Green Mountain Stage Race - Men's - 9-2-08
Prologue
Hey Everyone, quick update to the happenings up in Warren, Vermont:
Instead of the usual mass-start up hill time trial, the 2008 edition of the Green Mountain Stage Race introduced a new prologue time trial course that put the stage more in favor of all-around riders rather than benefiting just the fastest climbers. Along with this new time trail course, the race this year is not using the usual omnium format this year; the General Classification will be determined by a cumulative time format. The individual time trial had the riders starting at 30 second intervals and the first 2 km climbed about 500 meters (about an 8% grade) before rolling along the ridge at high speeds (30mph+ average), Then a quick drop and a final wall of a climb.
Johnny Broussard was the top NEBC rider in the Cat 3 race, finishing just 34 seconds off the leader, in perfect position going into the second day. Scott Brooks was not far behind at just 8 seconds behind John with Mark Theeman, Justin Howe, and Greg Brown riding strong to round out the Cat 3s.
In a strong Pro/1/2 field, Peter Bradshaw brought NEBC’s highest placing at +1’20”, next was Roy Van Cleef just 5 seconds off Bradshaw’s pace, and Todd Rowell was another 2 seconds behind Roy rebounding nicely from illness that kept him off the bike for a large chunk of the middle of the season.
The team is positioned very well going in to the second day circuit race, which is also a new course this year due to heavy rain fall which has left many of the roads on the circuit race unsafe.
Stage 1
Thanks for the positive comments everyone; all NEBC-ers are riding fantastically up in Vermont.
The first stage of the 2008 Green Mountain Stage Race was a new course: 5 miles from the parking area out to a 30 mile loop that climbs Baby Gap in reverse, then descends for a flat finish; all the fields did two laps for 65 total miles, with two KOM climbs, one intermediate sprint, and the finishing sprint.
The Cat 3s had a pretty quiet day with a scattering of unfortunate luck. Scott Brooks tried to lead out Mark Theeman for the KOM, but Theeman’s front wheel was a bit squishy making it difficult to hold Brooks’ wheel. The plan then switched to trying to lead out the team’s highest placed GC rider, John Broussard, for the intermediate sprint for a GC time bonus; unfortunately a crowded field and relatively flat run in to the sprint created enough congestion to prevent the setup. On the second lap the team’s Australian contingent, Greg Brown, was forced to drop out due to several fractured ribs from crashing at a Mountain Bike Race the week before, the force of climbing at race pace proved to painful. Part way through the second lap Theeman dropped back to take a neutral wheel and Justin Howe dropped back to pace Mark back, the two would come in just a few minutes off the back of the main field. Brooks and Broussard rolled in with the front half of the main field to hold their position in GC.
With a relatively flat stage profile, this stage could have been a nice and easy sprint prelude to Sunday’s queen stage that ends atop App Gap like the Cat 3s; instead, the Men’s P/1/2 field put the pedal to metal for an aggressive contest that averaged over 27mph and saw 37 of the 130 riders finish off the back due to the speed or the numerous crashes.
Roy convinced Peter and Todd that going for KOM points would be reasonable as there were only two KOM sprints Saturday and only one Sunday. This would let the team be somewhat aggressive while not putting us on the hook for repeated hard leadouts.
As the race started, Roy quickly moved to the front and began mixing things up; Peter rode up to join him as the race neared the KOM. Peter actually soloed away 2km before the KOM and was only caught in the final 250m; call him the Prince of the Mountain. Roy tried to go with the group that passed Peter but his earlier efforts were too much and he was popped off the back of the field over the top of the climb and would ultimately finish over 20min down, but still within the time cut.
Peter and Todd survived the remaining lap and a half to the finish but weren’t able to do much in the sprint; Peter was able to move up to 46th and Todd sat in for 83rd, both same time as the field, 3 seconds behind the winner. Many riders lost time on the stage, moving Todd up to a middle of the pack 64th on G.C.; Peter and many other riders were penalized for yellow line violations near the finish, demoting him to 83rd and earning him a wag of the finger. Roy dropped to 120th but as usual is raring to go on tomorrow’s hilly stage.
Stage 2
Epic racing today, Sunday’s stage of the GMSR was a modified version of the previous Mad River road race course, becuase of heavy rains the course was re-routed to traverse the slightly less intense Brandon Gap instead of Middlebury Gap, and running 75 miles to the finish atop App Gap. With two mountainous passes, this day was likely to be the greatest determinant of overall GC.
From the start of racing Scott Brooks formed a break with four other riders and they managed to work well together staying away for the first hour of the race soaking up all of sprint points before being caught. John Broussard, Mark Theeman, Justin Howe, and Scott all rode well and made it over Brandon Gap with the pack and played conservatively until Baby Gap. Mark Theeman suffered another flat tire (his second in just as many days) popping him out the back, while John and Scott rode strong in the top 20 before being popped 2.5k from the summit. Final results were Scott 42nd, John 43, Justin 66th and Mark 70th. This moves Brooks and Broussard into 33rd and 34th respectively on GC.
The biggest goal for the Cat 2s today was survival: get over the top of Brandon Gap with the front group if possible, and then conserve for the hard final climb where the big time gaps would happen. All the team members are pretty good climbers and had hopes of making that front group, but Peter in particular was looking to get back the 30 seconds he lost on the previous day.
After the 3 mile downhill neutral the field set out for the sprint line 12 miles away, downhill through Granville Gulf. The pace was fast down into the Gulf, assisted by a strong tailwind, but the field was generally more relaxed than the previous day; there were a few flats and a couple of crashes caused by bad cracks in the pavement. One of the crashes sent a rider down right in front of Todd, sending him over his bars and into a ditch; his subsequent chase was fruitless and he eventually abandoned the race, muddy and sore but unbloodied.
Back in the field, things were going well for Peter and Roy, and both made the front group over the climb, although Roy missed his bottle in the high-speed feed zone. Roy was dealt a second blow when he flatted at the bottom of the Brandon descent; although he never reconnected with the field he rode to the finish well within the time cut.
In the end, Peter was the man of the day, finishing just two minutes down from the leader in 30th, which launches him up to 33rd overall. Roy finished 108th on the day, and is now 114th on GC. Tomorrow they face the technical, high-speed downtown Burlington criterium.
Lastly, a shout-out to Clara Kelly, who placed 5th on the day, and is now in 6th on GC. Awesome for someone who started the year as a cat 4.
Stage 3
Stage 3 was the only stage in this year’s race that had not been changed, the traditional 6 corner down town Burlington, VT criterium had always been fast and aggressive and this year was no different. NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental’s own John Broussard got 3rd in the Crit out of a break of 6, Scott Brooks and Justin Howe coming in 18th and 30th respectively with Mark Theeman not far behind. The podium finish by Broussard was enough to move him to 22nd on GC, and Brooks finished 29th, and Howe also grabbed 7 spots on the final day coming in 58th on GC. Awesome job by EVERYONE!
A more detailed race report to come, thanks for all the support!