Colavita’s Tina Pic ends her storied career on a high note, winning a big-dollar crit in Beantown.
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Sep. 28, 2009
- Updated Oct. 6, 2009 at 4:14 PM UTC
Colavita’s Kyle Wamsley also wins
Despite its late-season date, a near-conflict with the Interbike expo and ’cross races around the country, the first-ever TD Bank Mayor’s Cup attracted a deep field of domestic pros and regional elite riders, to race through the warren-like streets of Boston’s government district.
Of course, the purse — $40,000 split evenly between men and woman – may have given some racers a little extra incentive to extend their season.
Wamsley conquers the break
The men’s race started fast, with attacks launching nearly every lap. The field wasn’t eager to let anyone go, and most were re-captured within a lap of the 7/10th of-a-mile, four-corner course.
Only Jeff Buckles, of the Richmond Pro Cycling team, managed to make an early move, countering an acceleration by OUCH-Maxxis rider Karl Menzies to spring himself free. He spent five laps off the front with a modest lead, before an acceleration from New Englander Will Dugan (Team Type 1), brought the race back together.
Halfway through the men’s 90-minute race, CRCA/Empire racer Clayton Barrows snuck away from the field to grab a prime. With the pace already high, Cervelo TestTeam rider Ted King, from nearby Brentwood, New Hampshire, countered, splitting a small group off the front.
It was King’s first criterium of the year.
“I didn’t want it to come down to a field sprint with 140 people,” King said later.
King was soon joined by representatives from most of the race’s big teams; the group worked well together, quickly building a gap that stretched to nearly a minute.
In the peloton, chasing was left to several of the smaller teams, including the Boston-based Met Life Cycling, Bikereg.com/Cannondale, and Team FUJI. Massachusetts’ Jake Keough, (Kelly Benefit Strategy), who was riding without teammates, missed the move, and was left to chase on his own in the race’s final laps.
In the end the chase made a modest impact, reducing the break’s lead to 40 seconds by the last laps.
At the base of the courses’ long backstretch climb King attacked taking Kyle Wamsley (Colavita) with him, while Sean Milne (Team Type 1) quickly got on the wheels.
Wamsley, who had been on the look out for an early attack, came through on the bell lap to thunderous cheers. He launched his sprint from nearly 500 meters out.
“Milne got on, but I put in such a good sprint that he couldn’t come around,” Wamsley said. Although Milne came up short at the finish, grandmother Doris Milne, from nearby Gloucester, said he’d get a good dinner, anyway.
“This is so exciting,” she said during the race.
Milne, meanwhile, said he simply wasn’t able to catch a charging Wamsley.
Pic goes out on top
The women’s’ 60-minute race also got off to an aggressive start, with a flurry of attacks that started that didn’t end until the finish line, with Pic taking the win ahead of TIBCO’s Brooke Miller and Team Type 1’s Jenn McRae. While no breakaways put time into the field, women were eager to cash in on one of the largest paydays this season.
“When there’s that much money on the line, it’s almost your responsibility to show up,” noted McRae.
McRae, along with teammate Samantha Schneider, were early aggressors, launching multiple attacks, but the group wasn’t interested in letting anything go. Team TIBCO teammates Brooke Miller and Katherine Carroll quickly got in on the action, along with Mellow Mushroom’s Laura Van Gilder.
“It was so much fun,” Miller said after the race, “I don’t usually go from primes, but I couldn’t get enough of them today.
With the race still in one group going into the last five laps, Colavita took control, setting pace at the front and looking to set up Pic. With the Colavita train lined up on the left, Miller launched an early attack on the right side of the road, from 500 meters out.
Pic jumped to get to Miller’s wheel, and then came around her to take the win.
“It was a great race, I’m happy I came,” said Pic, who skipped the crit at Interbike while getting ready to assume her new role as team co-manager for 2010. “The team was fantastic, as usual,” she said.
Even for second-placed Miller, Pic’s win was well deserved.
“Of course, I’m never going to let Tina win, but it’s nice to see a competitor like her go out on top,” said Miller.
Promoter Nicole Freedman, who raced the women’s event and directs bicycle programs in Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s office, said that the event, planned only four months ago, had been a huge success.
“I was thrilled to get great racers so late in the season,” she said, while shivering in the post-race cold. “I was thrilled they gave Boston a chance.”
Freedman added that she hopes the race will earn a spot on the NRC for 2010.
Results
FILED UNDER: News / Race Report / Race Result / Road