After 3 Stages at Tour of PA

 

 Report by Steve Bauer

It was with excitement and anticipation our 6 young riders began the Tour of Pa.  Some of the world’s top young riders under 25 years of age were to compete over 6 days through tough Pennsylvania terrain.  The race began in Philadelphia on June 24^th finishing in Pittsburgh on Sunday June 29^th.
Our Team RACE Pro squad entered consists of Mark Pozniak, Joel Poitras, Adam Thuss, Mark Batty, Keir Plaice and Andrew Hunt.

 

The prologue TT began the event.  A beautiful wide open 4 km course on smooth, fast pavement with only a couple of sweeping turns and a difficult uphill final km.   David Veilleux set the fastest time early and held the lead for a serious amount of riders that followed.  Our boys made good performances throughout the morning with most guys finishing around 10 to 15 seconds down on Veilleux’s quick 4 min and 23 sec.  Our best TRP rider of the day was Mark Pozniak who finished in 23^rd at 4 min and 33 sec. The winner on the day eventually came up late on the start list.  Van Vooren of Johan Bruyneel’s Development Belgium team wins the stage in the day 4 min 18 sec.

That same afternoon our team was up again for a flat out 50 km criterium.  The race was fast from the gun.  Attempted breakaways were constant but not group formed could stay clear of the pace.  All challenges on the front were absorbed. The race came to a bunch sprint with Kelly Benefit and VMG Felt fighting for the lead-out.  Holloway from VMG / Felt the USA National U23 criterium champion wins the sprint.   Team Race riders all finishing in the main group.  Van Vooren holds the yellow leaders jersey.

 

Stage 2 was the first tough road race over 146 km from Downingtown to Carlisle.

The race was aggressive with the race always in flux.  Riders going away, getting chased, getting caught and new breaks forming repetitively.  At about 90 km following an important points sprint 7 to 8 riders went clear without a TRP rider.  Director Bauer was insistent on the radio that we make the counter attack to be sure someone could make that break.  Mark Batty came back saying Poitras was already on the move.  Poitras managed to bridge just after the feed zone ensuring we had at least one man in the important break.

In the sprint Lacombe was victorious with Joel 14^th in the same time. 

A brilliant second wind effort taking up chase was by Pozniak 25^th and Plaice 27^th on the stage who tried to catch the leaders in the final 10 km but came up about 1 min short.  The effort put Plaice in 2^nd on GC for the Under 21 age category.   Van Vooren holds the yellow leaders jersey.

 

Stage 3 was to be the toughest challenge so far.  A solid unrelenting head wind did not deter the peloton of young racers to make constant attacks.  After 2 hours of racing the riders were still trying to make a break but no group could get clear.  Finally a strong group of 8 riders managed to build a lead of 1:40 seconds. Mark Batty made up part of the group.  Gradually the leading team of Van Vooren’s Belgian team pulled the break back with some help from other teams.  Just prior to getting caught Batty and 2 other riders of the original break tried to sustain the lead and continued to drive forward only to be caught on the first tough climb of the Tour.   Peter Stetina made the boldest move of the day going clear strongman style, solo. Stetina built his lead quickly to 4 minutes over the group.  Through the next succession of hills and climbs only Keir Plaice could hold the wheel of the strongest riders in the race.  After the final climb the peloton of 36 riders gradually began to reel back Stetina but with sincere difficulty.  Team Bruyneel, Z team, Kelly Benefit Strategies all put men on the front to bring back Stetina.  In the final sprint to the line the suspense ended. Stetina was finally overcome by the pack at 50 meters to go.  James Driscoll of Fior di Frutta took the sprint.  Plaice finished in the top group in 25^th spot and held on to 2^nd place U21 GC.  The rest of our boys tired and battered from a hard day will be motivated again to work into a breakaway during the next 3 days of challenging racing.

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at %I:%M %p and is filed under Featured, Races and tagged with Team RACE Pro, Tour of PA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.