Williams, Halladay lead Elkhorn

Jun 18, 2010 by editor

BAKER CITY — Brian Williams (Northern Rockies Orthopedic) and Jennifer Halladay (Bob’s-Bicycles.com) took the stage 1 wins and seized control of the overall battles at the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race Friday.

Halladay and last year’s winner Teri Sheasby did major damage to the general classification battle in the women’s race, gaining 49 seconds over third-placed Taylor Wiles (Primal/Rocky Mountain Colavita) and nearly two minutes over Amy Frykman (Team Delphine) in fourth. Fifth-place Jessica Cutler (Cucina Fresca) sits at 2:27. The next finisher is nearly four minutes in arrears, and the rest of the field is strung out behind.

Halladay will wear the leader’s jersey for the Saturday morning time trial, where she’ll try and hold onto it going into the evening criterium.

In the Pro/1/2 Men’s race, Williams took the stage win from a bunch sprint after the pack chased down a threatening breakaway about 10 miles from the finish of their 74-mile battle. Team Exergy’s Kevin Rowe, second overall last year, finished second on the stage. Sam Johnson (Hagens-Berman) continued his impressive campaign, taking third after conserving energy in the pack throughout the day and directing his teammates’ actions on the road.

Team Exergy, by the far largest squad in the race, slotted another rider into the top five with Chris Stuart sitting fourth. John Curry (GAS/Intrinsik) finished fifth, while Team Oregon/Laurelwood’s Chris Swan snagged sixth after getting boxed in during the high-speed sprint.

The race started out super slow on the flats running out of town, with riders apparently wanting to ease into three full days of racing. But the easy pace didn’t last long. Attacks started going about eight miles in — there was a quick flurry of attacks and counter-attacks, which continued until a group gelled together. …

Team Exergy was super active early, and they got a guy off the front, joined by Jesse Moore from Cal Giant Strawberries, and finally Andrew Boone (CycleSoles) and a rider from Bob’s Bicycles (Exergy’s sister team out of Idaho), who bridged up together after the initial trio was already established. Exergy patrolled the front and set some false tempo to let the break get a gap — but, even so, the break never gained more than two minutes. Once the pack reached the key climb of the day, Exergy decided to set a hard tempo on the front and control the race.

After Taylor Kneuven (Adageo Energy) took some monster pulls into the beginning of the climb, Chris Hong, Exergy’s 90-pound climber who had been drafting in the wings all day, took over and set a blistering pace that caused a split in the main field. Fifteen to 20 riders were in the front group — including five or six from Exergy. Instead of pushing their advantage, the group inexplicably decided to sit up on the downhill and allowed the main field to come back together.

Hagens-Berman, Kneuven, and a team from Montana shared pace-setting through the flats, and the entire field conspired to keep the pace high over the rollers leading in to the finish. With the pack spotting the break and follow vehicles whenever it hit a long stretch of open road, it wasn’t long before the field gobbled them up with about 10 miles to go.

From there, it was primarily a game of punchy riding over the rollers, which whittled the lead group down to 25 or 30 riders, with chasers spread all over the course in pursuit. Williams pulled off the win on the 3k flat dash to the line.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Elkhorn Classic Stage Race
Stage 1 Oregon Trail Road Race
Friday, June 18

Pro/1/2 Men
1. Williams, Brian (Northern Rockies Orthopedic) 2:49:37.7
2. Rowe, Kevin (Team Exergy) +:00
3. Johnson, Sam (Hagens-Berman LLP Cycling) +:00
4. Stuart, Chris (Team Exergy) +:00
5. Curry, John (GAS/Intrinsik) +:00
6. Swan, Chris, (Team Oregon/Laurelwood) +:00
7. Lunning, Kris, (Above Category Racing) +:00
8. Gray, Scott (Cyclesoles/Sagebrush) +:00
9. Jones, Dylan (Team WM/Hammer Nutrition) +:00
10. Wetzel, Logan (Second Ascent) +:00
Cat 1/2 Women
1. Halladay, Jennifer (Bob’s-Bicycles.com) 20:14.0
2. Sheasby, Teri (Veloforma) +:00
3. Wiles, Taylor (Primal/Rocky Mountain Colavita) +:49
4. Frykman, Amy (Team Delphine) +1:46
5. Cutler, Jessica (Cucina Fresca) +2:27
6. Ferrat, Gabriela (Trisports/Eclipse) +3:52
7. Brynjolfson, Kristine (Cucina Fresca) +4:09
8. Walker, Kris (ICE/Idaho Kidney Institute) +4:09
9. peithman, Susan (Veloforma) +4:38
10. Hetzel, Kristin (Trisports/Eclipse) +4:38
Cat 3 Men
1. Joe Martin (Veloce Racing)
2. Steven Hunter Portland Bicycle Studio)
3. Cort Buchholz (Cyclesoles/Sagebrush Cycles)
4. Andrew Willis (Ironclad Performance Wear)
5. Dean Haas (Black Sheep Junior Racing)
Cat 3 Women
1. Lauren Roschen (Cucina Fresca)
2. Ellen Sherrill (Davis Bike Club)
3. Molly Mullane (Landshark)
4. Mindy Simmons (Hammer Velo)
5. Anna Christiansen (Ironclad Performance Wear)
Cat 4/5 Men
1. Aaron Nydam (Teton Orthopedics)
2. Ben Aufderheide (Teton Training)
3. Garth Jackson
4. Alex Wentz (Team Oregon/Laurelwood Brewing)
5. Cole Sprague (Bend Memorial Clinic Total Care Racing Team)
Cat 4 Women
1. Kristina Zack (Davis Bike Club)
2. Erica Loder (Veloforma)
3. Christina Mihaescu (Hammer Velo)
4. Stephanie Croy (Ironclad Performance Wear)
5. Erica Mikesh (Early Bird Women’s Developmental Team)
Masters Women
1. Martha Walsh (Echelon Gran Fondo/ZteaM)
2. Rhonda Morin (Sorella Forte)
3. Lesley Jensen (One Team Racing)
4. Jessica Hickel (Jet City Velo)
5. Cary Fisher (Pacific Power Blue Sky)
Masters Men 40+ 1/2/3
1. Craig Nunes (ArtCyclery.com/Wild Horse Wines)
2. John Browning (Echelon Gran Fondo)
3. Craig Kidd (ICE/Idaho Kidney Institute)
4. Tim Root (Broken Spoke Cycling)
5. Todd Gallaher (IJM.org)
Masters Men 40+ 4/5
1. Mark Llinares (Teton Orthopedics)
2. Mark Twight (unattached)
3. Calvin Darling (Monta Vista Velo)
4. John Kenney (Mountain View Cycles)
5. Nelson Frink (Davis Bike Club)

Complete OBRA results are HERE.