The NEBC Elite Women’s Cycling Team returns in 2009 after another successful year in 2008 with six racers: Rebecca Wellons, Susanne Delaney, Natalie Dumont, Samantha Dery, Clara Kelly and team director/racer Brooke O’Connor.
The last road race of the season just happened to be the best venue for us, downtown Boston on Sat, Sept 26. Why was it the best venue? Because it was right in our back yard with thousands of spectators willingly (or unwillingly as in the case of the T riders) cheering us on by name! Former Olympian Nicole Freedman and her crew did an excellent job organizing the race in the heart of the Hub, securing more than adequate prize money (TDBank has signed a 3 yr deal, so the race will continue for at least another 2 yrs) and getting some top name crit national champions to show up, including 6-time crit champion Tina Pic (Colavita), Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom), and Brooke Miller (Team Tibco). Many asked why the crit was so “late” in the season and the simple answer was that it was organized on the same weekend as the annual Hub on Wheels bike ride around Boston, which took place the following day (in the pouring rain). A whole weekend dedicated to biking in downtown Boston – amazing!
The course was a short 0.7 mile clockwise loop around Government Center, but it was safe from the thousands of people milling about by adequate barriers and street crossings at only designated crosswalks. There were primes called not only at the Start/Finish line (on Cambridge St), but alternate primes called on the opposite side of the course on Congress St. That made it more spectator friendly. On to the race itself…
It was a bit chilly for a crit (arm warmers a must), but after warming up on trainers in the middle of Government Center and then riding around the course a dozen times, Clara Kelly, Natalie Dumont and Brooke O’Connor lined up in NEBC colors on the start line. There were thoughts in our minds of just going all-out for one of the $500 primes and not minding if we got pulled from the race after that, but the big crit guns kept the pace high enough and sprinted hard enough that none of the NEBC ladies had much of a chance to go for a prime. During the race it was very exciting to hear the names of all the local New England racers being called out by our friends. Bet Brooke Miller thought she had a ton of local Boston fans calling out “Go Brooke”, but we all know better! :-)
Many small groups of women tried attacking and breaks, but nothing stuck as the field reeled in everything to come down to a sprint finish. Fast forward to the last lap where Brooke O had moved herself up to around 6th in line, right behind a Colavita rider. Brooke Miller, who was two people in front, jumped HARD to the right on Congress St. and immediately the 3 women in front of her followed. Assumed that the Colavita rider in front of Brooke O would follow the train, but instead the Colavita rider just kept riding hard on the left. That made Brooke O finally go around and try to catch the winning train up the slight hill into the final 200m. Brooke O came around the last corner to the flat to the finish and literally 10meters before the finish line, 5 women passed by to put Brooke O 12th at the finish. Clara finished in the pack in 25th place. For reference, Tina Pic won the race (last of her career before retiring), with Brooke Miller 2nd and Jen McRae (Team Type 1) in 3rd.
The race was suppose to be 60 minutes long, but our first few laps must have been on the slow side while everyone was getting comfortable with the course because after the officials calculated our remaining laps, we only ended up racing for 50 minutes. Thank you to all who cheered for us on that cool, but sunny Sat night and all season long. It was a nice ending to another great season by the NEBC Elite women!
6th – Brooke O’Connor
9th – Clara Kelly
15th – Natalie Dumont
Carola Berger
This is our teammate Susanne Delaney’s race, she is the promoter and does an excellent job of running the race every year to showcase her hometown of Portsmouth, NH. Rectangular, 4-corner circuit goes around the downtown streets. Backside was newly paved this year which was a welcome surprise to combat the strong headwind along the same stretch. After a few weeks off from our last team races of the Salem and Beverly Crits in August, goals of the team were to try to get our racing legs back under us, find teammates for leadouts for primes and the finish. Throw in some attacking and counter attacking and see what happened.
First prime was called and Clara got the front with Brooke lined up behind. Clara gave a massive lead-out which I almost blew with former teammate Mary Zider (Specialized) using me as her lead-out and I just stayed ahead in a photo finish to win the prime. As the race progressed, there were signs of all 4 NEBC women in either solo or group breaks. Clara was out in a group for a few laps, Brooke countered and was alone for a couple of laps. When Brooke got caught, Natalie immediately countered. Fast forward to the final 2 laps when first Clara went to the front to keep the pace high for a lap, then with one to go, Nat exploded out of the field to counter and make everyone else chase. Brooke tried to stay up front and get ready for the final sprint. Going into the last 2 corners, brooke was too far back in 3th or 4th spot and once we were out of the last corner sprinting for the finish, a couple of ladies came around Brooke and she had to settle for 6th. Clara was close behind for 9th and Nat hung on for 15th after her last lap effort.
