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Hekman, Carroll take Athens

by VeloNews.com

• May 01, 2007
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Rollin, Pic rip it in Roswell

By JoE Silva

The podium

Photo: Steve Boyette

An astounded and elated Mark Hekman stood in the floodlit streets of Athens, Georgia, on April 28 as the winner of the Heyward Allen Toyota Athens Twilight Criterium.

The 29-year-old Abercrombie & Fitch rider was one of the few in the elite men’s field to walk away unscathed by an evening of spectacular crashes.Two significant pileups, one of which led to the neutralization and subsequent restart of the race, changed the fortunes of many hopefuls who came geared up for the kickoff race to this year’s USA Crits and USA Crits Southeast series.

At one point, dozens of riders went down after one became entangled in a stretch of metal fencing and dragged it onto the course behind him. Shortly afterwards another fall brought more injuries, leaving local Jittery Joe’s man Trent Wilson with an ugly gash to the forehead.

Wilson and Hekman had been part of a seven-man breakaway that lapped the field nearly 30 minutes into the race. Primes kept the bunch active, but no one could sustain the effort necessary to lap the field and join the leaders.

In the final corner, Hekman made an early jump and shot past Wilson and Josh Thornton (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada). After a few moments of confusion, Hekman was declared the winner, with Thornton second and Wilson third.

“It took a while to get through traffic, and it was real scary. But with 10 (laps) to go, it lined up pretty well, and I was just trying to maintain position. I didn’t even know that I’d won until I was halfway down (the course again)!” he said.

Getting her first NRC win in the women’s event was Katharine Carroll (Aaron’s Home Furnishings). Carroll, who was part of a last-minute breakaway, was able to beat out Iona Wynter (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home) and Chrissy Ruiter (Cheerwine) in the finale.

Rowdy in Roswell
With both the Toyota-United and Navigators squads opting out of the USA Crits Southeast series, there was a decidedly frisky vibe at the Nalley Historic Roswell Criterium on April 29, the next leg in the eight-day series.

With three laps to go, it looked like Kirk O’Bee was opening up enough of a gap to bring the race home for Health Net-Maxxis, but the Kodak Gallery riders weren’t quite ready to surrender. Having taken second place in the previous evening’s melee, Josh Thornton was still on good enough form to chase O’Bee down. It was then up to Canadian road champion Dominque Rollin, who leapt out of his saddle and put in a commanding effort for the finish.

“Josh managed to bridge up to (O’Bee), and stay away. So as soon as we caught them I knew I could go and I just kept the pressure on the whole group. They just couldn’t catch me, so I was able to stay away for a whole lap.”

The women’s field at Roswell was small, but equally feisty. Having won here on the same course last year, Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) knew where to begin the long sprint to the finish.

But this time payback was the order of the day —while Van Gilder was first to jump through the final corner, it was longtime local favorite Tina Pic (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home) rocketing past her Cheerwine rival for the win, avenging last year’s second-place finish and earning yet another $1000 donation from Sutter Home Winery for the City of Hope Breast Cancer initiative.