A national program is offering race promoters the opportunity to send their top amateurs to the 2010 edition of the Nature Valley Grand Prix (Minnesota & Western Wisconsin, June 16-20) to compete against the country’s top men and women professional bicycle racers.

Entering its third year, the “Nature Valley Pro Ride” will select amateur men and women at regional races around the United States to become part of a pair of Nature Valley composite teams for the 12th annual edition of the five-day stage race that begins June 16.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix is the top ranked event on the 2010 USA Cycling National Race Calendar (NRC), attracting tens of thousands of cycling enthusiasts, pro athletes and avid recreational riders to Minnesota.

“This is a chance for a race promoter to raise the participation and visibility of their event at no extra cost,” Nature Valley Grand Prix Race Director David LaPorte said. “As for the riders who are selected, they can look forward to racing in front of huge crowds and being treated like a rock star at our event.”

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Stillwater, Minn. – Alison Powers put Team Type 1 on the podium Sunday for the fourth time at a women’s National Racing Calendar (NRC) event when she finished third at the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

Powers also retained her lead in the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series (WPCS) while assuming the lead in the WPCS sprint classification from her Team Type 1 teammate, Kori Seehafer.

Perhaps the only disappointment for the reigning U.S. national time trial champion was that she could not hang onto the second place spot that she had held since the opening time trial of the five-day, six-stage race in Minnesota.

“It was a hard race today, I’m tired,” Powers said after completing 13 trips up Chilkoot Hill, a narrow climb on the 1.4-mile (2.3 km) course that features an average grade of 18 percent. “But our team is so amazing that come next month at the Cascade Classic, we’ll be ready to win the overall again like we did at Joe Martin.”

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Stillwater, MN – Since the end of the opening stage time trial Wednesday morning, Rory Sutherland of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis had been chasing race leader Tom Zirbel (Bissell), needing to close a gap of 0:13 to repeat as champion of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Finally, in the closing minutes of the final stage Sunday, Sutherland caught and passed Zirbel to erase the last seven seconds of his deficit, and take the overall title of the six-stage race by a slim, three-second margin. And there was no way he would’ve done it without a full team effort propelling him.

“We put everything into one late attack,” Sutherland said. “We’ve had race plans and been trying to execute them all week and we just weren’t quite there. Today, everything went right. The guys rode great, executed well and I had the legs at the end.”

Sunday’s two-pronged plan was quite simple, and took advantage of the strength on OUCH Presented by Maxxis, and tried to replicate the scenario that played out at the end of Wednesday night’s St. Paul Criterium.

“When things got really fast and crazy near the end on Wednesday night,” explained team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, “gaps started to form and Zirbel was caught out of position. That allowed Rory to make the front group and pick up those six seconds. We wanted to try to create the same situation again today and open some gaps to see if we could catch Zirbel out.”

But first, Tamayo said, they wanted to make Zirbel’s Bissell teammates work. “We sent the one guy on our team who has the capacity to ride away from guys on this course out on the attack,” he said.

That was Floyd Landis, who initiated an attack with 14 laps to go, that forced Bissell to ride a hard tempo at the front until reeling him back in with seven trips remaining around the notorious Stillwater circuit, which featured the painfully steep Chilkoot Hill at its end. For his efforts, Landis earned the day’s Most Aggressive Rider jersey.

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Kristin Armstrong Wins Fourth Nature Valley Grand Prix Title With A Teary Goodbye At Her Last American Race
By Cynthia Lou

Kristin Armstrong (Cervélo Test Team) may have fiercely defended her yellow jersey at the Stillwater Criterium, leaping off the start line with determination in her eyes, but she left the Nature Valley Grand Prix well decorated and with a teary goodbye at the last American race of her career. A triumphant end to a win-filled career, Armstrong won the overall general classification, the Jelly Belly Sports Beans Best Climber Jersey and the Freewheel Most Aggressive Rider Jersey. Shelley Olds (Proman Hit Squad) and Andrea Dvorak (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) followed Armstrong’s attack in the second lap to take second and third for the stage, respectively.

A quickly shattered field saw mix ups in the final general classification, with Olds moving to second overall and Allison Powers of Team Type 1 moving up to take third overall.

“I had a lot of nerves today, thinking that it was my last race in America and knowing I had only 12, 11 seconds – there’s just no room for mishaps, mechanicals or anything,” said Armstrong. “I rode up that first hill at 85% to string it out. I wasn’t worried about who would work with me or who wouldn’t. I looked at it as an hour race, and knew that I didn’t want to leave it up to the last climb.”

“Those girls were there, and they really worked to stay on. I didn’t want to leave them so the peloton would catch them,” said Armstrong, ever the mentor, who bided her time patiently until the last few laps. “I thought that if I waited until the last lap they would be able to hold off the peloton that was about 45 seconds back. I really respect Andrea Dvorak from Colavita and Shelley Olds from Proman, they are both up and coming talent in America. I was happy to have them up on the podium with me.”