We did it again!
The NEBC women once again enjoyed the short drive to race a local crit around downtown Beverly. New flat course with the start/finish going north on Cabot St. in front of a big brick church followed by a tight right-left-right series of corners and back around the Beverly Common to Dane St then Hale St and back to Cabot. Course was fun with the corners and it was the first person through the last corner who would walk away the winner was what we determined during warm-up.
A lot of the same players from last night on the start line including the former Olympians Lyne Bessette and Nicole Freedman. On the first lap, Lyne took the lead until Brooke decided to spice it up early with an attack and pushed the pace for the first lap and a half. Then Rebecca took the front and had the field strung out for a few laps, almost dropping Brooke from the field in the process. Clara also used the first few laps to warm up fully. Once everyone settled in, Clara and Brooke took turns attack and counter-attacking. Our only prime, a case of Redbull, was called early in the race and Rebecca went for it just to confirm where to jump for the finish. She easily won the prime and we continued on with attacking for the rest of the race. We also successfully covered all moves from the rest of the field. A field sprint would be fine for us this evening. No breakaways stuck, but we made the rest of the field work hard in the process.
Fast forward to the last few laps – Clara attacked and held the field at bay for a lap or two around 5 laps to go while Brooke saton Lyne’s wheel. Once Lyne finally caught Clara, Brooke countered and took the lead and tried to keep the pace high with 3 and 2 laps to go. As soon as she petered out, Clara took charge again at the front until about a half lap to go when the rest of the field starting getting ancy. On the second to last corner, Brooke managed to find enough energy left to come to the front on the right side and try to get Lyne to jump early. While Lyne was distracted on the right, Rebecca let out a tremendous jump up the left side and immediately put a gap on the field. Going into the last corner, Rebecca had at least 5 bike lengths on the field and easily held onto that gap to nab yet another NEBC team victory.
Rebecca’s comment at the end to the announcer Richard Fries was that it was a real team victory and all she had to do was sprint at the end. :-)
Been a little slacking on writing the race reports the last few weeks, but it’s not because the NEBC/Cycle Loft/Devonshire Dental Elite Women’s Team hasn’t been doing well, it’s just the opposite – we’ve been doing FANTASTIC (or CLAMTASTIC, some might say)!
Sat, July 25 – Tour of the Hilltowns, Windsor, MA
Climbing phenom Clara Kelly couldn’t talk her flat land crit teammates into going to this 90 km hilly race (not the name of the race!) with her, so she went anyways, got in a break with 5 other strong New England women racers and pulled off a 4th place finish after almost 3 hours of racing hills! Did I mention that she got 8th place at the Mt Wachusett Road Race against the top women racers in the nation at the Longsjo Classic on the 4th of July?
Sat, Aug 1 – Concord Crit, Concord, NH
After noting in the earlier races that the best place for the finish would be the 1st of the last corner now that the course direction had been reversed, the team was very excited about the faster, more technical turns before the finish stretch. The team proceeded to win all the primes (included taking a couple of 1st and 2nd place in a single prime lap) between Rebecca Wellons and Brooke O’Connor. Clara was the designated attack on the uphill rider and kept the pace up when needed. For the last lap, Clara started the leadout at the start of the lap, Brooke took over on the top flat section. Former Olympian Nicole Feedman squeezed Brooke out of the first corner, but Rebecca stayed on Nicole’s wheel. Brooke managed to recover and get back into the final train in 5th spot. Rebecca easily came around Nicole after the last corner for the win, while Brooke moved up to 4th. Clara stayed strong to finish 11th.
Sun, Aug 2 – Central NH Road Race, Bow, NH
Was setting up climber Clara, but after Silke Wunderwald attacked over the QOM on the 2nd lap and caught Clara by surprise, Rebecca followed Silke down the hill. Clara chased the duo valiantly for a whole lap, but was then caught by a chasing group of 3. Once Rebecca realized that Clara wouldn’t catch back on, her and Silke began to work together to distance themselves from the field. After eventually building a 3:30 gap on the field in the final 2 laps, Rebecca let Silke lead-out the final downhill and then sprinted around her to grab the second win of the weekend. Clara sprinted in with her chase group for 5th place on the day. As for the QOM competition, Rebecca came over in 1st place all three times over the hill while Clara came over 3rd each time, which gave the team 1st and 3rd in the QOM competition.
