St. Louis, MO – Brooke Miller and Team TIBCO have swept the four-race Women’s Tour of Missouri Series, part of the Gateway Cup in St. Louis this Labor Day weekend. The four-rider squad, which included Katharine Carroll, Alison Starnes and Rushlee Buchanan, had to contend with full rosters from teams like Colavita/Sutter Home and Team Type 1. Yet they still delivered Miller to four consecutive victories.

This morning, on a course that covered part of the circuit for today’s opening stage of the men’s Tour of Missouri, Miller once again took advantage of a stealth leadout from Carroll.

“It’s our new tactic, leadout from behind,” Miller joked.

Coming into the final lap, Miller was situated behind the Colavita train, with Carroll behind her on her wheel. With about 500 meters to go, as she had done Saturday, Carroll launched from behind Miller, who jumped on her wheel. Carroll dove the final two corners and dropped off Miller coming out of the last turn with 200 meters to go.

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No blues in St. Louis so far for Team TIBCO: Miller takes wins in first two Women’s ToMO races.

St. Louis, MO – Team TIBCO sent four riders to St. Louis for this weekend’s Women’s Tour of Missouri Series, part of the Gateway Cup. Despite being outnumbered by the likes of Colavita/Sutter Home and Team Type 1, those four women seem to be riding like eight, having now delivered Brooke Miller to wins in the first two races of the series.

Saturday, on a wide open, 1.3 mile St. Louis Hills circuit, Miller took advantage of a sneak attack leadout from teammate Katharine Carroll, who took Miller to the last turn and let the sprinter finish the job.

“We wanted to be the aggressors again today,” said Miller. “We launched a lot of attacks but nothing was getting away. About half-way through the race we decided to change tactics and race a bit more defensively. We thought Colavita might attack more since they had the numbers, but they weren’t going on the attack.

Instead, with two laps to go, Colavita set up their train on the front.

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Come watch Team TIBCO bust it in Burlingame this Sunday!

Los Altos, California – This Sunday, Team TIBCO, the fastest start-up in Silicon Valley, will take its speed show to downtown Burlingame for the Burlingame Criterium. The women’s race, run around a tight, technical 0.7-mile course, starts at 1:30 p.m.

Team TIBCO is looking to dominate the race the same way it did the Santa Cruz Criterium in April, where the team stacked the podium. Leading the charge will be U.S. National Road and Criterium Champion Brooke Miller. Miller will have powerhouse support from Amber Rais, who dominated the Tour de Nez in her hometown of Reno last weekend. Also racing will be rising stars Alison Starnes and Rushlee Buchanan along with Katharine Carroll, Emma Rickards, and Alison Rosenthal, all experienced riders who have been key to many of the team’s top performances this year

“It’s not often you get to see one of the top teams in North America race in your own backyard,” said Team TIBCO founder and manager Linda Jackson. “We have a ton of supporters in the Bay area, and on the Peninsula and Silicon Valley in particular, who have been with us since we were a small startup just a few years ago. They’ve been critical to our growth and success. So it’s important to the team that we race close to home and invite all those people to join us and really make it more than just another race on the calendar, but a celebration of their contribution to the team’s success.”

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Nevada City Bicycle Classic 2009 Photo Gallery by Ken Conley

Photo by Ken Conley

Photo by Ken Conley

Photo by Ken Conley

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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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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Los Altos, California – U.S. National Road and Criterium Champion Brooke Miller and Katharine Carroll of Team TIBCO will do one more race this weekend in preparation for the Redlands Classic: the three-day, four-stage Madera Stage race in and around Madera, CA.

To get a little extra work, the duo will race with the men’s pro/1/2 field.

“Racing Madera with the men’s pro/1/2 field will be great prep for Redlands,” Carroll said. “Racing with the men is like doing several very hard motorpacing sessions. We should come out flying for Redlands.”

The men’s race also offers an extra time trial in the form of the 10-mile opening Ben Hur Hill Climb this Friday, which only the men’s field contests. The race continues Saturday with a double stage, featuring a flat, 10-mile time trial in the morning and a 30-mile criterium in the afternoon. The race concludes Sunday with an 85-mile road race.

“Friday’s time trial gives us an extra opportunity to dial in our time trial position that isn’t offered to the other categories.” Carroll added.

Alison Starnes & Alison Rosenthal of Team TIBCO will also be down for the Madera race, but will race with the women’s pro/1/2.

Photo: (Left to Right) Alison Starnes, Brooke Miller and Alison Rosenthal at the Menlo Park Grand Prix

In a brand stinking new Stars & Stripes jersey, US Crit (and Road) Champion Brooke Miller (Tibco) won the bunch sprint at the inaugural Women’s Criterium at the Tour of Missouri. Erica Allar (Aaron’s) was second and Jen McRae (Advil/Chapstick) was third.

The field might have been small with only thirty-something riders at the start line, but the racing was big. In front of an enthusiastic crowds, the women put on a show for 55 minutes (+ 5 laps) in the Country Club Plaza, Kansas City’s premiere entertainment, shopping and dining destination.

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With the help of team mates Amber Rais and Rushlee Buchanan, Brooke Miller easily won the tight bunch sprint finish at the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, June 29^th.

