Athens Twilight Criterium – 26 April 2003

The streets surrounding the Athens Twilight criterium in Georgia were blocked off for the entire weekend with jazz music and skateboard trick riders providing plenty of entertainment for the crowds.  There were a number of novelty events held throughout the afternoon as hundreds of thirsty college students congregated at pubs and cafes around the course. 

The criterium course was a clockwise rectangular circuit of about 1km.  The back straight was roughly paved and had a gradual 70m climb.  There were also a number of deep manholes and other grates to avoid on this section of the course.  The final corner leading into the start/finish straight was slightly downhill and off camber with a number of hay bales set up as precaution.

Yesterday, I spent the entire travelling and today my long legs were suffering from the cramped conditions of planes that don’t provide adequate leg room for tall passengers.  I had ridden for a couple of hours the morning but as I warmed up on the Cyclops trainer, my legs felt horrible.  I could lift my heartrate easily signifying that I was well rested but had heavy unresponsive legs.  I decided I wouldn’t be capable of a solo break today.

There were a couple of $100 sprint primes and Anne Samplonius (TDS) won the first of them while I won the other one.

The race had plenty of aggression but all breaks were quickly chased and shut down.  With 8 laps to go Anne Samplonius (TDS) and Tania Duff-Miller (Diet Rite) snuck away.  I jumped to the front to control the pace.  Nicole Freedman attempted to get across but I sat on her and she eventually gave up the chase.  Almost immediately, Candice Blickem (Genesis) attacked alone down the back straight and I hesitated in jumping on her wheel and then decided the break would work better with the 3 major teams represented.

Unfortunately for us, Blickem paused briefly with Samplonius and Duff-Miller and then attacked them and soloed away ahead of them.  With only 5 laps to go and 20 seconds on the peloton, she retained her lead to take a well-deserved win.

It was a crazy final lap with a near crash on the last corner which caused me to swing wide and completely miss Mayolo-Pic’s wheel who took the bunch sprint for 2^nd, while I finished 7^th.

1.         Candice Blickem, Genesis Scuba
2.         Tina Mayolo-Pic, Diet Rite
3.         Gina Grain, Victory Brewing/Amoroso
7.         Helen Kelly, TDS