The Road Report: Nature Valley GP adds St. Paul crit; Drumm tops in Sonoma

By Promoter releases

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Nature Valley GP adds crit in downtown St. Paul
Minneapolis (April 30) — Organizers of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, now in its ninth consecutive year, have announced the addition of the Downtown St. Paul Criterium to the five-day stage race, which attracts more than 300 professional cyclists from all over the world to Minnesota each June.

The new stage will be located in the artists’ quarter of St. Paul known as Lowertown, where competing pro teams will race around St. Paul’s Mears Park, the award-winning urban development, on a course that comprises six tight corners and a furious race for the finish line. It will provide a prelude to Friday night’s Minneapolis Downtown Classic, which regularly attracts curbside crowds of up to 20,000 fans.

After the stage in St. Paul, the Nature Valley Grand Prix moves on to the Cannon Falls Road Race, a 60-mile road race of rolling hills and cross winds in and around Cannon Falls. Riders return to St. Paul Friday morning for a five-mile time trial and then race in the Minneapolis Downtown Classic that evening.

Stage five is the Mankato Road Race, which finishes on a challenging circuit in downtown Mankato. Racing finishes in Stillwater where the famed Chillikoot Hill, with a gradient of more than 20 percent, is one of the biggest spectacles of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

The Downtown Saint Paul Criterium will attract the top professional cyclists from around the county along with many international stars and is the kickoff to the Nature Valley Grand Prix, the top ranked stage race on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar.

Entering its 11th season in 2007, the National Racing Calendar (NRC) is an all-inclusive road cycling series sanctioned by USA Cycling. It is designed to provide a ranking system for all elite-level cyclists, both amateur and professional, through participation in the nation’s premier cycling events.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix’s defending champions are world champion Kristin Armstrong (Team Lipton) and Australian Karl Menzies (HealthNet), ranked second on the NRC in 2006.

The Great River Energy Bicycle Festival, now in its ninth year, is one of the nation’s top celebrations of biking culture with tens of thousands of cycling enthusiasts, pro athletes and avid recreational riders converging on Minnesota each year for five days in June.

The festival’s professional racing events, the Nature Valley Grand Prix, began as a one-day criterium in Saint Paul that moved to Minneapolis in 2003. The 2007 schedule includes stops in St. Paul, Cannon Falls, Minneapolis, Mankato and Stillwater June 20-24. The Great River Energy Bicycle Festival is a volunteer-run event, with all proceeds donated to Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, the festival’s benefiting charity.

Novato’s Drumm dominates twilight race series
SONOMA, Calif. (April 27, 2007) – Novato’s Kristin Drumm tookher second victory of the season on Thursday in the second round of theInfineon Raceway Spring Twilight Race Series.“I love coming out here to race,” said Drumm, who has set the pace inthe women’s class with her back-to-back wins for the Promann/Paradigm CyclingTeam. “I have been coming out to the cycling series for a couple yearsnow, and I always enjoy it.”More than 65 cyclists competed for more than $300 in cash during theThursday evening twilight race on the 12-turn, 2.52 mile road course.

Other overall winners included San Francisco’s Christopher Phippl (AGroup), Rancho Cordova’s Joshua Carling (B Group) and Petaluma’s Ryan Eastman.It was Carling’s second consecutive win.

The third round of the Spring Twilight Race Series returns to InfineonRaceway on Thursday, May 3. More than $2,500 in cash and prizes willbe awarded throughout the Spring and Summer Series. Gates open at5 p.m., with registration at 5:15 p.m., and the race starting at 6:30 p.m.Cost is $15 per competitor. Juniors 18 and under ride for free.

B Race (8 laps)
1. Joshua Carling (Unattached, Rancho Cordova)
2. Joaquin Neto
3. Ted Simpkins (Unattached, Santa Rosa)
4. Mark Volkmann
5. David Hunt (iBikes, Rocklin)
6. Doug McKenzie (Fightin’ Bobas, Santa Rosa)
7. Hunter Ziesing
8. Kyle Klopper (Z Team, Mill Valley)
9. Bill Beers
10. David Colyer

Women’s Division (8 laps)
1. Kristin Drumm (Proman/Paradigm, Novato)
2. Anna Davenport (Ultimate Fitness/Village Peddler, Mill Valley)
3. Jackeline Pereira
4. Anne Marie Sebastiani (Unattached, Sonoma)
5. Debbie Hawley
6. Tracy Barhydt
7. Sarah Bamberger

Junior’s Division (8 laps)
1. Ryan Eastman (Team Swift, Petaluma)
2. Greg Schubert
3. Brentley Campbell (Team Swift, Fulton)
4. Christian Villasana (Team Swift, Hercules)

Do you have a North American race report? Wanna get the word out? Do you have something interesting from the local scene? Teams, technology, or race information/results? Send it on to Rosters@insideinc.com. Please include the appropriate credits for writers and/or photographers, and attach your contact information in case we have questions.

FILED UNDER: Road