Jazz Apple was quite aggressive all race long. With two laps to go Alison Shanks built a 20 second lead before Team TIBCO sent Rais to chase the break down. “With five laps to go Jazz Apple went,” stated Miller. “Linda told us that we needed to bring that break back. Rushlee attacked first…then Amber went. That was great for me because Cheerwine had to chase it. Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) had to chase Amber which set me up perfectly. I knew I could fend for myself going into the finish. I needed to make sure I was in a good position. I wanted to be in the top 5 going into that last corner because I did not want to get swarmed or boxed in. With the curves in the backside it’s really easy to get pinched. One of the Vanderkitten riders (Melissa Sanborn) tried to go with about 500 meters….which was perfect. It caused everyone to jump so I didn’t have to worry about get swarmed. Jen McRae (Team Advil/Chapstick) followed….Van Gilder (Cheerwine) followed… Martina Patella (ValueAct Capital) followed….I followed. Coming around that last turn I was following third wheel which was great. The pace was fast so I could relax. Jen McRae then jumped which gave me a perfect bike lane to run. I was really fortunate to have it set up really well for me.”

Brooke Miller (Team TIBCO)
Amber and Rushlee did a fantastic job covering everything so that I could just sit in. I don’t often get amped or get nervous before a race but today I was like a chicken with its head cut off. It was so nice to have such great team mates to calm me down. I trust that are going to do their job…and sure enough they did. There was a lot of aggression trying to get breaks off. It was a nice and aggressive field with nice and aggressive riders.  

Linda Jackson (DS-Team TIBCO)
That was just a fantastic race. We really wanted to set up Amber to win today. Amber was going to try to go early and then she was going to try again with a few laps left to go. Alison Shanks (Jazz Apple)went off the front and Amber single handedly brought back Alison. That was a phenomenal ride by Amber. Brooke owes the win today to both Amber and Rushlee for all of their hard work. They did a fantastic job. Once it was a bunch sprint it was all Brooke. We didn’t care that she was up there alone. Get into a bunch sprint and Brooke can take care of herself.

Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine)
I had three of my team mates with me. We have really been having a good season. Kelly (Benjamin) has been winning a lot. Sarah (Bamberger) has won races. We raced with Ally in
Austin. We thought we had a super strong team. This is always a difficult course to have breakaways get away. Certainly a lot of the teams tried but felt pretty confident in our ability to keep things going our way. With two laps to go, the two rider breakaway definitely put the pressure on us  to bring it back. First Sarah tried to get across…then Ally (Brandt ) tried. There was a flurry of activity going into the finish. I thought there was going to be good competition for that sprint finish. I was probably about third, coming into the last corner, behind Jen (McRae) and Brooke (Miller). We kind of remained in that position. It’s still a long way to the finish after that turn. The wind made it a little trickier. It’s always windy here.

Amber Rais (Team TIBCO)
Sometimes on a course like this people can get complacent but it was pretty aggressive with lots of attacks. The attacks made it fun because we could counter and we could chase. Rushlee  was very active in the first part of the race covering everything so that we could have gas for the second half. Alison Shanks put in a good move off the front. I knew that we had to bring her back. I didn’t want to go right away because I didn’t want to be towing people. I waited for a few people to start chasing and railed the hairpin turn and just attacked straight out of it to get a gap. I kept that gap and caught her at the backside of the course. The group then caught the both of us at the straight section on the backside. We needed to have that happen for Brooke. Brooke got into a great position.

Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO)
I was just trying to go out and cover for the girls…do the work so that they could race. We only had three people and some teams were out there with six. We just had to go out there, watch and cover. Brooke was patient. She knew what she was doing…it was awesome.

Women Cat 1-2 Final Results: 

1          Brooke Miller (Team TIBCO)

2          Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine)

3          Jennifer McRae (Team Advil/Chapstick)

4          Melissa Sanborn (Vanderkitten Racing)

5          Beatriz Rodriguez (Southern California Velo)

6          Martina Patella (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team)

7          Lara Kroepsch (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team)

8          Rebecca Quinn ( South Bay Wheelmen)

9          Melodie Metzger (PROMAN)

10        Rachel Herring (Rock Racing)

All photos by Stephanie Gutowski

By Lindsey Dickinson

Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light rider Tina Pic won the Cannon Falls Road Race, stage two of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, in a sprint finish to earn the Nature Valley GP overall yellow jersey and a spot on top of the podium. Joanne Kiesanowski of Team TIBCO took second and Cheerwine’s Laura VanGilder took third in the stage.

“I was just trying to keep myself up there,” said Pic of her time in the finishing circuits. “It was dicey. You really had to be in top five. Once you got back a little bit, it was that slinky effect and you had to be up there, just fighting.”

Pic’s fighting finish came after 55 miles among the rolling farm fields of east-central Minnesota, marred by one serious crash involving several riders, including Pic. “I chased for a long time,” said Pic. “Then two of my teammates came back to help but I think they didn’t know I was down and it took a long time to get a wheel change… When I got up everyone was gone, so it was just a long time chasing…I’m okay. I landed on people, poor things.”

The Jelly Belly Queen of the Hill jersey went to Felicia Gomez of Aaaron’s Professional Women’s Cycling Team, while Joanne Kiesanowski of TIBCO took home the Wheaties Sprint jersey. Cheerwine’s Catherine Cheatley earned the BOOST Best Young Rider jersey

If the prior night’s rainy, cold criterium in Saint Paul was a bike racer’s hell, then Thursday’s Cannon Falls Road Race was a little slice of heaven for the women’s peloton. In a stage that has historically been marred by adverse weather—extreme heat one year and tornadoes the next—today’s race presented what can only be described as a beautiful sunny day, complete with moderate temperatures and light winds. The teams started from scratch after a controversial decision by the officials to cancel the results of the first stage due to the negative weather events. The decision negatively impacted riders and teams who fought through the weather, including Team TIBCO.

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