Fly V’s Cantwell takes Murrieta crit

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Jonathan Cantwell continued Fly V Australia’s early season fortune with a bunch sprint win at the Jax Bicycle Center Grand Prix at the Tour de Murrieta. Cantwell fired off a powerful finish over the final 200 meters to distance Hilton Clarke (Bahati Foundation) and Anibal Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home) at the line. Time trial winner Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis) finished out of the points but teammate Karl Menzies, 13th in the crit, takes over the omnium lead heading into Sunday’s final stage.

In the women’s race, teammates Lauren Tamayo and Shelley Evans (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty12) went one-two, with Leah Guloien third. Tamayo takes over the omnium lead.

Stop And Go
The 120-strong men’s field got underway just after the planned start time of 12:30 P.M. when a traffic jam caused riders like the Anibal and his brother Alejandro Borrajo to nearly miss the start. The high Southern California sun brought temperatures near 70 at the six-corner, nearly pancake-flat criterium course in downtown Murrieta.

Primes were on the offer for nearly every third lap and the action got underway from the gun with attacks from Daniel Holloway (Bissell), Bernie Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) and Floyd Landis (Bahati Foundation).

The first move to grow legs saw seven riders, including Neil Shirley (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Colby Pearce (Big Shark Bicycle Company) and Matthew Crane (UnitedHealthcare), clear the field and gain an eventual advantage of 35 seconds. Through a series of failed two-rider attempts at bridging the gap, the peloton threw the anchor aboard the breakaway after about twenty laps and absorbed the group with 30 minutes remaining.

The Big One
Constant reshuffling followed as the surging peloton snubbed out every attack until 14 riders went away with 20 minutes remaining in the 90-minute race. The group included Crane, Chris Baldwin and Tim Johnson of Sutherland’s United Healthcare team, as well as Alessandro Bazzana (Fly V Australia), Pearce (Big Shark), Austin Carroll (Adageo Energy), Curtis Gunn (Williams Cycling-SC Velo), Michael Herdman and Alex Jarman (Swami’s Cycling Club), Christopher McDonald and Rafael Lopez (socalcycling.com), Luis-Alejandro Zamudio (Herbalife LaGrange), Brian McCulloch (Pull Through Racing), and Soren Peterson and Christian Walker (Team Coastal Tree Care-SGBC).

With nearly every team in the race represented, the group built a quick 35-second advantage as the field sat up for a half lap behind Sutherland.

Bernie Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) eventually flew the coup to join the breakaway. Outgunned in a group sprint by Bazzana, Borrajo and Sulzberger, the UHC trio launched successive attacks over five laps that eventually sprung Baldwin, Bazzana and Jarmin. Soon Baldwin and Bazzana were alone and rotating pulls ahead of the first chase group.

“Bazz was ripping my legs off,” Baldwin said. “He’s riding very strongly and has already won a couple races this year. It wasn’t a good situation for me; I couldn’t see a good way to beat him. He’s pretty quick and I’m not.”

Behind the leaders, the peloton drew the chase group back as Landis and riders from Herbalife LaGrange put immediacy into the chase. The gap shrank to just ten seconds over the course of three laps and the group sat up for the catch. Baldwin and Bazzana were next and as the peloton swept the tandem up on the penultimate lap, the UnitedHealthcare leadout train massed on the front with their sprinter Eric Barlevav in tow. Sulzberger, with Cantwell on his wheel, and Clarke lurked behind the train, however, as the peloton came through for the bell lap.

The UHC train did well to control the field heading into the final corner, but Cantwell lit up the slight uphill sprint and came around Barlevav to take the win ahead of Clarke and Anibal Borrajo. Barlevav finished fourth, followed by James Williamson.

“I got on the right train today,” Cantwell said. “Coming into the last three or four laps, it’s all about position. I sprinted out of the last corner and went with 200 or 220 meters to go, which was a little early, but it was a tailwind sprint and I’ve been training really well this summer, the Australian summer, and I could preserve it.”

The men’s omnium concludes Sunday with the 60-mile Rabobank Circuit Race in Murrieta.

Peanut Butter One-Two
Lauren Tamayo and Shelley Evans (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty12) went one-two in the 60-minute women’s criterium to land atop the omnium standings with one day remaining. Leah Guloien rounded out the top three, while previous leader Ruth Clemence (Specialied Designs for Women-Bicycle H) finished 19th and faded to 7th in the omnium standings.

Tamayo said the crit was active with lots of primes, but a headwind on the back straight prevented breakaways.

“The Southern California Velo team came to the front with about 3 laps to go and tried to keep it fast and safe, so Shelley and I just tucked in and stayed out of the wind,” Tamayo said. “With one lap to go, I attacked into the second turn and just put my head down. It was hard going down the long straight with the headwind but I knew this would be the last time down it so I gave it everything and finished solo across the line. Shelley won the field sprint for seond. It was an awesomely executed race for there just being two of us.”

Tamayo and Evans are also teammates on the national squad, and will be racing the upcoming track world championships in Denmark.

The women’s omnium closes Sunday with the 46-mile mile Rabobank Circuit Race in Murrieta.

FILED UNDER: News / Race Report / Road TAGS: Tour de Murrieta

Brian Holcombe

Brian Holcombe is the managing editor of Velo Magazine. Holcombe joined VeloNews in 2009 following years spent introducing students to whitewater kayaking and working in avalanche control, among other more risky ventures. His graduate work in communications at the University of Denver focuses on innovation and digital media management. Holcombe is a CSU Ram fan and proud parent and has been accused of attacking too much on the VN lunch ride. Follow him on Twitter @FCBrian.

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