Mt Hood, Oregon – 14 to 18 May

Mt Hood, Oregon – 14 to 18 May

Riders: Rachel Heal, Lauren Franges, Jo Kiesanaski, Victoria Bastide and myself

Date:

How we got there, etc.

Stage 1 – Mt Tabor circuit race

With Jo Kiesanowski leading the Mt Hood Cycling classic after an impressive prologue, Team TIBCO worked hard to control stage 1.  It was a tough hilly circuit race with an uphill finish.  With 200m to go, Jo launched from the bunch, however multi national criterium champion, Tina Pic (Colavita) pipped Jo at the finish to take the stage win.  With bonus seconds  for the win, Pic was awarded the leader’s jersey from Jo by 1 second.

Stage 2 – Cooper Spur Road Race

An early solo break by Helen Kelly worked to plan and forced other teams to chase.  After 10 miles, the break was caught and Lauren, Victoria and Rach worked hard to control any dangerous looking attacks.  As the race approached the mountain top finish, they positioned Jo perfectly where she out sprinted multi world champion, Jeannie Longo, and gave Team TIBCO another stage win.  With bonus seconds at the finish line Jo reclaimed the leader’s jersey.

Stage 3 – Individual time trial

The time trial was a point-to-point race along the Hood River.  With temperatures hovering at 98F, Jo fought gallantly and finished a credible 8th.  Rachel also rode well to finish in 10th.  Julie Beveridge (Aaron’s) was the fastest woman on the day and climbed into the leader’s jersey.

Stage 4 – Mt Hood road race

Determined to reclaim the leader’s jersey, we approached stage 4 with some aggressive riding by Lauren, Victoria and Helen.  With all the GC contenders eyeing each other as we approached the final 10 mile climb to the summit of Mt Hood, Rachel launched an attack and almost succeeded in winning the stage, only to be caught with ½ mile to go.  Jo finished 2nd, behind US National Road race champion, Mara Abbott.  With the accumulation of sprint points earned by Jo, she was awarded the green sprint jersey.

Stage 5 – Hood River Criterium

The final stage was a technical criterium in downtown Hood River.  Team TIBCO launched one rider after another up the road which dwindled the field down to 25 riders by the finish.  In the final lap, Jeannie Longo attacked hard and got a gap.  However, Pic proved her sprinting prowess to win the stage, whilst Jo finished 2nd and retained her green sprint jersey.  In final general classification, Jo finished 5th overall whilst Rach was 10th.

Well done to Team TIBCO for two stage wins and the sprint jersey.