Sat, Aug 8 – Gate City Cyclone Crit, Nashua, NH
After constant attacking and counter-attacking, Rebecca and Clara got in a 4 person breakaway which ended with Rebecca taking yet another win for the team and Clara grabbing 4th place.
Sun, Aug 9 – Tokeneke Classic Road Race, East Hartland, CT
Yet another hilly road race that Clara decided to tackle on her own. Again getting into the winning breakaway group, Clara jumped on the podium with the 3rd place finish against a large open women’s field.
Wed, Aug 12 – Witches Cup, Salem, MA
Now comes the reason for the “7 wins in a row…” subject line.
Three primes were called during the race, right when the field would slow down a bit. Rebecca was leading out Clara on the first one, but she had such a strong lead-out, that we decided to let that gap open and Rebecca easily grabbed the first prime. Natalie Dumont then took her turn on the second prime by attacking on the back side of the course and easily held off the field to grab the 2nd prime. When the third prime was called, we were a little off from the front of the pack, but Rebecca made her way up the field, misjudged the finish line and ran out space when trying to overtake the last girl. That was okay because the rest of the race saw Clara, Natalie, Brooke and Cathy Rowell attacking and counter-attacking and covering breaks. At one point Rebecca was off in a 3 person breakaway for a few laps. After that break was brought back, sprinter Rebecca rested her legs. Brooke attacked and kept the pace high with 3 and 2 laps to go. At one lap to go, Rebecca was patrolling the front next to former Olympians Lyne Bessette and Nicole Freedman. With 2 corners to go, Rebecca decided to lead it out from the front, took the pace up quite a bit and held off Nicole in the final sprint who was glued to her wheel. Brooke found a little energy left in the tank and came around a couple people to grab 4th. Clara stayed strong after a lot of work to take 10th, with Nat following behind in 16th and Cathy 17th.
This is now 7 races in a row that Rebecca has entered in the last couple of months that she’s won (includes a couple of races in New Britain, CT).
Yarmouth Clam Festival
Yarmouth, ME
Rebecca Wellons – 1st
Brooke O’Connor – 4th
Natalie Dumont – 5th
Clara Kelly – 10th
For the past few years, the NEBC Elite women’s team has put the Yarmouth Clam Fest race on our schedule and made the trek up to Maine to clean house with the primes and finish, and afterwards to do a little shopping at the Clam Festival and the Maine outlet stores. This year was no different.
How it unfolded…
The pre-registration list had some stiffer competition this year, but we had returning champ and time trial motor Rebecca Wellons, student turned professional physical therapist (finally!) Natalie Dumont, climber extraordinaire Clara Kelly, and team director/lead-out woman Brooke O’Connor. We were pleasantly joined in the race by our strong cat 2/3 teammates Carola Berger, Cathy Rowell and Katherine Snell.
Lap 1: After a neutral first lap to remember fallen cyclist Cary Girod, the men and then the women took off for the rest of our laps. As is tradition with the Clam Fest, every lap of the 3.6 mile circuit is a prime lap. So the bell rang and off we went. Coming around the first lap, Carola took off on attack on the 3 step climb on the backside of the course. She held that move until the short, steep uphill after the last turn, when the field caught her. Brooke and Natalie were lined up and once everyone got to the top of the hill onto the flat, Brooke jumped the field to the right and led out Nat to grab the first prime. Anna McLoon (Altarum) used the leadout to sneak 2nd place in the prime. After the prime, Nat, Brooke, Anna and Rebecca had a bit of a gap on the field. Brooke called to Rebecca to keep going, while Brooke and Nat recovered from the sprint.
Lap 2: Rebecca and Anna off the front with Danielle Ruane from Sunapee bridging across and joining them. With the two major teams (NEBC and Sunapee) represented in the break, and Clara and Brooke patrolling the front of the field sitting 2nd or 3rd wheel and covering attempted bridges, the break quickly gained minutes over the next couple of laps. There were some valiant attempts from the rest of the field to organize a chase, but nothing was realized. Rebecca won the prime at the end of this lap from her breakaway group.
