Dowsett, Whitten claim final stage wins

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Alex Dowsett (Trek-Livestrong) captured a solo victory at the Awbrey Butte Circuit Race, the fifth and final stage of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. The Under 23 United Kingdom and European Time Trial Champion made a late-race attack and crossed the line well ahead of a bunch sprint won by Frank Pipp (Bissell), whose teammate Andy Jacques-Maynes claimed third.

“This is really good,” Dowsett said. “The team was going from strength to strength with Jesse [Sergent] winning the prologue and Ben [King] in the young riders jersey. We haven’t had a race that we haven’t done well in so far this year. I’ve got a lot to thank the team for…a hell of a lot.”

Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis) was crowned the winner of the Cascade Classic after taking over the race lead during stage one’s McKenzie Pass Road Race and held his position through the final day. He thanked his teammates Marc de Maar, Andrew Pinfold, Max Jenkins, Chris Baldwin, Matt Crane, Brad White and Morgan Schmitt for their efforts during the week-long race.

“We held the jersey for four of five days now and we worked really hard all week,” Sutherland said. “The guys did a phenomenal job and that is why I am proud to be on this team and proud that they are all my teammates. They died 10 times during the race. I felt very good today and every time your teammates do a turn on the front, you see their faces and ride a little bit better as well.”

Fly V Australia enjoyed strong performances from second placed overall Ben Day and Darren Lill who finished third. The eight-man squad won the event’s team classification along with the King of the Mountain, won by Lill and the best sprinter won by Jay Thomson.

“Fly V did a phenomenal job and we expected them to be aggressive,” Sutherland said. “They tried a lot of things. They tried attacking all day and they played their cards very well. It’s a very intelligent team and a great group of guys. Unlike some other teams, they raced their bikes well. They get in there and they fight for it all the time and tried to take the jersey.”

Ben King (Trek-Livestrong) earned the best young rider jersey.

Cascade finale brings on the heat

Some 150 riders started the professional men’s five lap, 132 km Awbrey Butte Circuit Race under extremely warm and dry temperatures. An early split at the front of the field included roughly 25 riders that might have posed a threat to those hoping for a stage win if it wasn’t for Trek-Livestrong’s strong-man Dowsett, who was responsible for closing down much of the time gap.

The field covered the first lap’s two climbs on O B Riley Rd and Archie Briggs Rd mainly in tact with the exception of a short-live breakaway that included Dowsett, Alex Howes (Holowesko Partners) and Marsh Cooper (Kelly Benefit Strategies). Officials halted the race momentarily to give the peloton a slap on the wrist for discarding their water bottles at the side of the road.

The racing resumed and a breakaway of eight riders slipped off the front at the start of the third lap to include Brad White (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis), Jay Thomson (Fly V Australia), Neil Shirley (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Kyle Wamsley (Bissell), Jesse Moore (Cal Giant), Caleb Fairly (Holowesko Partners), Evan Huffman (Yahoo) and Corey Collier (Rio Grand). Three more bridged across to include Ben King (Trek-Livestrong), Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia) and Rob Britton (Bissell).

The breakaway worked well together until mid-way through the final lap where Thomson, King and Shirley rode away in pursuit of the stage win. The racing heated up back in the bunch as Lill made a bid to surpass Sutherland for the overall race win. The South African climber was sitting 55 seconds back at the start of the stage. He launched a massive attack at the base of O B Riley ascent and gained a maximum of one minute through the feed zone.

“I knew that if I waited for the final climb I wasn’t going to be able to get enough time,” Lill said. “So I had to go earlier. I was hoping to jump across to the break and recover a bit before the last climb. Rory had to ride on the final climb to bring in back and he did a good job. At least we went out there and tried, I suppose.”

The main field, with the exception of Lill and remnants of the early breakaway, approached the final climb over Archie Briggs intact. Rolfe dropped back from the break to help Lill gain as much time as possible on Sutherland. After catching all breakaway riders, Lill crested the ascent and began his way down toward the finish line.

“He was 55 seconds back so even though it was a threat it was not...55 seconds is a long way, to get ahead,” Sutherland said. “The whole bunch has to stop and one guy by himself is not gonna, you know. You pause a lot on the way in and it’s a hard finish. I knew that with the legs that I had today if I could get to the bottom of the climb within a minute, I could probably get 30 seconds back up the climb and be fine at the finish.”

Dowsett jumped out of the peloton and surpassed Lill on the descent with Jesse Anthony (Kelly Benefit Strategies) in tow. He made one last dig for the stage win with two kilometres to go and shed Anthony, who rejoined the chasing peloton. Dowsett crossed the line in a victory salute ahead of a bunch sprint lead by Bissell teammates Pipp and Jacques-Maynes.

