Bates, Chinburg sprint to CBCC crit wins

Apr 3, 2011 by editor

THE DALLES — Nighttime racing on the stage 3 Cherry City Criterium’s downtown course proved exciting for racers and spectators, but at the end of the evening the drag race through The Dalles had little effect on the overall standings for the 2011 Water’s Edge Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic.

Garage Racing’s Andrew Bates beat the field in a sprint for the Pro/1/2 men’s stage win, while Megan Chinburg (Upper Echelon Fitness) avoided a last lap wreck at the front of the field to take the Pro/1/2 women’s race. With just one stage remaining, Ian McKissick (Audi) holds a 29 second lead over Colby Wait-Molyneux (Hammer/CMG) in the men’s race. Double stage winner Jade Wilcoxson (Landshark/Flywheel) wears the women’s jersey with an 18-second lead over Patricia Bailey (Keller Rohrback).

Despite winds and chillier-than-normal temperatures, the fast, flat four-corner course in The Dalles made breakaways a difficult proposition Saturday evening. Bates made some attempts to escape the field, along with many others, but the race seemed destined for a field sprint.

“This is definitely a fast course,” Bates said. “It’s flat and windy, so it kind of shuts it down for any breaks going off. I tried a couple flyers myself and tried to bridge to a few things, but nothing was sticking.”

Bates faded back into the pack and relied on his teammates to watch the front of the group. Sitting about 15 deep in the field at the start of the last lap, he found an opening on the right side of the back straightaway and moved to the front in time to catch the wheel of Brian Williams (Northern Rockies Orthopedic), who jumped with two corners to go.

Williams said his long flyer from the back straight was a now-or-never proposition.

“The pace was real fast coming into the last lap,” Williams said. “And then it slowed down a little bit and I got stuck on the front. When there were two corners to go I didn’t want to wait any longer. I guess I didn’t have enough.”

William’s long effort was definitely enough to create a small gap for himself and Bates — an advantage the Garage racer put to good use.

“Brian really put in an awesome dig at the very last there,” bates said. “And I did all I could to stay on his wheel. Luckily he gave me a little bit of a rabbit, and I was able to just slingshot up to the line. I was waiting for someone from the pack to come roaring by, but I was able to hold it.”

Bates collected the top prize and threw up a one-armed salute just past the line. Williams followed him in and collected second. California Giant’s Ben Swedburg led the rest home for third. The win was especially sweet for Bates, who ran into a bit of bad luck while riding in what was eventually the winning breakaway Friday.

“I broke two spokes and got shot out of that,” Bates said. “So I was really happy to have a great result here.”

The 30-minute Pro/1/2 women’s race followed the same pattern as the men’s race, with hopeful escape attempts stretching the field, but nothing able to break the flying bunch’s grasp. A plethora of primes also helped glue the group together for most of the race.

“There were so many primes that those were kind of the attacks,” said overall women’s leader Jade Wilcoxson And then the non-prime laps were recovery for Leia (Tyrrell) and Tricia (Bailey), who were taking most of them. They were working hard.”

Indeed, Tyrrell (Sorella Forte) seemed to be firing on all cylinders as she battled Bailey for prime after prime and seemed a lock for one of the top two spots. But things turned sour when she made her move three quarters of the way through the final lap and had a small gap over the bunch exiting turn three.

“I don’t know what happened, if she skipped a chain or what, but she went over the handlebars,” Wilcoxson said. “We all hit the brakes and that pretty much spread us out a lot.”

From that point it was a mad dash for the line, with Chinburg winning by several bike lengths in front of Wilcoxson in second and Bailey third. Chinburg, a relatively new Cat 2, sits ninth overall going into Sunday’s stage 4 Orchard Run Circuit Race.

RESULTS
Cherry City Criterium
April 2

Pro/1/2 Men
1. Andrew Bates (Garage Racing)
2. Brian Williams (Northern Rockies Orthopedic)
3. Benjamin Swedburg (California Giant)
4. James Strangeland (Keller Rohrback)
5. Gabe Varella (Firefighters Association/Formigli)
Pro/1/2 Women
1. Megan Chinburg (Upper Echelon Fitness)
2. Jade Wilcoxson (Landshark/Flywheel)
3. Patricia Bailey (Keller Rohrback)
4. Katy Curtis (CMC/Bow Cycle)
5. Jasmine Glaesser (Cycling BC)

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
(after stage 3)

Pro/1/2 Men
1. Ian McKissick (Audi) 4:03:20
2. Colby Wait-Molyneux (Hammer/CMG) +:29
3. James Strangeland (Keller Rohrback) +1:09
4. Kristo Jorgenson (BYRDS) +1:17
5. Logan Owen (Hagens Berman) +1:25

Pro/1/2 Women
1. Jade Wilcoxson (Landshark/Flywheel) 3:38:01
2. Patricia Bailey (Keller Rohrback) +:18
3. Jessica Cutler (Cucina Fresca) +1:11
4. Jasmin Glaesser (Cycling BC) +1:56
5. Jessica Hannah (Cycling BC) +2:13