Lap 3-4: The break gained more time on the field, and Rebecca won more primes.
Lap 5: Rebecca got a gap on her 2 breakaway companions, grabbed the prime and then continued on and left them in the dust. Anna broke away from Danielle and thus the 3 were separated for the last two laps.
Lap 6: Rebecca easily won the race by a minute holding off the chasing Anna. The field had Danielle in our sights on the start of the 6th lap, so Clara went to the front and increased the pace with the help of some other people. Brooke and Nat talked again about repeating the lead-out from earlier in the race. We never caught Danielle, but coming up the last short uphill, Nat stayed on Brooke’s wheel until we got up on the flat. Brooke was unsure when to jump, but once Nat started seeing the shadows of opponents coming up on the sides, she yelled to Brooke to go. Brooke jumped to the left of the field, shifted down into her biggest gear, head down and dug deep to give the fastest leadout possible to Nat. Nat recognized that the leadout was fast enough that no one was coming around and let Brooke win the field sprint with Nat finishing right behind for 4th and 5th place. After all of Clara’s hard work during the race and the pace pushing in the last lap, she still grabbed 10th.
Mission accomplished yet again: Won all the 1st place primes and the race, as well as 4th, 5th, and 10th place. We’ll be back next year!!!!
Philadelphia, PA
UCI rated 1.1 (which means all the top level teams in the world are invited!)
Clara Kelly (31)
Rebecca Wellons (54)
Carola Berger (pulled)
Samantha Dery (pulled)
Natalie Dumont (mechanical)
How it unfolded…
We enjoyed wonderful sunny weather this past weekend for our trip to Philadelphia. It was a treat to ride in such an exciting race with spectators lining much of the course and many well known riders in our field. We had four laps of 14.4 miles though boulevards of Philly, along the river and out to Main Street, Manayunk. The crown jewel of the course, Manayunk Wall, featured a 17% section and was preceded by 3 tight turns and a short section of cobbles. The playground of the course was Lemon hill, another steep hill but much more sporty. It featured turns on the power climb and on the fast decent.
The first time out to Manayunk was my (Clara’s) first experience in such a large field. With 144 women, it was a big change from our local races. There was constant movement among the group as we headed to the turn at the start of Main Street. The turn slowed folks down, then it was back to jostling. Anticipation and trepidation built in the group as we raced down main street towards the wall. The turns at the base of the wall served to really string the group out. Only a few people could exit the turn at a time and then it was up the wall. It was difficult to pass on the climb because the road was narrow, so position prior to the turns was very important. The climb was tough, but thrilling because there was a lot of cheering to keep up motivated. I was relieved to reach the top of the climb without seeing any gaps open. The field remained mainly intact for the 1st lap. Natalie had mechanical issues with her chain and had to withdraw after it became firmly stuck on the wrong side of the gear.
Gaps opened on the climb in the 2nd lap. A break of about 15 riders got off the front. Smaller groups formed to chase the field. Sam and Carola worked with their chase groups to try and catch the field on a flat section.
The third lap, officials neutralized the men’s field to allow to women to pass. Not to gloat too much, but it was an exceptional moment. The hill started to seem a little steeper this time. At the end of the lap, riders behind the field were pulled.
This left about 75 women in for the final lap. Clara and Rebecca started the wall near each other but were separated when a gap opened. The climb up Lemon Hill was fast and furious with several sections of stringing out prior to the field’s sprint finish.
Team Columbia-Highroad dominated the race with Ina Teutenberg winning the race and three of her teammates in the break.
National Road Calendar (NRC) crit, Somerville, NJ
“The Kentucky Derby” of cycling
Brooke O’Connor (9th), Rebecca Wellons (19th), Clara Kelly (29th), Carol Berger (dnf), Natalie Dumont (dnf), Susanne Delaney (dnf)
How it unfolded…
Essentially flat, long rectangular shaped course with thousands of spectators and lots of grills and food vendors emitting smells all along the course. Newly repaved road between turns two and three. Race total was only 20 miles.
Pace didn’t appear as fast as in previous years and all the NEBC ladies stayed with the pack throughout the race (until the very end, get to that in a minute). Susanne spent time near the front of the field, as well as Nat, Rebecca and Clara. Clara is getting more and more comfortable in a big pack crit situation, but true comfort comes with time.
