Bahati Foundation sweeps US season opener

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Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team kicked off the new season in dominating fashion with a one, two and three podium sweep at the Merco Credit Union, while Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia) used her speed to win the women's race despite a crash during the final laps.

The Merco Credit Union Cycling Classic annually hosts a stellar turn out of professional and elite level cyclist and the Downtown Grand Prix criterium traditionally kicks off the US racing season. The women contested a 52km and the men a 64km race that started mid-day under sunny skies. The 1.3km course is a well-designed mix of technical challenges including a chicane through the Old Courthouse Park and wide-open roads that cater to the fastest field sprints.

Breakaway star Matt Rice held off a chasing peloton to take the victory in the men's race ahead of his teammates Rahsaan Bahati and Hilton Clarke after they outpaced the other sprinters in the bunch kick to the line.

“I was definitely surprised,” said team co-owner and runner up Rahsaan Bahati. “This is just a great way to set the tone for the season. We have this foundation and we are working hard to inspire the youth. Today just goes to show that the guys are so motivated. Everyone here has been working their tails off to preform well. We had tons of support, we celebrated at a nice dinner and now we are going to sit down and talk about the road race.”

The racing started fast as riders from some teams sprinted for early primes others pushed to form an early breakaway. UnitedHealthcare, Bahati Foundation and Bissell were the dominant teams in strength and numbers, both set a strong tempo at the front of the field. An early move contained one rider form each teams along with representation from Trek-Livestrong and California Giant Berry Farms. The escapees drove the break to a maximum time gap of 30 seconds, however ten laps later, the field was all back together.

Other teams making an impact on the race include the new Yahoo! Cycling Team and Safeway-Bicycles Plus. They moved to the front to take an opportunity at a breakaway wherever possible. A late-race breakaway stormed off the front and the gap increased to nearly 30 seconds aided by powerhouse riders Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Iggy Silva (Trek-Livestrong), Andrew Talansky (California Giant Berry Farms), Philip Mooney (Yahoo! Cycling Team) and Matt Rice (Bahati Foundation).

The responsibility to bring the break back lay on the shoulders of UnitedHealthcare who sported a nine-man roster at the weekend’s racing. The men rallied at the front in a controlled attempt to bring back the break away reducing the margin to 20 seconds with five laps to go. Bahati Foundation was resolved of having to chase with Rice riding strong up front in the breakaway. The team waited patiently behind UnitedHealthcare, using the break to their advantage.

“It was pretty simple because we have Hilton on the team it works really well to our advantage,” Bahati said. “He is good enough to ride in the break and win or win from the sprint. We wanted to have all the workers relax and pay attention and maybe launch Hilton in a break.”

“We were lucky to have Rice there who called that move and we stuck to our cards with him,” he added. “UnitedHealthcare missed the break so we had a free ride. We sat on their wheel, they did a great job to bring the break back but Rice had already attacked with one lap to go. It was a perfect day, UnitedHealthcare caught the rest of the riders in the last turn and we were in the right position to go for the field sprint.”

UnitedHealthcare looked to be bringing the breakaway riders back with precise timing to enable an exciting sprint finale. Five of the breakaway riders Jacques-Maynes, Silva, Talansky and Mooney were caught before the last corner. However Rice bravely took his chance and continued to fight for the victory and succeeded by a narrow margin.

Teutenberg wins crash-filled sprint

Saturday was a day for the sprinters and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia) proved the fastest woman in the peloton when she won the Merco Cycling Classic Downtown Grand Prix.

An unfortunate crash happened with three laps to go causing several rider injuries and the race to come to a complete standstill. Race officials stopped the race and allowed for one neutral lap before resuming with five laps to go.

Teutenberg had attacked several times during the race but avoided the crash and had enough energy to outpace American Shelley Evans (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) and teammate Chloe Hosking in the final sprint.

“Because of the crash, I lost my lead-out and I was lucky in the end,” Teutenberg said. “I was nearly taken out and lucky to stay on and hold it to the line. I didn’t win by much and Shelley came close. It got a bit tight at the end and in this race you have to go all the way from the front to the line.”

HTC-Columbia set the tone of the day with several attacks from the go. When one attack failed to gain the necessary time gap, another set off right behind. First Teutenberg, followed by Kim Anderson but their individual strengths were not enough to hold off the chasing teams TIBCO, Webcor-Builders, Colavita-Baci and Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12.

Several small breakaways managed to sneak some time ahead of the peloton but none were successful in making it to the finish line ahead of the sprint-heavy field. HTC-Columbia was then the first team to move to the front protecting its sprinter and former event winner Teutenberg. TIBCO followed in close pursuit setting up a platform for its former US Criterium National Champion Brooke Miller. Colavita-Baci’s new directeurs and retired riders Tina Pic, the current US Criterium National Champion and Rachel Heal gave a sprint strategy to the squad’s go-to speedster Kelly Benjamin.

HTC-Columbia took a strong hold over the front of the peloton in hot pursuit of a sprint victory. Rounding the final corner Teutenberg got the early jump outpacing Evans at the line.

“I am, for sure, not in top form right now,” Teutenberg said. “Shelley has track Worlds coming up and she raced amazingly in New Zealand. She is racing strong right now. We had that in our minds that she is the fittest of the field right now and has a lot of motivation after winning a huge race in New Zealand. We have been training really hard but we are just starting to race and she is at a different training level than we are.”

The early-season US racing continue at the Merco Cycling Classic Foothills Road Race on Sunday, March 7.