Sulzberger seals stage two, Amaran moves into overall lead

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Bernard Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) out-kicked his breakaway companions Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home p/b Colavita) and Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1) to sprint to victory in stage two of the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Amaran earned a six-second time bonus as a result of his second place finish on the stage and moved into the lead of the overall classification. The Cuban rider now sits by 13 seconds ahead of Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and an additional nine seconds ahead of Jeremy Vennell (Bissell)

"Luis is showing that he is very strong," said Jamis directeur sportif, Sebastian Alexandre. "I am happy that with all his hard work that he ending today’s stage with the leader’s jersey. We will defend it tomorrow in the best way we can. The guys proved today that they are riding very strong."

Some 150 riders in the Pro men’s peloton started the 180-kilometre point-to-point road race, prepared to be challenged by 5,300 feet of climbing. The field split early in the stage, with approximately 40 riders in the front group. A breakaway of four riders swelled to a large group of 18 inside the first 20 kilometres of the race.

The breakaway riders included Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home p/b Colavita), who was the highest placed rider in the overall classification, and his teammates Ignacio Pereyra and Jamey Driscoll, along with Bernard Sulzberger (Fly V Australia), Michael Creed and Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1), Paul Mach, Rob Britton and Jeremy Vennell (Bissell), Jim Stemper, Nick Keough and Nick Waite (Kenda p/b Geargrinder), Jason Donald and Evan Hyde (Ouch-Bahati Foundation), Eric Boiley and Francois Parisien (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy) and Cameron Cogburn (CCB Wheelworks).

Jamis-Sutter Home riders Pereyra and Driscoll did the lion’s share of the work for their GC rider Amaran. The gap to the main field grew to nearly two minutes at the base of the day’s decisive climb, Mount Gaylor.

Second placed in the overall classification, Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) bridged across to the group with Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home) in tow. "I finally made it up to the break at the base of the big climb," Jacques-Maynes said afterwards. "Our riders didn’t go too hard on that climb and I was able to find a little bit of recovery."

The gap was reduced to approximately 45 seconds as the breakaway descended off the top of the mid-race climb. Race leader, Andrew Talansky relied on his California Giant Berry Farms teammates to do much of the pace setting, with help from Fly V Australia, at the front of the 20-rider chase group.

"The time gap started to drop on the descent and people had been sitting on up until that point," Jacques-Maynes said. "Jamis and my team Bissell did most of the pulling and we got help from the Bahati team."

Jamis-Sutter Home and Bissell had the most to gain from the breakaway staying clear and with four riders apiece they were responsible for the bulk of the work on the flat 40-kilometre stretch into the Fayetteville finish line. Amaran and Jacques-Maynes contributed to the breakaway efforts in the last five kilometres.

"We were pulling through just to make it to the line," Jacques-Maynes said. "Certainly we didn’t want all the effort of the day to go to waste. I had Luis’ wheel and Sulzberger took me off it in the middle of the corner. I was playing catch up after that. That was crucial but who knows if I would have been able to come over the top of Luis. That’s bike racing and it was a really good hard race."

The racing continues with the stage three circuit race where the men will complete three full laps totalling 150 kilometres and 6,000 feet of climbing.

"Hats off to all the guys who were working really hard and Luis is a deserving GC lead right now," Jacques-Maynes said. "We are going to have another good day tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it."

Vzesniauskaite wins stage two, Powers leads overall GC

Lithuania’s Modesta Vzesniauskaite (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) won the bunch sprint ahead of Christina Smith (VeloForma) and Alison Powers (Vera Bradley Foundation) at the second stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race held in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Friday.

"I am very happy to win because this is my first time in America and I really like the team so I am happy to win for the team today," said Vzesniauskaite. "I won for the team today. I tried to help my teammate, but after I saw that she was not with me, I felt good and I tired to win. It was an uphill, windy and a little bit technical, good for me."

Powers moved into the overall race lead by virtue of winning a time bonus at the finish line. "It was really important to get that time bonus today," Powers said. "We had a plan to finish as a team, who would start the lead-out, who would be next in the line and I just had to be patient. It was a slightly up hill power sprint and our lead-out worked out awesomely."

Strong winds held the 68-rider Pro-Elite women’s peloton together for the duration of the stage two point-to-point 102-kilometre road race. The women muscled over 3,500 feet of climbing that included the Mount Gaylor ascent halfway through the stage. Teams Tibco and Nanoblur-Gears attempted multiple breakaways but none succeeded due to the strong head winds.

"It was boring because the way the wind was it was a hard to get away," Powers said. "People tried over the climb but it was too windy. Webcor-Builders did a very nice job holding the field together. Anytime there was someone up the road there was green on it. My team did a good job too because Katheryn [Curi-Mattis] and I were tied on GC so it was mostly covering and kill [the breaks]."

The time bonuses offered at the finish line made for a tightly contested finale between sprinters and overall contenders. Powers rounded the final corner and started her sprint, but was passed by Vzesniauskaite and Smith at the line.