Canadian Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) outsprinted his breakaway companions to win the final stage, the Hood River Criterium, of the Mt Hood Cycling Classic. World B Champion Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) was second and Italian Alessandro Bazzana (Successful Living) came in third.

Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) wins the sprint ahead of Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) and Alessandro Bazzana (Successful Living)

“I was on [Chris] Wherry’s wheel and he sat up, I knew that he’s not going to deliver me to the line, I was just waiting for that, and I was able to get on, I think it was Bazzana’s or Stevic’s wheel, and I came around him at the end. I came around the corner in third wheel.” said Pinfold.

Australian Rory Sutherland protected by his Health Net-Maxxis teammates came in safely across the line to win the overall general classification, shadowed at the line by second place Darren Lill (BMC) and third place Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell).

“I think it was a learning experience for a lot of the guys, a lot of the boys hadn’t done that kind of stuff before. Look at the start list, look at the teams that are here, this is probably one of the. I’d say, one of the best field ever put together on the domestic scene, this and Redlands of course, so it was by no means an easy feat that’s for sure. The guys seemed to get better every day, and really rode above and beyond today, to be honest they don’t get paid enough to do that kind of stuff because they just killed themselves for somebody else and that’s a pretty amazing thing.” said Sutherland about his team.

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I caught up with Rock Racing’s Doug Ollerenshaw at the Mt Hood Cycling Classic. As a Portland native, Doug received some of the loudest cheers during the race. I could tell when he was on the attack during stage 1, the Mt Tabor Criterium in downtown Portland, as the screams of ‘Dougie’ could be heard all over the course.An all-around nice guy, the 29-year old is known to slay himself for his teammates and race aggressively trying to get into breaks. Oh and he’s also a mechanical engineer.

Doug at Tour de Georgia, Photo by Ken Conley

Lyne: What did it feel like to have your name yelled out loud during the Mt Tabor Criterium stage?
Doug: It was great, I had a lot of friends out there, it was motivating, I had hoped for a bit more from myself in front of the home crowd but it’s a tough field, tough to do much against the field. I put in a hard attack early on, and it got loud, it was fun.

Lyne: There was a lot of drama surrounding the Rock Racing team early this year, how did it impact you in your training?
Doug: The uncertainty was a little tough, I think a lot of it was a bit overblown, the riders we’re all normal people, it was a lot of the media attention. A lot of it was also cultivated by Michael Ball I believe, he was trying to create a buzz and he certainly did so but things have definitely settled down a bit. Everybody has a better idea of what to expect, things are going really smooth now, no problems at this point.

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