Armstrong solos to victory at Three Creeks Snow Park

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Kristin Armstrong (Exergy-Twenty12) added to her string of stage victories and her overall advantage Wednesday during stage 1 of the 33rd Annual Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic, while 2011 men's overall winner Francisco Mancebo (Competitive Cyclist) took the men's stage and earned the familiar yellow leader's jersey.

The stage 1 McKenzie Pass Road Race was back for the third consecutive year, challenging both the men and women with123 kilometers and two significant climbs that started about two-thirds of the way through the stage. The first ascent took riders from about 550 meters to nearly 1,650 in just over 32km on a road that's closed from November through July and which bans large trucks and motor homes because of the tight switchbacks near the top. The stage continued through massive ancient lava flows that run between the Cascade peaks before plunging into the tiny town of Sisters and then climbing to 1,650 meters again for the finish at Three Creeks Snow Park.

The men's race literally started with a bang when a crash early in the stage took down 25-30 riders, including prologue winner and race leader Chad Haga. All of the fallen riders rejoined the race, but Haga suffered a possible hand fracture and struggled throughout the remainder of the stage.

The race's three early escapees didn't need to worry about the crash behind them. Bontrager-Livestrong's Gavin Mannion and Horizon Organics' Austin Allison escaped after a flurry of early attacks and were soon joined by Team Exergy's Sam Johnson. The trio shared the work well and started the 32km climb up McKenzie Pass with a lead of more than three minutes.

With the yellow jersey clearly struggling to stay in the race, Optum abdicated control of the stage to Competitive Cyclist, which took up the chase at the bottom the first climb.

"I figured we'd have a day off from controlling, and then the yellow jersey crashes in the first big crash," said Competitive Cyclist team director Gord Fraser. "I feel really bad for Chad. He's a young guy and this was his first yellow jersey in a race like this. So we had to assume control, and we gave that break too much time because we were waiting for Optum to get going."

The lead trio's advantage began to steadily come down, and the steep pitches on the narrow pass proved too much for Allison, who dropped out of the breakaway about halfway up the climb. Mannion and Johnson soldiered on without him, keeping their gap just above two minutes until they passed through Sisters toward the final climb of the day. Mannion started to struggle on the flat run out of the tiny town, and Johnson began taking the majority of the pulls.

"He was really struggling on that flat, bumpy stuff coming out of Sisters," said Johnson, who is one of the biggest riders in the peloton. "I didn't blame him. I mean how many pounds do I have on him? I probably have 40 pounds on him."

Mannion soon threw in the towel and faded back into the field, while Johnson continued on with a gap that hovered around 25-30 seconds. Competitive Cyclist continued the chase, and the field reeled Johnson back just after the route pitched skyward for the final climb to Three Creeks.

"Once you get over the steep pitch at the bottom, if you don't have anybody to work with, you're in trouble," Johnson said. "Once I got caught I knew I was not going to be able to stick with the guys, but it was a good day."

With the day's breakaway back in the fold with just 7km left to race, the favorites for the overall came to the front and started lighting up the final few kilometers. Optum's Jesse Anthony and Competitive Cyclist's Chad Beyer set out first, but their adventure was short-lived.

Phil Gaimon set out next, ramping up the pace considerably on the slope and eventually bringing along Bontrager-Livestrong's Joe Dombroski and Ian Boswell, along with Bissell Pro Cycling's Chris Baldwin. The quartet slowly pulled away from the rest of the contenders and looked as if they might ride away to the finish, but Mancebo fought back hard, bridging to the leaders with Team Exergy's Matt Cooke and Optum's Andrew Bajadali. Gaimon had hoped to avoid a finale with Mancebo.

"I was just hoping that the guys in my group would see him back there and keep it up enough to keep him away from us," Gaimon said. "There's not a whole lot you can do against that guy, though."

The now-seven-rider-strong lead group lifted the pace again as they approached the finish. Boswell tried his luck with a long sprint, but Mancebo was able to match his effort, pass the 21-year-old hometown rider and then come through the final corner first to take the win. Boswell held on for second and the Best Young Rider jersey. Gaimon grabbed third.

Although their breakaway didn't pay off with a win for their teams, Johnson walked away with the Mountains jersey and Mannion grabbed the green top for best sprinter.

"I got a jersey out of it, so I'm happy," Johnson said of the daylong effort.

Haga finished the stage, but headed for the hospital immediately after the race to get X-Rays. Team director Eric Wohlberg was worried about more than just the young rider's ability to continue the race.

"He's also a concert pianist," Wohlberg said. "So I hope his thumb is good and he can still play the piano. That's all I'm worried about. He's got lots of bike racing left, but I'm worried about his piano playing ability."

Armstrong charges past late breakaway for solo win

A breakaway that formed after the descent off McKenzie Pass and just before the intermediate sprint animated the latter part of the women's race. Recently crowned national road race champion Megan Guarnier (TIBCO to the Top) joined teammate Amanda Miller; Optum's Jade Wilcoxson and Miranda Griffiths; Exergy-Twenty12's Andrea Dvorak and Jackie Crowell; Robin Farina (Now and Novartis for MS) and FCS-Rouse's Anna Sanders in a move that gained a workable advantage over Armstrong and the field.

But when Crowell and Farina dropped from the breakaway, Armstrong lept away from the field and set out after them.

"Our goal was a stage win," Armstrong said. "And Andrea was a great person in the break, but once Jackie fell out of the break we were outnumbered, so I wanted to do everything I could to try and bridge across."

With Armstrong coming up fast on the remaining escapees, Wilcoxson jumped away at the first steep kicker at the bottom of the final climb. Guarnier went with her and Dvorak soon joined them to form a lead group of three. Dvorak initially rotated through with the group but eventually chose to sit on in hopes that Armstrong would make contact.

Griffiths and Miller caught back, increasing the lead group's numbers to five, but it still wasn't enough to hold off Armstrong, who caught them with about 3km to go and flew right past.

"Kristin caught us and passed us all in one breath," Dvorak said. "She didn't give anyone a second to get on her wheel. Megan jumped to try and bridge up to her, and I was on Megan ready to attack if she ever caught Armstrong. But Armstrong is just at another level and was gone."

Guarnier said she knew Armstrong was coming up on them, but the Exergy-Twenty12 leader's pace and immediate attack caught her off guard.

"I wasn't really ready for that," Guarnier said. "I knew she was coming, but I didn't know she was coming so fast. It was hard to get on, and clearly I didn't. I was trying to chase, and I saw that Exergy was on my wheel, and if I had brought another Exergy up it wouldn't have been a good idea. So I waited for Jade [Wilcoxson] and Andrea [Dvorak] to come around and just wait for the finish at that point."

Guarnier's decision to stop the chase paid off with second place on the stage, with the time bonus of six seconds moving her into second overall as well. Dvorak took the final podium spot, while Wilcoxson crossed the line for fourth and the green sprint jersey. Her teammate Lex Albrecht hung onto the Best Young Rider Jersey and added the Mountains jersey as well.

Armstrong now has a 24 second lead in overall over Guarnier. Wilcoxson is third, 57 seconds down, while Dvorak and Alison Powers (Now and Novartis for MS) sit fourth and fifth, respectively.

The race continues Thursday with the 25.8 km Crooked River Time Trial in Prineville. It will be Armstrong's final time trial before she heads to London for the Olympics.

"I'm going to focus on it like it's a one-day," Armstrong said. "Because that's what I need to practice for my time trial in London two weeks from today."

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