It seems that Armstrong’s determination and climbing abilities are widely known by everyone.

“Kristin was keeping a good tempo up the hills – she was just practicing for Worlds or something!” Olds said with a laugh. “I would have loved to have helped, but it took us the whole downhill to recover.”

Olds went home with the Wheaties Sprint Jersey and a second overall on the general classification. “I knew that if I could stay on Kristin’s wheel – which was inevitable – that I could settle in to a good pace. This is the kind of race that you have to settle in to, and everyone else is going through the same thing, so if you can settle into it with a gap, then you just have to keep reminding yourself to keep going…I had my director in my ear reminding me to chill, keep my own tempo, stick with them on the climb.”

On the famous 700 meter long Chilkoot Hill that averages a 22% grade, the role of directors play a huge role in inspiring and motivating their riders in addition to relaying messages and tactics.

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By James Lockwood

In cycling, sometimes it’s more about your opponent’s weaknesses than your own strengths that can win you the race.

Going into the last stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, only seven seconds separated Bissell Pro Cycling’s Tom Zirbel from OUCH-Maxxis’ Rory Sutherland. But, in terms of racing tactics, that gap turned out to be greater.

Sutherland used his teammates to lead him out two laps to go at the bottom of the infamous Chilkoot Hill in the Stillwater Criterium to launch him ahead of Zirbel, who got caught out of position behind Sutherland’s teammates and had to dig deep to match Sutherland’s momentum.

The tactic was enough to propel Sutherland, the defending champion of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, 10 seconds ahead of Zirbel at the finish and win him the overall championship of the Nature Valley Grand Prix by three seconds.

“We had our plan this week, and we were always just one off,” Rory said. “Finally, we made our plan work.”

“Our tactic was to go as hard as we could the last three laps,” OUCH-Maxxis director Mike Tamayo said. “We knew what Zirbel’s weaknesses were. We wanted to make it really hard going up the hill and then set a blistering pace going downhill.

“We knew that going into that hill few people could stay with Rory. So, we set a lead out for Rory to go as hard as he could.”

Zirbel said he got caught in that lead out, having to check his breaks behind Sutherland’s teammates, and that little loss of momentum made the difference between first and second overall.

“It was a matter of exploiting my weakness,” said a visibly dejected Zirbel after the race. “They used their legs, and they used their tactics.

“Today, it wasn’t for a lack of legs that I lost. If I could have kept the momentum going up the hill, I could have stayed with Rory. They are smart racers.”

Zirbel’s teammate, Ben Jacques-Maynes, had other words to describe OUCH’s tactics. He accused OUCH-Maxxis of purposely checking their breaks coming out of the last corner going into the hill, forcing Zirbel to break while Sutherland accelerated.

“Winning with their legs wasn’t going to win it for them,” said Jacques-Maynes, who last year lost to the jersey to Sutherland in the second to last stage. “[Zirbel] should hold his head up high. He was awesome.”

On the day, Sutherland finished third and Zirbel fifth. Both came behind Phillip Mamos of Amore & Vita presented by Life Time Fitness-Velo Vie, who sprinted up the finishing climb to win by two seconds ahead of Anthony Colby of Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light and Sutherland. Zirbel finished in a group of three with Luis Romero Amaran and Tyler Wren, both teammates of Colby.

It was Colby’s attack with five laps to go near the top of the 6th Street climb – coming after Chilkoot Hill and a false flat – that put he and Mamos into a position to win.

“I wasn’t really sure if we would stay away, but I thought, ‘What’s it to [Bissell and OUCH] if I go,” said Colby, who entered the day 42 seconds down to Zirbel. “I tried to stay one step ahead.”

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Mankato, MN –Team TIBCO’s national road and criterium champion Brooke Miller earned a hard-fought 3rd place in Stage 5 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix Saturday, the notoriously difficult Mankato Road Race.

In what Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett described as a “bizarre day,” Miller took her podium spot out of a break of six riders that formed about 90km into the 134km stage. The break benefited from a game of chicken in the peloton, with Team Type 1, which missed the break, looking to race leader Kristen Armstrong (Cervelo Test Team) to chase, while Armstrong waited for TT1 to start the chase to protect 2nd overall Alison Powers.

The game went on long enough for the break to open a gap that neared four minutes at its largest, before Armstrong finally started to give chase, with Miller the birtual race leader on the road.

“Even when they hit the finishing circuits with 12km to go, the gap was still out over three minutes,” Corbett said.

The finishing circuits – four trips around a 3km circuit including about 1.6km of climbing that averaged 14% - proved decisive. Alexis Rhodes (Webcor), who had attacked at the same time as Miller to establish the break, rode off solo, dropping Miller and Dotsie Bausch (Jazz Apple).

