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Navigators go 1-2 and Van Gilder nets her third win at Kelly Cup

by VeloNews.com

• May 26, 2007
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By Ryan Newill, VeloNews.com

Fresh off a successful European road trip, the professional continental Navigators squad announced its return to domestic criterium racing with a dominant performance at Saturday’s Kelly Cup in Baltimore, Maryland. The team put six men in a 20-strong escape that formed with 15 laps of the 1-mile course remaining, and it was Aussie Hilton Clarke (Navigators) that struck the winning blow, soloing the final four laps to victory and nearly lapping the field in the process.

Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) won the women’s event in tight field sprint over U.S. national criterium champion Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci-Breakaway) and Kate Bates (T-Mobile).

Navigators rode aggressively the entire race, putting men in every significant move of the day. It began with Victor Rapinski (Navigators) responding to Scott Zwizanski’s (Priority Health) second lap attack, which was reeled in two laps later, and continued when the squad put three men in a 13-man move that gained 15 seconds on the field before returning to the fold.

Zwizanski was back in action several laps later, this time with Irishman Ciaran Power (Navigators) and local strongman Russell Langley (Battley Harley-Davidson-Hudson Trail). The trio gained 20 seconds over four laps before being joined by Clarke and Dan Timmerman (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada). The addition of the latter two riders proved too much for the move’s cohesion, and it was brought back on the course’s windy backstretch.

Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid) was the next to try his hand, charging up the uphill finishing straight and out to a 15 second gap, pursued by Mike Stoop (Seigler-Axley), but after five laps of freedom, the two were back in pack.

With the peloton lined out single file following the catch, cracks began to appear as the 88 degree heat, changing winds, and speed took their toll on the field, and the decisive 20 man move rolled clear. Behind, the Colavita-Sutter Home squad put five men on the front of the field to try to bring the front group back, but to no avail.

Borrajo, winner to two of the recent USA Crits Southeast races, hadn’t burned too many matches in his solo escape and made the move, as did Athens Twilight winner Mark Hekman (Abercrombie & Fitch). Priority Health also fared well in the split, putting three men in the move, including sprinter Emile Abraham. But the rest of the break was no match for the six Navigators riders, who helped drive the break to a solid gap before starting their endgame.

Oleg Grishkin (Navigators) went on the attack first, carving out a gap for himself before Clarke bridged to him. The two worked together until six laps to go, when Grishkin fell back, leaving Clarke to close the deal on his own. Usually a rider to look for in a bunch sprint, Clarke looked more than comfortable out on his own.

“Crits are a little bit different,” Clarke said. “A sprinter in a crit can sort of roll on his out there. The team really showed off its fitness, and it was just a matter of me being the lucky one that got away on my own.”

His teammate Rapinski ended his race in the same aggressive manner in which he began it, attacking the break on the back side of the course to sew up second place. Abraham, on the comeback after crashes in the Tours of California and Georgia, rewarded his Priority Health squad’s hard work by winning the sprint for third over the remainder of the break. To round out the Navigator’s payday, Grishkin and Power placed fourth and fifth, leaving Abraham as the sole outsider in the top five.

With a headwind blowing on the backstretch, the 20 lap Kelly Cup women’s event was a less fractured affair than the men’s, with few moves lasting more than a fraction of a lap. The lone exception was Kimberly Geist’s (TEAm Lipton) solo move with four laps remaining. Geist drew out Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine), Laura Bowles (Advil-Chapstick), and Bates in pursuit, but all four were retrieved almost exactly a lap later.

Cheerwine worked over the next three laps to keep things together for Van Gilder. Coming off the wheels of teammates Sarah Bamberger and Benjamin, Van Gilder launched her sprint early on the steady incline of the finish straight. The early jump nearly cost Van Gilder as Cliff-Ryan made a late surge up the left side.

“She’s a very savvy bike racer, so I certainly always keep her in mind,” said Van Gilder of Cliff-Ryan, who came within a wheel of the victory. The margin was tight enough to make Van Gilder consider whether she was the latest in a rash of early celebration mistakes.

“The line is pretty far because of the hill, and I was thinking ‘Oh, man, she might have gotten me – dumb, dumb, dumb,” said Van Gilder, but the veteran kept her cool to take her third Kelly Cup victory. Bates, riding as the only T-Mobile rider in the field before the rest of the squad arrives in North America for the Montreal World Cup and the Liberty Classic, freelanced her way to a strong third place finish.

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Kelly Cup
May 26. Baltimore, MDMen
1. Hilton Clarke (Aus), Navigators, in 1:29:31
2. Victor Rapinski (Blr), Navigators, at :18
3. Emile Abraham (Tri), Priority Health, at :24
4. Oleg Grishkin (Rus), Navigators
5. Ciaran Power (Irl), Navigators
6. Davide Frattini (Ita), Colavita-Sutter Home
7. Dan Timmerman, Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada
8. Matt White, FiordiFrutta
9. Mark Hekman, Abercrombie & Fitch
10. Jonny Sundt, Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast, all s.t.Women
1. Laura Van Gilder, Cheerwine, in 49:56:00
2. Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Verducci-Breakaway Racing
3. Kate Bates (Aus), T-Mobile
4. Sarah Caravella, Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings
5. Jenette Williams, Hub Racing
6. Brenda Lyons, TEAm Lipton
7. Shontelle Gauthier, Team Ultralink
8. Jenna Trew, Vitesse Cycling
9. Lorena Candrian, HPC-List
10. Catherine Powers, Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings