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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If there were any questions about whether Cervélo-Lifeforce rider Kristin Armstrong was looking for a three-peat performance at the 2008 Nature Valley Grand Prix, those questions were answered during a windy, rain-lashed criterium in Saint Paul.

Armstrong took off like a bandit from the starting gun at the first stage of the six-stage race, demonstrating the combination of guts and skills it takes to be a World Champion. During her astounding effort against what is a broad and deep pool of women’s talent, Armstrong eventually lapped almost the entire women’s field. The nearly superhuman performance not only gave Armstrong the stage win, but also put her in the Wheaties Sprint jersey, the Jelly Belly Queen of the Hills jersey and the Nature Valley GP Overall Leader yellow jersey. While she was trouncing her competitors, officials pulled more than half of the women’s field and made the decision to let the entire group advance to the road stage in Cannon Falls tomorrow.

Heading into the race, Armstrong took a conservative stance. “The number one goal I have is Beijing in two months, so I need to remember that,” she said. “With these conditions out here tonight I just want to be safe and I hope the Peloton has the same feeling about being safe and we work together tonight.” But when the gun went off and the rubber hit the road, Armstrong took another tack. “When there’s rain and there’s a criterium, those two equal ‘try to go by yourself,’” said Armstrong. “I knew that it wasn’t going to be the safest course and I just wanted to stay safe and the only way you can do that is either stay in front or try to break the field, so I just decided to sit up and go as hard as I could.”

And go as hard as she could she did. Team TIBCO put forth an outstanding team effort chasing Armstrong, with Brooke Miller, Joanne Kiesanowski, and Lauren Franges all finishing in the top five and Kiesanowski and Miller taking second and third in the stage respectively. PROMAN Racing’s Rachel Lloyd took fourth and also made chase with the TIBCO riders for Armstrong. Franges’ efforts earned her the BOOST Best Young Rider jersey for the evening.

TIBCO’s effort was part of a bigger goal for the team. “TIBCO has a really strong team here and we are racing for the overall,” said Miller. “We have eight strong riders and the reason why we were racing so aggressively and chasing Kristin is because we want to win this race. We don’t want to win just stages, we want to win this race.”

Race officials made the decision to neutralize the stage results, meaning Armstrong and the TIBCO team gained no time advantage for their dominating efforts. The official’s decision was based on rain-soaked conditions making it impossible to score the race fairly at the end.

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The indomitable Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (High Road) won the sprint of the 40 miles NRC Visalia Criterium ahead of the Tibco duo of Brooke Miller and Lauren Franges who all avoided the crashes in the last lap including in the last corner.

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (High Road) wins the spring ahead of Tibco’s Brooke Miller and Lauren Franges

“I had a good position at the end and my team helped me out to get me there. I had the better position to Brooke coming out of her draft and get around with a bit more speed.” said Teutenberg.

“On the backside, Lauren jumped early which was exactly what we wanted to to, we wanted her to go for a full sprint on the corner with me on the wheel so she set me up absolutely perfectly. Unfortunately I also gave great leadout to Ina, but my team did such a great job of leading me out, I was really very excited about it.” said Miller about the last lap.

The pro women gathered on Sunday for the second day of the Sequoia Cycling Classic to tackle the flat and fast Visalia Criterium.

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