Damiani, Cheatley claim CSC crowns

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By Ryan Newill

If you were to think of the upcoming Commerce Bank series as a stage race rather than a series of three one-day races, then Arlington, Virginia’s CSC Invitational criterium would be the prologue. Like those brief preambles to the big tours, the CSC race certainly doesn’t hold all the answers to what will unfold in the coming days, but it can provide a bit of a peek at what’s to come. At the 11th running of the six-turn contest through the streets of the Washington, D.C., suburbs, a group of noted strongmen came together early to shape the men’s race, while the dominant teams of domestic women’s cycling demonstrated their control of the women’s peloton.

Though this race is often decided in a field sprint, breaks were the order of the day this year, accounting for both the men’s and women’s victors, and the vast majority of kilometers raced. Men’s winner Luca Damiani (Colavita-Sutter Home) and women’s winner Catherine Cheatley (Cheerwine) both joined early escapes that proved to be race winning moves.

Damiani’s big and little act
Damiani was active from the start, jumping on a series of aggressive opening lap attacks by Magnus Bäckstedt (Slipstream-Chipotle). What started as a lark for Damiani proved to be the best decision of the day.

“I was telling the guys before the race, I want to get in a break with Bäckstedt, because he is so big and I am so little. It would be funny,” said the Italian. “Then I thought, what am I doing in a break with Bäckstedt? This guy is going to kill me for sure.”

Bäckstedt, for his part, was blowing out the cobwebs after exiting the Giro d’Italia on stage 10 with a stomach ailment and spending some time at home in the United Kingdom with his family. Though American criterium racing is a long way from the epic classics he targets each year, Bäckstedt was optimistic about his chances in his second U.S. appearance.

“I haven’t done a criterium in quite a few years, but I’m looking forward to it. I’ve only done one race in the U.S. before, and that was San Francisco, so this is a little bit different,” said the 2004 Paris-Roubaix champion. “[The speed] could definitely play to my favor. I’m used to riding around at 50 kilometers an hour all day, so I think that should be alright. Coming out of these corners might take me a few laps to get the kick back into it, but I’m normally pretty good at it, and I usually adapt pretty quickly to whatever type of racing I’m doing.”

Away with Damiani in tow just two laps into the event, Bäckstedt was able to take any line he wanted through the turns, and set about using his diesel engine to good effect. The two rode several laps clear, establishing a seven-second gap on the one-kilometer course before being pulled close enough to be joined by 11 others, no doubt to the relief of the diminutive Damiani.

In Bäckstedt, the move already contained one dangerous rouleur, and the reinforcements only bolstered the move’s horsepower. Dominique Rollin, riding as the sole representative of Toyota-United in the race, added some serious horsepower, as did High Road pair Roger Hammond and Vincente Reynes and Health Net-Maxxis Aussie Karl Menzies. Also making the move were Damiani’s teammate Luis Amaran (Colavita), Brad Huff and Bernard Van Ulden of Jelly Belly, Ben Brooks and Chris Jones of Team Type 1, Francios Parisien (Race Pro), and local strongman Russ Langley (Battley Harley Davidson).

With most of the major teams represented, the break quickly settled into a smooth rotation that drove it steadily away from a chase led by those unrepresented squads: Kelly Benefit Strategies and Jittery Joe’s. Also notably absent from the move was the “host” CSC professional squad, which traveled to Arlington with only a four-man skeleton crew. With a healthy 39 laps remaining, the escapees’ group of 13 hitched onto the tail end of the field, with most moving straight through to protect their interests from the front. Reunited with their strong sprinters in the break, the Colavita (for Damiani), Health Net (for Menzies), and High Road (for Hammond) squads took turns on patrol in the front in the waning laps.

Hammond fell victim to a crash with 25 laps remaining, but rejoined from the pit sporting torn kit and a case of fresh road rash. The Brit’s return sent 2001 Paris-Roubaix winner Servais Knaven and Greg Henderson to the front to keep the speed high, but their efforts would be the last hurrah for the European-centered squads. The High Road pair gave way to the Health Net train, which took its turn keeping the peloton lined out in hopes of dropping Menzies off at the final turn. The domestic squad would claim the mighty Bäckstedt as a victim of its effort, as the big Swede finally came unglued from the back of the fracturing peloton with just two laps remaining.

