World champion Bronzini wins stage as Armstrong stays in yellow

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World champion Giorgia Bronzini (Colavita Forno D'Asolo presented by Cooking Light) sprinted to victory in Thursday's Nature Valley Grand Prix Cannon Falls road race to win her third race on American soil in 11 days.

Chloe Hoskings (HTC-Highroad) finished a close second in stage 3, with Bronzini's teammate, Theresa Cliff-Ryan, in third.

Having two very strong sprinters on one team is an advantage, giving the team more options in chaotic sprint finishes, Cliff-Ryan said.

"The sprint was going to be for me today," she said. "I lined up behind Shelley (Olds) with Giorgia behind me as a sweeper. That gives us a chance if I screw up the sprint so Giorgia can come. I chose to be on the left side and had to go onto the curb because the peloton came up the left. Halfway up the hill I yelled to Giorgia to 'go'. With Giorgia first and me third, it's a good result."

"We tried to do the same sprint today as we did yesterday," Bronzini said of her plans with teammate Cliff-Ryan. "She is strong, and I hope she win tomorrow."

Bronzini sprinted to victory in Wednesday's Paul Downtown Criterium Wednesday night to go along with her victory June 5 at the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia.

The majority of Thursday's 66.5-mile race traveled through gently rolling farm lands surrounding Cannon Falls. Several teams set out to make the race hard and attacks were launched nearly continuously.

"We're going to be aggressive and race smart," Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Highroad) said before the start. "We have a really incredible team here, and we're sitting in second and fourth overall, so we have a lot of options. We're going to see how the race plays out, what the other teams do, and take it from there."

The most prominent break of the day gained nearly a minute's lead in anticipation of the first Queen of the Hill (QoH) competition. Leah Kirchmann (Colavita Forno D'Asolo), Rachel Warner (Missing Link Coaching Systems/Specialized), and Amity Elliot (Team Kenda presented by Geargrinder) took the top points, respectively, up the first QOH. But they were caught shortly afterwards.

From then on, no other breaks were allowed more than 20 seconds of freedom, with all teams contributing to the chasing. Yellow jersey wearer Kristin Armstrong (Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12) even brought back two herself.

"It was a really good race and there was always something going on," said Rushlee Buchanan (Colavita Forno D'Asolo), wearer of the best young rider jersey. "The race went really fast, we were always concentrating. I think every team was out today to draw everybody out. It was good out there and the wind wasn't too strong. We knew we had good sprinters in the bunch, so either way we knew we had good cards to play."

All of the jerseys remained the same after today's race, including the most aggressive rider jersey that went to Shelley Olds (Diadora-Pasta Zara-Manhattan). The jersey typically changes shoulders on each stage.

UnitedHealthcare Makes It Three-For-Three

The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team made it three in a row Thursday night by winning the stage 3 Cannon Falls Road Race at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Robert Förster took top honors and the race lead, while teammate Jake Keough was second and Ken Hanson (Jelly Belly presented by Kenda) finished third.

Just like Förster said it was drawn up at his team's pre-race meeting, the German sprinter took the race lead from teammate Rory Sutherland with the help of a 12-second time bonus at the finish.

"I knew that I was only 11 seconds behind Rory, so we tried to make the leadout for me today," Förster said.

With a slim, one-second lead over three-time Nature Valley Grand Prix champion Sutherland, Förster said he wants to defend. But he also said he has no problem passing the leader's yellow jersey on to one of his teammates. "I want to hold the jersey as long as possible but when Rory comes back or another rider, I don't care as long as it's the team, the main thing is the team."

Racing was fast and aggressive on the 66.5-mile road race as the riders sped through gently rolling, but wide open farmlands. Attacks and counter-attacks were flying at the front but no one was able to escape until 30 miles into the stage. Four riders - Tom Zirbel (Jamis/Sutter Home), Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling), Marsh Cooper (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Optumhealth) and Mat Stephens (Elbowz Racing) - sped free, but never managed more than a 35-second gap.

UnitedHealthcare riders worked hard to control the front for most of race and were content to let the four-man group dangle off the front. But the break was doomed from the start and the field was all back together before making the right-hand turn into the gravel road section on its way back to Cannon Falls. The fast pace was even higher on the six finishing circuits that included a short, steep climb to the finish line.

"It was a fast race, with a 48 kph average speed," Förster said. "All the teams tried to attack us and it was difficult to stay together. We lost some boys from the hard work in the first 70, 80 kilometers and then we came to the loops."

Once on the circuit, the battle for control at the front was on between several teams, with the Jelly Belly squad taking over with four laps to go.

"We knew our best chance was to just ride the front and keep me out of trouble and then UnitedHealthcare was going to take over and try to lead out the sprint." Hanson said. "Jelly Belly rode really great to get organized."

Chaos reigned with the sprinters fighting for position behind the leadout train of UnitedHealthcare on the final lap. Sutherland was at the front, followed by Karl Menzies, Förster, Keough and Hanson. The battle to stay on the train intensified and Hanson said he had to work hard to close down a gap. After reconnecting to Keough's wheel, he got boxed in when the leadout riders peeled off at the front.

"Once I lost the momentum on the hill, that was it. So I ended up third," Hanson said. "I'm happy to get on the podium, but it could have been better."

Kyle Wamsley (Bissell) will be wearing the polka-dot King of the Hills jersey after taking top points in the first two sprint lines. Tom Zirbel (Jamis/Sutter Home) was awarded the most aggressive rider jersey. The other special jerseys remain the same: Carlos Alzate (Team Exergy) in the black sprint competition jersey, Chad Haga (Team Rio Grande), in the green jersey as the top amateur, and Joey Rosskopf (Team Type 1-Development) in the white jersey for the best young rider.

Racing continues Friday with the Minneapolis Uptown Criterium, the marquee event of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, attracting what many observers consider to be the largest criterium crowd in the country. Uptown is a major entertainment district that abuts dense, upscale residential neighborhoods. The flat, six-corner course and a pumped-up crowd traditionally makes for high speeds. A long drag up Lake Street leads to a short dash from the final corner to the finish line on Hennepin Avenue.

Förster hopes to make it four straight for UnitedHealthcare with another performance like Wednesday's one-two-three sweep of the Downtown Saint Paul Criterium.

"We'll try to do the same as yesterday, but since we lost one rider, Hilton (Clarke), who separated his shoulder, we are only seven tomorrow," he said. "We used all the guys today to do the sprint, so maybe it can be a little bit different. But the guys are good, they are all in good condition, we all work well together and we know what to do."

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