Near the beginning of the race, they called a $20 prime. Some people may not have heard the prime called and some others were probably waiting for bigger dough, but coming up the home stretch with only about 200 yards to go and no one gunning it up for the prime, Brooke decided to jump up the right side and easily grabbed it. Then proceeded to lead the field until the third corner to get some airtime for NEBC.
With 2 laps to go, Clara lead Brooke right up to the front of the pack. No breaks ever formed and no one team was able to push the pace through the last couple of laps, so with groupo compacto with 1.5 laps to go and the peloton spread 6 across on the back side, someone was pushed into the right side curb, which in turn pushed back to the left side and unfortunately Susanne’s handlebars got linked in with another’s (local Eve McNeill), they coasted for a couple of seconds and then they both went down and both ended up breaking their collarbones. It appears that someone from behind rode over Susanne back and that is how her collarbone broke. Nat also went down in the crash but survived with some minor road.
As we avoided the carnage on the last lap, Clara and Rebecca avoided a last lap crash between turns 3 and 4 (with Clara having to use cyclocross skills to go up on the sidewalk). Brooke stuck with the front bunch and finished safely in 9th, with Rebecca and Clara having to make up the gap that formed from the crash.
Not-National Road Calendar (NRC) crit, but with a $10,000 prize list, all the national level racers were there, Washington, DC
Susanne Delaney (13th), Brooke O’Connor (17th), Natalie Dumont (29th), Rebecca Wellons, Clara Kelly, Carol Berger
How it unfolded…
Course is a 1.8 mile loop for 35 miles and winds its way through one of the bigger parking lots at RFK Stadium on the eastern edge of Washington, DC. Although its almost pancake flat, there are two 180 degree turns, followed by a tight chicane, two fast 90 degree turns and a 120 degree turn into the finishing straight. The wind played a factor as usual by hitting us straight on the section before the last turn into the finish stretch. If the sun is not out and the pavement not 120 degrees F, it’s a fun course. Because of the equal distance and prize money to the Men’s Pro/1/2 field, it has started drawing all the big female teams in the past two years, especially since everyone was in town for the Tour of Somerville was just up the road the next day. Teams in attendance included Colavita-Sutter Home and the Australian National team, and not to forget one of the top sprinters in the country, Laura Van Gilder. Did I happen to mention its promoted by Hub Racing – the team I race for the previous 4 years, and the team Sally Annis is now racing for this year.
We were happy to have our new teammate Carol Berger join us for her first race as a NEBCer. She proved to be very strong in crits and always up at the front chasing or attacking. The whole NEBC team spent time at the front and all were fairly comfortably moving around the pack as the course was pretty wide. We had someone represented in every break, but the pace of the field and the wind brought all breaks back. There were many large $$ primes during the race, but unfortunately for us, the pure sprinters from the other teams were able to snatch all of them from out of grasp (including one for Sally).
In the end, Clare did a good job bringing Brooke up near the front and Rebecca and Brooke tried to coordinate a lead-out for the finish, but the wind was fierce enough that there was much swarming and it was a free for all for the finish. Susanne rode strongly to pull off 13th while Brooke got caught between two ladies who stopped sprinting and thus had to be satisfied with 17th. There were over 60 cat 1/2 women finishing in the field!
Brooke O’Connor (13th), Rebecca Wellons (20th), Clara Kelly (mechanical), Natalie Dumont, Susanne Delaney, Sam Dery
How it unfolded…
Course was a long, rectangular shape, with slight uphill into a headwind on the start/finish, and slight downhill tailwind on the backside and 0.8 miles a loop. Gaps opening through the first two corners would be accentuated on the long backside. Third and fourth corners were a fast uphill that you really hoped the person in front of you didn’t brake going through to give you momentum to accelerate coming out of the fourth turn. First NRC race of the year, so we knew it’d be fast, just not prepared for just how fast it really was. With over 80 women on the start line, it was one of the largest fields of the year. Luckily Rebecca got a call up to the front line as a Verge Cyclocross winner and the postergirl for the Wilmington Grand Prix brochure. The rest of the NEBC ladies were good about getting to the start line 15 minutes early and getting a good start position.