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By Cynthia Lou

Redemption was sweet for Webcor Builders today. After the unfortunate series of crashes that took them off the podium and out of their competition jerseys at Thursday’s Cannon Falls Road Race, Alexis Rhodes road away from Dotsie Bausch (Jazz Apples) and Brooke Miller (TIBCO) to take the stage win, the Queen of the Mountains Jersey, and the Best Young Rider Jersey. Teammate Kathryn Curi Mattis took the day’s Freewheel Most Aggressive Rider’s Jersey.

“How tough are they to be able to keep fighting and never give up,” beamed Webcor Builder’s director Laura Charmaeda. “Not only did they not give up, but they came out here to stomp the race again. That’s just plain tough.”

Shelley Olds (Proman Hit Squad) extended her lead in the Wheaties Sprint Competition by winning the first two sprints. Sprint competitions three and four were absorbed by the breakaway groups.

While all early attacks were brought back, with TIBCO, Webcor Builders, and Colavita staying active near the front, the attacks picked up approximately 28 miles into the race, after the second Sprint Competition. Webcor Builder’s Kathryn Curi Mattis escaped on a solo breakaway, later joined by Team Type 1’s Veronica Leal, Tibco’s Julie Beveridge, and Lip Smacker’s Jessica Phillips. The break grew to over 2’ 15“, putting Leal in the virtual yellow jersey, before Armstrong fought to bring it back with the help of Colavita.

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By James Lockwood

OUCH-Maxxis knew the fourth stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix well, having won the course the previous two years in its former incarnation as Health Net.

Bissell Pro Cyling knew this course well, too, having lost the leader’s jersey last year on the course’s mile-long climb during the four laps of the finishing circuit.

So, each knew what to expect from the 92-mile Mankato Road Race. But what transpired surprised most people, turning the showdown between powerhouse North American teams into the amateur hour – or 3 hours and 30 minutes, as the case may be.

Winning one of the biggest races of his career was Wheel & Sprocket’s Andrew Crater, who, at 31, continues to race on an amateur team despite having a professional background. He, along with Chad Gerlach of Amore & Vita presented by Life Time Fitness-Velo Vie and Mike Nothey of Land Rover-Orbea benefitting the Lance Armstrong Foundation outlasted a breakaway of 14 riders to take the top three places in the stage.

It was a move that was initiated 14 miles into the race, and few thought it would go to the end.
“I didn’t know [if we could last],” Nothey said. “I thought we would get caught in the finishing circuit.”
Instead of being caught, the trio finished 17 seconds ahead of a charging pack that included all of the overall contenders, including the current leader, Bissell Pro Cycling’s Tom Zirbel, and his teammate Peter Latham; OUCH-Maxxis’ Rory Sutherland; Sebastian Haedo of Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light; and a host of other riders from Jelly Belly Pro Cycling and Team Type 1.

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Minnneapolis, MN – In front of a huge Friday evening crowd in Minneapolis, Team TIBCO delivered national criterium champion Brooke Miller to a textbook sprint win in Stage 4 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

“It was a picture perfect race for the team,” Miller said. “Everyone raced great tonight. We all did our jobs perfectly.”

In the first half of the 48-minute Uptown Minneapolis Criterium, that took the form of sitting back and covering pretty much every move that tried to get away off the front. “We were like bees,” Miller said. “We swarmed on everything.”

But when the second half of the race came around, the tactics changed, and Team TIBCO turned the aggressor. “Everyone got in on the act,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett.

Emma Rickards put in one strong attack that drew out a couple other riders. When that move was about to be caught, Lauren Tamayo countered with a huge effort and got off the front solo, and stayed out there for almost five laps. At one point she held a gap of 15 seconds.

“That forced the rest of the field to put in a hard chase and took some of the pressure off of us for a bit,” Corbett said.

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Jefferson Cup Road Race in Charlottesville, Virginia, is first event of 2009 Series

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The enormously popular Jefferson Cup Road Race will be the first race of the 2009 Nature Valley Pro Ride, a six-race program that offers elite amateur men and women the chance to win a trip to the Nature Valley Grand Prix in June. Held on Sunday, March 29, the Jefferson Cup will select one man and one woman for the trip to Minnesota, where they will race on the Nature Valley Cycling Team against the country’s top professionals and amateurs.

“We’re thrilled to be part of this year’s Nature Valley Pro Ride”, said Jefferson Cup race director Ruth Stornetta, whose race was one of six chosen from 28 nominated by USA Cycling Local Associations across the country. “Our elite men’s field filled only 12 hours after we opened on-line registration and we’re expecting a strong turnout for the elite women’s field as well. The Nature Valley Pro Ride has created an added buzz around our event and we expect that it will make the racing more dynamic.”

The Nature Valley Grand Prix, which begins June 10 in St. Paul, Minn., is the top ranked race on the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar and is the only race among the USA Grand Tours to admit amateurs. It serves as an amateur’s chance to have a full professional racing experience. It also provides amateur riders with a unique chance to be “discovered” by the pro team managers who use the Nature Valley Grand Prix to scout for new talent.

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