Stage 2 – 130km Oak Glen Road Race

Today I pulled out the silver Sockguy shoe covers and received a comment from Ian Prime (photographer) that I was getting serious about the sprinting today.  I just agreed with him and told him that TDS would be wearing the green jersey at the end of today’s stage.

Today, Anne, Shawn and I had 3 sprints to worry about and then we could sit up and ride to the finish.  Our team plan was to let Joan save her legs as much as possible for the final 10km climb to the finish.  A good climb by her would move her into the 20 in GC (general classification).

Sprint number one was at the 24km point in the race.  Shawn hit the front at the 23km mark and it was her job not to let any riders pass her.  She had only just got to the front when Ina Teutenberg (Saturn) attacked down the left side of the road.  She stood up and sprinted across to Ina with Anne and I on her wheel.  A few seconds later Lyne Bessette (Saturn) attacked down the other side of the road.  Again Shawn jumped across to Lyn’s wheel and then rode past her, driving her bike as hard as she could.  With 1km to go, Shawn swung off and Anne took over.  Anne sits really low on the bike, but I still had a good draft and got down in the drops waiting for the first sprint.  I didn’t see the 200m to go sign and Anne yelled out “200m to go, 200m to go” just as Nicole Freedman (Basis) started her sprint.  That hesitation cost me the sprint because I jumped across to Nicole’s wheel but she was ahead of me as we hit the line, giving her the win (7 points) and giving me second (5 points).

The next part of the race was tough.  We had a 6km climb with Rona setting a wicked tempo on the front.  With 500m to go, I lost contact with the front group of 12 climbers and struggled over the top in the second group with Anne.  Joan had made the front group so we were happy to let the group go up the road.  However, Genevieve Jeanson (Rona) was in this front group without her teammates and soon the Rona team from our group rode a hard tempo and bridged us back to the climbers.

Shawn who had absolutely buried herself for me in the first sprint, made it into the 3^rd group over the climb with Nicole Freedman (Basis).  Nicole was my main sprint rival for the points jersey, so it was a relief that she hadn’t made it over the climb in my group.  This only left Sanborn (Intermountain Cycling) to keep an eye on.

Sprint number 2 was at the 63km mark.  There was a two person break of Teutenberg (Saturn) and (Barry) T Mobile ahead of us so I was sprinting for 3^rd place.  It was a tricky sprint immediately after a hard right hand turn.  Anne moved me towards the front just as we approached the corner.  Sanborn moved up to try and get my wheel, but Joan got it first and took the corner wide, forcing Sanborn to take a longer slower corner.  I sprinted hard without Sanborn coming around me, giving me another 3 points.

Sprint number 3 was at the 86km mark.  We had caught Teutenberg but Barry (T Mobile) was still alone off the front, so I was sprinting for second place points.  There was a strong cross headwind, and Anne drove it hard up the right hand gutter, giving me a nice draft.  Gaps in the peloton were opening up behind us as riders struggled to remain sheltered from the wind.  I jumped with 200m to go, taking another 5 points, while Anne took 3 points.  At the base of the 10km climb, I sat up and rode as slowly as I could to the finish, trying to rest my legs.  Anne caught me half way up and we chatted with some other riders to the finish.

At the conclusion of the day, I had climbed into the green jersey with 23 points.   Both Nicole Freedman (Basis) and Melissa Sanborn (Intermountain Cycling) had 12 points, Dede Barry (T Mobile), 9 points and Ina Teutenberg (Saturn) 5 points.