Right from the gun it was fast with Rebecca and Laura Van Gilder getting to turn one first (hole shot!). The race was superfast from the gun with the Australian National team, Team Type 1 and Colavita all pushing the pace. Not to mention our friend Anna Milkowski attacking a couple of times. The pace never slowed down. Gaps opened up during the turns and on the straights and the officials just kept pulling riders who were going to get lapped. Sam, Susanne and Nat gave a good go, but were among the victims to get pulled. Clara, Rebecca and Brooke were in the front group until Clara got a flat. She raced up to the pit on the sidewalk on the other side of the barriers, was a little unsure about getting back onto the course to get a new wheel and decided to call it a day. Rebecca got gapped off the front group at one point and was not able to make it back up as the pace was still fast and furious. Meanwhile Brooke was suffering like a dog just to stay in contact with the front group of 13.
While Brooke was sitting on ex-NEBC teammate Sally Annis (Hub Racing) for a lap and a half not able to come around and help in order to stay with the front group, Rebecca joined in a chase group of 14. The chase group wasn’t working too well together and was eventually lapped by the front group with about 7 laps to go. Brooke was very excited to see Rebecca and received additional help from Rebecca to keep in contact with the front group. On the last lap, Rebecca made sure Brooke stayed in contact while Brooke was happy just to cross the finish line in 13th. Rebecca grabbed another money spot in 20th place. Only 27 finishers of about 85 starters.
This course broke up the pack last year as well with a lot smaller field. So we’ve concluded that it’s not the size of the field and pace (although that didn’t help this year), but the course also contributes to splitting up the field (split the men’s Pro field also – less than half of them finished as well).
National Road Calendar (NRC) level crit, Baltimore, MD
Clara Kelly (21st), Rebecca Wellons (29th), Susanne Delaney (37th), Natalie Dumont, Sam Dery, Brooke O’Connor (crashed out)
How it unfolded…
From first glance, course appears to just be a big “D” shape through a park. Think again – right from the start, the course narrows to go counter-clockwise 3/4 around a rotary and out on a sharp right. Fast down a slight hill, to still fast on a flat and then 3/4 around a clockwise rotary and exiting with a sharp left. Finally 400 meters is a bend to the right and up into a headwind to the finish line. This course can be a bit dangerous in the fact that it narrows a couple of times, there are two sharp (>90 degree) turns out of rotaries and there are no curbs between the roadway and grass. Can you say “practice your cyclecross skills”? Most all the same women who were in Wilmington the day before showed up to the line in Baltimore.
Another fast race from the beginning. Ladies must have been tired form the day before as the pace didn’t stay at the high pace as consistently as it did the day before. Australian national team, Team Type 1 and Altarum were instigating attacks this day. One of the Australian team members got off the front with a 8 second gap. Right afterwards, only about 11 laps into this 20 lap race, there was a woman who went into the dirt/grass on the right side of the field, lost control of her bike, it went flying through the air and caused a pile-up of about 30 women (everyone behind the crasher). No one from NEBC went down, but someone from another team (Verducci) might have broken her collarbone. Since the pit and the start line were right up ahead, the officials stopped the field as it came around. They let the Australian have her 8 second lead, and then let the rest of the field go.
At one point we got to within 5 seconds of the Australian, but no team was making any concerted effort to close the gap and she opened it to 20+ seconds at one point. As we were moving up the field towards the front to prepare for the finish, with a little more than 2 laps to go, as we were coming out of the second rotary, the woman on Brooke’s left (inside of sharp corner) got up to accelerate out of the corner, her rear wheel came out of the drop-outs and she wiped out her bike right in front of Brooke and another woman. Brooke flew/slid/rolled on her back and somehow landed on the dirt/grass on the right side of the course. The woman who caused the crash fled the scene right away carrying her bike (she must not have wanted to hear us yell at her for not making sure her bike was in proper condition for racing). Brooke’s rear wheel was trashed and she got a tire mark road rash on the BACK of her left knee – very odd. NEBC skinsuit was thick enough material to get dirt skid marks, but did not rip and saved Brooke’s back from getting totally rashed. The Australian ended up finishing 8 seconds head of the field in a well-deserved victory. Sprint queen Laura Van Gilder (who won Wilmington the day before), won the field sprint this day for 2nd.
Clara, Rebecca and Susanne hung in with the pack to the finish strong, while Nat and Sam came to find Brooke and make sure she was okay.
Tough first weekend of NRC crits, but we’re getting ready for the next sets of crits this upcoming weekend…
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