“I chased after Darren Lill with six of seven kilometres to go and kept it on right to the finish,” Dowsett said. “Kelly Benefits came across to ride with me for a bit but I think he sort of gave up hope and I just sort of went. I chased across to Lill on the descent after the KOM climb.”

Whitten captures first NRC victory; Abbott revels in overall title

World Track Champion Tara Whitten (Keller Rorhback) displayed her pedigree when she soloed into her first National Racing Calendar (NRC) victory at the Awbrey Butte Circuit Race. The Canadian finished the race more than 40 seconds ahead of Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci) while race leader Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) claimed third.

“Most of my success so far has been on the track so this is kind of the first NRC road race that I have done,” Whitten said. “This is really big for me. I’ve been feeling like my track skills weren’t transferring that well to the road so I think this is the beginning of trying to learn that skill too.”

USA Road Champion Abbott dedicated her overall victory to her grandfather, Lyle Abbott, who passed away during the six-stage race. Abbott took the overall race lead during the stage two Skyliner Rd Time Trial and maintained her lead through the final three stages, with the help of her three teammates Alisha Welsh, Olivia Dillon and Nicole Evans.

“There were a lot of people who wanted something out of the race today and everybody showed it, so that was pretty cool,” Abbott said. “This gave me a real opportunity to take a lot of things that I learned as a rider and be in a position of a real leader. I feel like we worked well together and that those girls gave everything for it and I’m proud to win the race with them.”

Abbott also earned the event’s mountains classification victory while Carla Swart (Vera Bradley Foundation) won the sprint competition. Rushlee Buchanan brought home the event’s best young rider award and her team, Colavita-Baci, won the best team competition.

Two victory salutes but only one winner

Some 90 riders lined up to start the professional women’s three-lap, 83-kilometre Awbrey Butte Circuit Race. Race organisers routed the final stage along the same course used at the US Elite Road National Championships, won by Abbott last month.

The peloton remained intact over the first ascent of Archie Briggs Rd, located at the end of each lap. A breakaway of eight riders gained a small advantage along the descent heading into the second lap. Those riders included Amber Rais, Buchanan and Andrea Dvorak (Colavita-Baci), Megan Guarnier (Tibco-To the Top), Lauren Hall and Toni Bradshaw (Vera Bradley Foundation), Andrea Graus (Webcor Builders) and Teri Sheasby (Veloforma). The breakaway was reeled back several kilometres later.

A second eight-rider move set sail at the start of the third and final lap, which included Whitten. The riders were not working well together according to Whitten and were losing time to the chasing peloton when she decided to attack alone. The remnants of that breakaway returned to the main field and Whitten quickly gained a one minute advantage, unbeknownst to the main peloton.

“We got away on the downhill and it wasn’t working that well together,” said Whitten who was informed after the race that the chase group did not know she was off the front solo. “I didn’t think we were going fast enough to stay away so I attacked the group early in the third lap.”

Anne Samplonius (Vera Bradley Foundation) jumped ahead of the field in what she thought was a solo attempt at the victory. Meredith Miller (Tibco-To the Top) and Alison Shanks (Team NZ) chased Samplonius individually, separated by roughly 20 seconds.

Whitten crested the final climb over Archie Briggs with a 55-second advantage and held most of that margin into the finish line to take the stage win. “Sometimes I felt really strong and that I could stay away and other times I saw the gap coming down a bit and was worried once I hit the hill,” Whitten said. “I got some water in the feed zone and tried to go steady up that climb and make sure I had enough power on the way in. Apparently they didn’t know that I was away so that worked to my advantage. They [race officials] were telling me the gap I had.”

Behind Cheatley launched an attack over Archie Briggs Rd to try and gain time toward the overall classification. She was marked by race leader Abbott and the pair joined Samplonius, Shanks and Miller, who eventually fell off pace. The small group headed to the finish line in a sprint won by Cheatley.

Confusion over at the finish line irrupted when it became apparent that race officials did not informed the chase group that Whitten was up the road and Cheatley, who thought she won the race, actually placed second on the day.

“That was quite embarrassing really,” said Cheatley, who threw her arms in a victory salute after winning the chase group sprint for second place. “When the break went and we brought everyone back I thought it was everyone. That’s my fault and I have to pay more attention I guess. I thought we would have been given one rider out front and then a time gap but we didn’t get any sort of time gap or spoken to from the race officials. I won’t make that mistake again.”

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