Veilleux victorious overall

Charles Dionne (Fly V Australia) sprinted to victory at the final stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. The Canadian fast man outpaced overall race leader David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies), who nabbed second place and the overall win with Dionne's teammate Jay Thomson in third.

"Our team lost each other just a little bit on the last lap and I got mixed up but ended up about 12th position on Jay Thomson's wheel and he was behind Charles Dionne," Veilleux explained of the battle for finish line time bonuses.

"It was the perfect position for me because of the time bonus; if Thomson won, I would have to get second to keep the yellow jersey. It was a long, slightly uphill sprint with a head wind and I was able to pass Thomson but I came up just a little bit short to Dionne."

The criterium offered time bonuses for the top three places and only six seconds separated the top three overall contenders at the start of the stage. Veilleux began the day in the leader's jersey and his second place on the stage was enough to secure the overall victory, a race teammate Zach Bell had won the previous year.

Veilleux finished the four-day race seven seconds ahead of Thomson in second, who was five seconds ahead of Jeremy Vennell (Bissell) in third.

"I wasn't able to win the stage but I was able to win the GC so I am happy," said Veilleux. "It means a lot to win this race. It is a really nice NRC race and we liked all the courses. Each course was hard but as a team we like to race aggressively so they suited us and me."

Matt Cooke (Mountain Khakis p/b Jittery Joes) accumulated enough points throughout each stage to win the points competition.

The pro-elite men started the fourth and final stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic under warm temperatures that reached above 100 Fahrenheit, with the peloton completing 55 laps of the three-corner course.

"From the beginning there were a lot of attacks but it was our goal not to get to the front too early because it was too hot," Veilleux explained. "The race was kind of long so we tried to save the legs as much as possible."

A breakaway of 10 gained a maximum of 40 seconds on the peloton with the highest placed rider being Tyler Wren (Jamis-Sutter Home p/b Colavita), 1:16 behind Veilleux in the overall classification.

"It wasn't really good for us to let that break gain too much time because of Tyler Wren," Veilleux said. "We brought it back to about 20 seconds and then with eight laps to go Fly V Australia took the front."

Fly V Australia set a fast tempo lead out to give Thomson the best opportunity to sprint for the finish line time bonuses. Jamis-Sutter Home and Kelly Benefit Strategies remained close to the front, all rallying for the best position to sprint for the win.

The experiened Dionne lead the dash to the line with Thomson on his wheel and held on for the win, as Veilleux passed Thomson for second place and the overall ascendancy.

Allar lights up finale

Erica Allar (Vera Bradley Foundation) won her first National Racing Calender event of the season while guest riding for the Kenda Team at the fourth and final stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic.

She won the criterium bunch sprint ahead of Kelly Benjamin (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) in second and Olivia Dillon (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) in third.

"It's my first NRC win this year so I'm excited about that," said Allar. "To top it off, I finished the weekend with a third place on stage one and now a win so I am thrilled to have two podium finishes.

"I was on the east coast and my team wasn't doing this race so I am thankful that they let me guest ride with another team just for the weekend."

Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) won her second Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, an event she first won in 2008. The former Olympian from New Zealand took the overall lead when she won the opening stage, increasing her lead when she won stage two's Wachusett Mountain Road Race and maintaining her top spot through the final two stages.

Cheatley finished the race 1:11 ahead of teammate and runner up Rushlee Buchanan and an additional eight seconds in front of Bron Ryan (Verducci Breakaway) in third.

Some 70 riders started the final stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, a fast-paced criterium held throughout downtown streets. The peloton completed 28 laps of a three-corner course that offered three intermediate sprint opportunities for points.

Colavita-Baci held the field together to protect its race leader Cath Cheatley and to allow Benjamin the chance to sprint for additional points in the event's points competition. Benjamin captured full points in the first two sprints to consolidate her victory of the green jersey.

"Colavita controlled the race for the entire time," said Allar. "It was obvious that they were doing everything that they needed to do to maintain Cheatley's lead in the yellow jersey and to keep Benjamin in the green jersey.

"Both competitions were pretty much won hands down. Part way through they were bringing small attacks back and really keeping control of the front so it was apparent that there was going to be a field sprint."

A flurry of attacks resulted in several short-lived breakaways, lasting only half a lap before being reeled back in by the Colavita-Baci squad. The peloton conceded to a field sprint and the dominant team lead the way with the lead-out train for Benjamin. Allar moved onto Cheatley's wheel with two corners to go and made her winning move inside the last 200 metres.

"I actually wasn't sure who they were setting up the sprint for, Benjamin or Shontell Gauthier," Allar said. "Cath moved to the front coming down the back stretch and I got on her wheel through the corners in second wheel. I started my sprint with 200 metres to go and was lucky enough to hold on for the win."

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