Gateway Criterium Finals. USA Crits Individual and Team Win!

 

Standing on the podium felt great!

I had nothing but excitement and high ambitions to bring to Gateway Cup. Less then a week prior, I landed back home in Texas after a month of racing in Europe and I was eager to put my legs to the test against familiar faces. The Gateway Cup included 3 NCC days, the third NCC event being the final for the USA Criterium Series, and it concluded with a non-NCC event rounding out that weekend on Monday

Because of my class schedule (school just started, and it was already getting in the way of bike racing) I could only race Friday through Sunday. These were, however, the biggest and most important days of the week with the fastest competition to race agaisnt.



Friday Tour De Lafayette

Gateway Roster: Me, Thomas, Brandon (Monk) and Ryan. It was a small squad with just four of us. To get results, we had to race smart as a unit.

The start of the race was fast, and I was able to line up at the front alongside my teammates. I started the race hot, trying to get into an early move if possible. But a fast 4-corner criterium meant that the chances of that happening were slim. After a few laps trying to get off the front, Thomas told me that things were going to end up in a field sprint – and with the way that UHC has been racing, he was right. I sat in, comfortably, for most the race. Most of the excitement happened at about 8 laps to go where a large crash took out maybe a dozen riders. I was able to avoid the crash entirely, but Brandon went down hard. I stayed near him and made sure he made it back to the pit in one piece. He was able to get back into the race with about 6 laps to go, right before they ended the free lap rule. In the final few laps of the race, I was staying close to Brandon making sure I was near him if he needed me.

With about 4 laps to go, UHC was at full throttle on the front and I was looking for any way to get up there to help my teammates. It was not until 2 laps to go where I saw a hole open and I was able to fly up on the outside and go around UHC to the front. I was hoping that riders would have followed me to the front, but everyone was content with letting UHC win another race and were playing towards their strengths. Unfortunately, Brandon got boxed in when I took the front and he could not follow me through the hole I made. I led the pack around till maybe the final 300 meters before the start of the last lap before an angry UHC team went back around me with their sprint starting with 1 lap to go. Brandon was able to hold out strong despite his crash and finish 16th on the first race.

Saturday Tour De Francis Park
 

The second day of racing was on a much larger circuit, still a 4 corner square, but with much larger roads and a some actual hills. This changed the way the race would play out. I started out at the back of the field this time because I knew that the roads were so wide and the corners were so far apart that I was not going to have difficulty sitting in, or even moving up. The race started out aggressive, but I was able to sit comfortably in the field.

About halfway through the race the weather took a turn for the worst, and the sudden dry roads and sunshine turned to hard rain and darkness. The moment this happened I immediate moved towards the front and started putting pressure on the race. If there is anything that I learned about myself after a month of racing in the rain in Europe, it is that rain puts the race into my favor.

I got into a few moves with some racers as we were trying to get away from the the field that was starting to have a few crashes from riders hitting bumps and paint at bad angles in the wet. However, every move that I was apart of would eventually get brought back. Luckily, no one from the Astellas squad hit the dirt and we were riding very well together in the chaotic race. A small group of 4 would eventually get up the road and threaten the podium. But again, UHC took to the front to shut things down. I was able to shadow UHC for many of the closing laps with Brandon on my wheel, keeping him out of trouble. It was not too long before the fatigue of my early aggression in the initial rainfall started to come out. With half a lap to go, Ryan launched a major attack to go for the solo win out of the pack. He was able to go past the deteriorating break and get some time on the field before UHC jumped after him and the pace blew up.  Crashes started to happened all around me in the wet turns. At that point I knew I did my job for the team. I found out later that Ryan did get caught about 300 meters from the finish, but his late race attack set things up for Brandon to get a very hard earned 4th place

Sunday Giro Della Montagna

Sunday’s race was a little bit different from the previous days. The USA Crit series points were up for grabs and with Thomas sitting second overall in the points, as well as, Astellas sitting high up there in the team overall points competition, we had to make this race count. Brandon, Ryan and I had to keep and eye out for Thomas to make sure he was going to be in good position for the 2 points primes that were going to be in the race. We were also aiming for a strong finish from each of us; having only 4 guys in the race meant that it was going to take a good finish from everyone if we wanted to lock up the team overall.

The race was a very hard a fast course: four corners, over a very long rectangle with some steep climbs on the longest sides made for some tactical racing. Unlike the previous days where I was a bit more relaxed with positioning, I made sure I was always near the front today. As the race unfolded, I kept calm and made sure not to needlessly attack. It was going to take my full focus to help out Thomas and have enough energy in the legs to get a result for myself. As we were approaching the first points prime, I was in the middle of the pack moving towards the front. I was able to see that Ryan and Thomas were riding together near the front and Ryan was able to lead Thomas out to get a substantial number of points.

By the time we were approaching the halfway points prime, Ryan, Thomas and I were all riding at the front together. Ryan started the leadout about half a lap to go with me on his wheel. I was able to get around  Ryan and lead Thomas out through the finishing stretch where he was able to get around me in the final few hundred meters. It ended up being a bike throw between Thomas and Frank Travieso (Current USA Crits Leader) for max points.

After that prime, I had to focus on helping my team get a result and do well myself. As the laps started to tick down, I saw an opening within about 5 laps to go where I launched a very hard, all-or-nothing attack to bridge across to the group of 2 that were dangling off the front.

I got myself some good separation, but UHC started to raise their speed to quickly bring me back. As I was caught a lap later, I was brutally headbutted, hip checked, and shoved into a curb by an angry sounding UHC team. I think they were getting sick of the late race efforts Astellas has been putting in all weekend. I would end up finishing in a splintering field with Ryan, but knowing that both Brandon and Thomas were up there in the sprint getting points and placing well.



Our efforts paid off – Thomas took the leader's jersey on the last day of the series and won the USA Crit Series Overall Individual competition! Also, Astellas took the team overall title! Not too shabby for sending such a small squad of guys to the USA Crit Finals. I couldn't be happier to finish my team calendar by helping Thomas get on top of the individual USA crits podium as well as be part of the team that won the team overall.

Driving to St. Louis was not too bad, I had a pretty awesome
co pilot who got to experience Sonic Happy hour for the first time.