While claiming more than a few scalps in their time at the front, Health Net couldn’t hold off a strong last lap performance by Damiani’s Colavita men. The longtime domestic squad is having somewhat of a breakout season, recently bagging wins at the Tour of Somerville, the Joe Martin stage race, the U.S. Air Force Memorial, and the Tour of the Gila, as well as a slew of podium appearances. After drag-racing the Health Net train for much of the final lap, Colavita thundered through the final turn to drop Damiani off in perfect position. Facing a headwind and a long, slightly uphill finishing stretch, the sprinters were left playing the waiting game.

“I had the wheels, but I tried to sit back a little bit, because I didn’t want to see anyone pass me. I was thinking it’s coming, it’s coming. I wanted to see 50 meters to go, and then I jumped,” said Damiani. His kick was enough to hold off a strong challenge from Rollin, who rode an exceptional race to finish second despite his lack of teammates.

Menzies played the waiting game as well, but with different results.

“The team set me up perfectly, but we just got jumped in the final corner by Colavita. I probably hesitated a bit too much on the home straight riding the sprint. I hesitated once, and that was it, I just couldn’t come back to them,” Menzies said.

Despite missing out on the CSC win, Menzies saw his and his squad’s third place performance as a good sign ahead of one of the most important weeks on the domestic calendar, when domestic squads will once again square off against European competition. “It was definitely a good start to the week for the whole team. Hopefully we can improve on that over the next week.”

For Damiani, however, the win at CSC wasn’t a warm-up for the week to come, but the realization of a season-long goal. “My motivation for winning was a lot. From the start of the season, I’ve been saying I want to win the CSC, it’s my race, it’s my race. I pulled so hard for this.”

Cheatley cheats the field sprint
In the professional women’s race, all eyes were on a pair of past winners in Cheerwine’s Laura Van Gilder and Colavita’s Tina Pic, premier sprinters who lead two of the most powerful squads on the domestic circuit. So when a three-woman move containing Van Gilder’s teammate Catherine Cheatley, Pic’s domestique Andrea Dvorak, and ValueAct Capital’s Lara Kroepsch went away after a half hour of racing, it initially looked like a routine setup move.

Rather than working for a field sprint, however, Cheerwine decided that it was happy with its chances with Cheatley, which took a key team away from any sort of chase and gave the strong New Zealander free reign to put her full effort into the move. For Kroepsch’s squad, which had only four riders, the move represented the best shot for victory against the two powerhouse squads.

“When [Cheatley] attacked, it was enough of a move that it separated a couple of others out,” said Kroepsch. “I was happy with the move and wanted to see it go, rather than get caught and have another field sprint again. And once I saw [Cheatley] working hard, I knew she was in 100 percent as well, so we just kept it going.”

With Colavita instructing Dvorak to sit on in hopes of an eventual field sprint and a Pic victory, Kroepsch and Cheately powered the move to a 15 second gap, enough to get out of sight. As the chase efforts subsided behind, it became clear that this was the move of the race. Cheatley rewarded the confidence of her team by sprinting to the win over Kroepsch and Dvorak. Behind, Pic showed what might have been by nipping Van Gilder in the field sprint.

“That’s why I love racing with this team,” said Cheatley of having Van Gilder back in the bunch. “I know I can go in a break and try to make it work with a break, but I also know that if it doesn’t work, I’ve got a world class sprinter in my team behind me.”

CSC Invitational
Sunday, June 1
Arlington, VA

Men
1. Luca Damiani, Colavita-Sutter Home
2. Dominique Rollin, Toyota-United
3. Karl Menzies, Health Net-Maxxis
4. Brad Huff, Jelly Belly
5. Luis Amaran, Colavita-Sutter Home
6. Francois Parisien, Team Race Pro
7. Chris Jones, Team Type 1
8. Roger Hammond, High Road
9. Ben Brooks, Team Type 1
10. Vincente Reynes, High Road

Women
1. Catherine Cheatley, Cheerwine
2. Lara Kroepsch, ValueAct Capital
3. Andrea Dvorak, Colavita-Sutter Home
4. Tina Pic, Colavita-Sutter Home
5. Laura Van Gilder, Cheerwine
6. Laura McCaughey, Juice Plus
7. Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Verducci-Breakaway Racing
8. Erica Allar, Aaron’s Pro Cycling
9. Shontell Gauthier, Colavita-Sutter Home
10. Martina Patella, ValueAct Capital

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