Eldridge Keeps Lead In Rider Of The Year Standings

East Point, Ga. – Team Type 1 co-founder Joe Eldridge maintained his lead in the East Point Velodrome Rider of the Year standings following Saturday’s “Outback Bikes presents The Wheelrace,” the second of three pro race series events at the Dick Lane Velodrome.

Eldridge finished third on points in the omnium scoring with a win in the madison, second in the 60-lap points race and five-lap scratch race and fourth in the miss-n-out and 20-lap motorpace races. Emile Abraham (AeroCat Cycling Team) took the overall Saturday night, ahead of Bennet VanderGenugten (Kenda Pro Cycling).

For the season, Eldridge leads Steve Hill (Brooks Cycles) by 50 points in the Rider of the Year standings. Abraham is third, 64 points behind.

As one of four riders on the Team Type 1 men’s professional squad who has Type 1 diabetes, Eldridge must closely monitor his blood glucose level during competition. In Saturday’s race, he went into the 60-lap points race with a level of 172 and finished at 146.

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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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Philadelphia – Alison Powers’ sixth-place finish led Team Type 1 Sunday at the 14th edition of the TD Bank Liberty Classic.

The reigning United States time trial champion was among a group of a dozen riders who slipped the field on the final of four laps around the 14.4-mile course through the streets of Philadelphia. As they rounded the finishing straight onto Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Powers started her sprint from 300 meters out.

“I thought I better go now or else the sprinters will gap me,” she said. “I pretty much led out the people that were on my wheel. I’m a little disappointed that I was thinking too much, but I’ve never been in a situation like that.”

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad) was first to the finish line of the 56-mile (91 km) race to win it for the third time. Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO) was second and Shelley Olds (PROMAN Hit Squad) was third.

Powers did increase her lead in the National Racing Calendar (NRC) standings by earning 54 points for her top 10 finish. The second and third-place riders in the NRC standings – Katheryn Mattis (Webcor Builders) and third-place Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo-Lifeforce) did not score points. (Armstrong wasn’t in the race, while Mattis finished 41st.)

All five Team Type 1 riders finished the race: Jen McRae was 15th, Veronica Leal 33rd, Kori Seehafer 36th and Jacquelyn Crowell finished 52nd.

Seehafer, who has ridden nearly every edition of the race since 1999, said it was one of the most aggressive that she could recall. At one point, the women’s field passed the men’s race that was traveling on the same course. The men started their 156-mile (250 km) race about 10 minutes ahead of the women.

“There was the potential for a break to go every time we went up the climb (of the Manayunk Wall),” Seehafer said. “I couldn’t accelerate hard today so I blew myself up the last time up the climb to get Allie (Powers) and Jen (McRae) in position.”

Fayetteville, Ark. – Alison Powers was the star of the show on the most prolific day in the history of Team Type 1’s professional cycling programs.

The U.S. national time trial champion motored away from the field near the end of Sunday’s criterium at the Joe Martin Stage Race to score an impressive win that sealed her overall victory in the National Racing calendar event. Powers’ teammate, Jen McRae, won the field sprint to help Team Type 1 earn a runner-up finish to Webcor Builders in the team classification.

“Our plan was to race aggressively,” Team Type 1 women’s team director Jack Seehafer said. “Part of our goal initially for Alison and the team was to bring her on as a GC (general classification) rider. With the way this team is, we have been able to fine tune that, especially with our other riders filling other important roles.”

Powers’ stage win and overall title came just about two hours before Chris Jones of the Team Type 1 men’s squad scored a victory in that criterium. Among the crowd on hand for both accomplishments in Downtown Fayetteville, Ark., was Orbea’s Tony Karklins, managing director of Orbea’s U.S. distributor, which has its headquarters in nearby Little Rock.

“Today was very satisfying,” Powers said. “I think the whole team is super psyched that we are doing so well.”

Powers’ wire-to-wire victory – her ninth of the season and the 24th overall for the Team Type 1 women – also means she retains her overall lead in the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series (WPCS). Teammate Kori Seehafer leads the WPCS sprint classification. Both will wear their leaders jerseys at next month’s Nature Valley Grand Prix, the third event of the WPCS.

It was Seehafer’s attack toward the end of Sunday’s criterium that provided the springboard for Powers to launch her race-winning move.

“Kori has won on this course before and she had some amazing attacks that just wore people down,” Powers said, “I knew after the last one she did, I would be ready to attack. I was just waiting for it to happen. Jack saw the lull and told me ‘attack now’ on the radio.”

Anthony Is Taiwan’s Mountain King; Powers Wins Again

Team Type 1 added to its early-season success over the weekend when Alison Powers and Jesse Anthony made headlines on opposite sides of the globe.

Powers won Saturday’s Bikes and Buffaloes Criterium hosted by the University of Colorado while Anthony captured the King of the Mountains jersey at the Tour de Taiwan, which wrapped up Saturday.

Powers’ victory in the 45-minute race around a flat, fast course at the Boulder Research Park was her third of the year and the 11th overall for the Team Type 1 women’s professional squad. The team makes its official debut later this month at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in Redlands, Calif.

Anthony said his King of the Mountains title doesn’t make up for missing a good chunk of the 2008 racing season with an Achilles heel injury, followed by a broken wrist.

“After a short season last year I really feel like I have something to prove,” he said. “I feel like this is a great beginning to the season.”

Following a loss of time on the second stage of the seven-day, 497-mile (800 km) race, Anthony said he set his sights on going after the polka dot King of the Mountains (KOM) jersey.

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