo jumping on anyone that even thought about trying get a break up the road. Katheryn and Erinne were both very attentive up at the front for most of the day, making sure that we had someone in any dangerous moves.

Unfortunately we had to say good bye mid-race to our little Rock Star Amy, as she had developed some tendonitis in her knee. Hopefully Amy will get some good rest between now and be back strong for Philly on Sunday.

Cervelo ended up getting their way and it came down to a bunch kick. Kirstin Wild was again too strong for the rest of us and ended up taking the stage. We were a little frustrated that we still cannot work out the leadout, but the criterium in Little Italy is another chance.

June 1 The Grand Tour of Montreal Stage 1

Monday was the start of the 4 day, 5 stage Grand Tour of Montreal. Most of the teams from the World Cup stay on to compete in this race. With 3 relatively flat road stages, a criterium and a very short time trial, this has become know as a sprinter's race to win, and all the European teams come with their top sprinters. It is a bit of a different peleton from the stage racing one we are more used to. The typical Montreal rain doesn't make things any easier!

The team made a good effort in the fight for position, but in the end, the results were not what we had hoped for. Kirsten Wild of Cervelo won all 3 of the intermediate time bonus sprints as well as the race to take the overall lead.

Here is Gina's Report:

A wide awakening to Montreal roads, rainy weather and international sprint competition and speed, got the fast twitch muscle fibers twitching wildly on this day. The 5km circuit with bad road surfaces and some technical turns, bike paths, posts and slippery man holes kept everybody's attention throughout the race. Team Cervelo with the Wild..Kirsten Wild, basically covered every move that tried to get away to take any sprint time bonuses away from Kirsten. The average pace was so high, over 44km /hr, that nothing could really stay away. In fact between all the sprints not a lot of people tried.

Team High Road, for once, didn't have a real sprinter, so it was interesting to see their tactics in trying to attack and be aggressive as that was their only card. Surprisingly there was only one big crash. Team Webcor was keeping position and our goal was the finish. We played a bit in the intermediate sprints to get the feel of the finish. As all the European teams had sprinters teams here, it was exhilarating to see how many leadout trains formed for the final sprint. 6 full on team leadouts were happening at the same time. Everybody jostling for position, bumping and grinding - full body contact at times. Positioning is key, and at this speed if you falter for a micro second and lose even one wheel, it will put you back 8-10 people. This was WEBCORS first international race together. We did what we could and tried our best to fight for the leadout. It was a rude awakening, but we definitely have the man power and talent to be up there and do better than we did this stage. A bit more confidence and racing at this speed will do the trick. Cheers to the entire team for trying. If we don't try, we don't get better. You have to risk to win.

Put all the pennies in the bank and it will add up to great dividends in the end.

On to the rest of the tour…LE TOUR DU GRAND MONTREAL.

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Link to earlier reports