Stillwater Criterium Men
Sutherland Takes Nature Valley Grand Prix Overall for Third Straight Year
by Lyne Lamoureax
Rory Sutherland (United Healthcare p/b Maxxis) did it again at the Stillwater Criterium, the nail-biting finish to the 2010 Nature Valley Grand Prix. Not only did the Australian overcome a three-second deficit to leader Scott Zwizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies) but he also pulled out the stage win to claim his third consecutive overall victory at the race.
“It's definitely special because there is more pressure to be able to do it,” said Sutherland about his three-peat. “As fun as it was last year to bring it down to the last day, I'd much rather have it a few days earlier, but this is the finish here.”
Everyone knew that strategy today, the tried and true plan that the United Healthcare team followed last year. Stick close to the yellow jersey, mass at the front and launch an attack in the final laps of the 20-lap race.
“I got the confidence and I have the team to do a finish like that. The Kelly guys did a phenomenal job the whole race, but,” said Sutherland, “it's [either] you can follow or you can't follow. That's the way it works.”
And that's exactly what happened when with two laps to go, Sutherland attacked on the leg-busting Chilkoot Hill. Luis Amaran (Jamis/Sutter Home) was the only rider to jump on but he was dropped on the final time up Chilkoot and took second on the stage.
Zwizanski was just not able to cover the move. “My team did a great work, they did everything they could, we did everything we could and I didn't have the legs in the end to go with those two boys and that's the way it went. It's a bummer,” said a disappointed Zwizanski who finished second in the overall general classification at six seconds down.
Zwizanski's right hand man in the final laps and 2008 Stillwater stage winner David Veilleux saw the attack happen and moved to cover but then looked back to see if Zwizanski was on his wheel.
“I had good legs today. When I went to bridge up, I hesitated because I saw that Scott wasn't there, maybe I should have gone for it,” said Veilleux. “I think that we tried everything that we could to win the yellow jersey, that was the goal of the day.”
Veilleux finished third on the stage and in the general classification.
An hour or so before the showdown, the riders lined up for the final stage with a noisy crowd ready to cheer them on Chilkoot. A crash took down about 20 riders a few meters from the start line when the gun was off, but most returned to the race after a free lap. At the front, three riders immediately attacked, Jeremy Vennell (BISSELL), Scott Stewart (Team Type 1) and Anthony Colby (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) were off with the whole Kelly Benefit squad once again stringing out the field with a fast pace. A familiar sight from the start when Zwizanski took the lead after winning the opening time trial.
The gap grew to 17 seconds following the first King of the Hill competition won by Stewart. Riders, including Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda), Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia), Benjamin King (Trek Livestrong) in his white Fruit by the Foot Best Young Rider jersey tried to bridge up but the boys in green shut it down.
Stewart wasn't ready to re-integrate the field and kept on going solo. He was soon joined by Mike Northey (Rubicon-ORBEA), Alessandro Bazzana (Fly V Australia) and Kiel Reijnen (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda). The four worked together until the second KOH once again taken by Scott Stewart, and then sat up, well almost all sat up.
“I was out there, so I might as well keep going and hopefully someone will come across, no one really did and I think Jamis ended pulling me back in. Kelly Benefit were happy to let me get away, I was in no contention but, oh well, I had a go,” said Northey who continued solo for the next three laps. He was awarded the Freewheel Bike Most Aggressive Rider jersey following the stage.
The dwindling field was back together with seven laps to go, when Amaran attacked on the hill covered by Sutherland and Veilleux. The Kelly Benefit squad shut this dangerous move down before the next time up the climb. The next two times up, the United Healthcare team was massed at the front shoulder to shoulder with the Kelly Benefit riders. With two laps to go, Sutherland's team, still six strong, took over the pacemaking with Zwizanski, Veilleux and Amaran sitting right behind. Everyone was waiting for Sutherland's attack.
“You can't sit too far back, you can't sit too far forward,” explained Sutherland about the strategy for tackling Chilkoot. “We have guys in this team, I've won it three times now, we've got other guys who have been here winning five, six times total, I think we pretty much know how to ride this one.”
King finished seventh overall and held on to win the Best Young Rider classification, which he had been leading from the start.
“Everyone is going for it every day, you really just have to take it a day as a time, treat each race as a one day. Go for as many results as possible and the consistency is what guarantees a high overall finish,” said King about the fight for the jersey. “As an under-23 team it definitely was a priority to snag it.”
With the help of his teammates, sprinter Brad Huff (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) took home the Sports Beans King of the Hills climber's jersey. He picked up the points when he made his way into the long break in Saturday's stage in Menomonie, Wisc.
“We didn't have anything to lose, we were trying to be aggressive and it did work out that they did get into the early breakaways and take the points so that Sulzberger wasn't able to get into them. Bad luck to him, he got into a crash, I think second KOM,” said Huff. “It wasn't super aggressive for the KOM points, but it was an aggressive race.”
In the other competitions, Hilton Clarke (United Healthcare) won the Wheaties FUEL Sprint Competition. Chris Winn (Rio Grande) won the Nature Valley Top Amateur classification. Kelly Benefit Strategies took home the best team classification.