Secrist wins Cherry Blossom GC, Sanborn gets final stage

Apr 26, 2010 by editor

THE DALLES — Sunday’s Pro/1/2 women’s criterium on a super fast, wide-open course that wasn’t conducive to breakaways didn’t have much chance to upset the top end of the GC, but that didn’t dampen the excitement with a field of riders hungry for a stage win.

But it was Cyclepath’s Melissa Sanborn who plucked her second stage in a perfectly timed burst for the line that gave her the win by several bike lengths. Robin Secrist (Riverstone Women’s Racing Team) stayed safely in the bunch after taking the overall lead with back-to-back stage wins.

“I just tried to mostly stay in the pack and stay safe,” Secrist said. “Our team set out to be aggressive again. We came here to race this weekend. So I tried to attack a couple times. We would have loved to have another podium, but we did what we could, and we got the overall.”

With the GC apparently all but decided, Sanborn used “plan B” to pluck her second stage win. Plan A was to get away and gain enough time on her GC rivals to climb back into top three overall. But after several animating attacks, getting away on the wide open, fast course proved impossible.

“I didn’t realize I’d be so close to being top three in GC after the time trial today,” Sanborn said. “But I was actually only six seconds off, so I was kind of planning on maybe trying to get away with another rider or two and put some time into the field. But when that wasn’t working, I just wanted to clean up and get some primes and take the win. It wall went according to plan – plan B.”

Sanborn went for a $100 prime with two laps remaining and then settled back in for the field sprint, which she won in front of Brenna Lopez-Otero (Bend Bike N Sport) and last year’s triple stage winner Patricia Bailey (Keller Rohrback Cycling Team).

“It was kind of gutsy,” Sanborn said. “But I like to make money where I’m at, and I felt like I could recover. I had some competition but I still felt I could get the prime and get the win, too.”

Sanborn earned her $100 lap prize and then settled back in for the finale, where the rider with no teammates looked elsewhere for help.

“When we went through with one to go, one of the Koehle Rorhback girls was on the front, and I was on her wheel,” Sanborn said. “I kind of came around on the backside, and there was a perfect move by one of the Glotman Simpson gals. She made a great move, so I got on her wheel. She took me through the second-to-last corner, and I knew that’s all I needed. I just used her as my teammate, basically.”

But Sanborn’s efforts fell short of her hopes to climb on the on podium. Portland’s Sue Butler (River City Bicycles) got that privilege with second-place, and Keller Rorhback’s Patricia Bailey, a three-stage winner at last year’s race, climbed into third.

Secrist said she and her teammates on Riverstone, an Idaho-based squad that has riders throughout the northwest, will spread out and continue to race locally before heading back for Oregon to race together at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

Butler, a mountain biker who claims no real fondness for road racing, finished second overall with a gutsy chase on stage two to finish second and surprisingly good second-place run in the time trial on a bike she’d only ridden four times.

“I never go to a race to lose,” Butler said. “You always want to do your best. But not having much fondness or experience at road racing I didn’t have expectations. When Robin got away and put that time on us, I should have gone earlier and chased her down. But then again, she got me by 30 seconds in the time trial. So had it come down to the time trial, I still wouldn’t have won.”

RESULTS
Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic
Stage 4 Criterium
Sunday, April 24

Pro/1/2 Women
1. SANBORN, Melissa (CyclePath Racing) 35:46 @ 0
2. LOPEZ-OTERO, Brenna (Bend Bike ‘N Sport Race Team) ” ”
3. BAILEY, Patricia (Keller Rohrback Cycling Team) ” ”
4. GAERTNER, Jenni (Riverstone Women’s Racing Team) ” ”
5. BILLINGTON, Hilary (Hammer)

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

Pro/1/2 Women
1. SECRIST, Robin (Riverstone Women’s Racing Team) 5:52:11 @ 00:00
2. BUTLER, Sue (River City Bicycles )5:53:49 @ 01:38
3. BAILEY, Patricia (Keller Rohrback Cycling Team) 5:55:14 @ 03:03
4. CUTLER, Jessica (Cucina Fresca) ” ”
5. GAERTNER, Jenni (Riverstone Women’s Racing Team) 5:55:15 @ 03:04